For a "Farewell to Downton Abbey" tea party at the museum, I dug deep into my fabric stash and came up with a sheer sparkly piece that I bought at least 17 years ago in Djibouti. Inspired by a kimono jacket worn by Essie Davis on "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries," I bought Butterick B6176, which promised to be "Fast & Easy," and voila, a couple of hours later I had a sparkly jacket.
The tea party was at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, so after thinking hard about how to dress my head, I hurried home from church and whipped up a turban from an old skirt (bought in the Tbilisi bazroba in 2003 for a Halloween costume for DD). I sewed a piece of broken jewelry to the front, added a peacock feather rescued from the mannequin tree at Christmas, and I felt pretty fabulous as I left the house!
If I make this pattern again, I will make it a size smaller than indicated by the pattern measurements. I love the freedom of movement of the kimono shape, but honestly, two of me would fit inside that jacket. I pinned it closed in the front with an antique button, but I could have wrapped it to the side seams.
