Have you ever had a project you were working on that you didn’t want to end? It may have started off as a chore, but along the way you grew to love it, and by its completion you realized part of you didn’t want it to end? Maybe it was a really good book that you enjoyed so much you rushed through it, rapidly turning the pages until the last chapter, or a television series that you paused binge-watching midway through because you wanted to make it last. Such was the happy conundrum I found myself in when I was nearing the end of finishing a coat for our upcoming trip to New York.
Doing my best to curb some shopping and trying a new turn at sustainability (yawn), I’ve been recycling outfits and wardrobe instead of buying new things, and part of that involved updating a floral embroidered coat that I’ve worn for special times like anniversaries in Boston. With the bright lights of Broadway beckoning with ‘Plaza Suite’, a celebration of Skip’s birthday, an intimate performance by Betty Buckley at the Cafe Carlysle, and a weekend at the Plaza, I wanted something that would sparkle. While this coat had more than enough pizzazz to make a statement, updating it for a new decade meant pushing it completely over the top, with a few pounds of crystal beads employed for the revamping. With its floral pattern already outlined, it was just a matter of matching the beads to their background. It would be a heavy undertaking, and I understood the cost and labor and time involved in a single item of clothing that is so embellished. There was a valuable lesson in that.
In a dire winter, sewing each crystal bead onto the coat became an act of sanity, a thread connecting the otherwise-wayward days and nights into a singular purpose, taking my eyes off other troubling concerns and giving me a pretty focus with a goal that suddenly felt secondary to the act itself. It felt good crawling into bed at the end of a long sewing session, my fingers aching in the best possible way, reminding me of work done well, of a sense of accomplishment. Slowly but consistently, I worked diligently at my task, beneath the bright task lighting in the basement, beside the fire, returning to a few seasons of ‘Schitt’s Creek’, the iconic ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ with Marilyn Monroe, and a double-viewing of Tom Ford’s ‘A Single Man’ playing in the background. The coat grew in fabulousness, as well as tangible weight. After every session, I would slip it on, turning in the mirror to see what was left to do, witnessing and thrilling at how the beads were catching and throwing off the light. As the floral design was encrusted with crystals, I realized I was nearing the end.
The last part involved replacing the buttons. Strangely, when the coat came into my possession, it had these old, worn, brown wooden buttons completely at odds with the style and color of the coat itself, and probably thrown on when one of the original buttons went missing. Instead of buttons, as I didn’t intend to button this coat, I used large faceted crystals in shades of amethyst and emerald. As the final beads went on, and I neared the last part of the embellishment process, I found myself slowing and stalling. I understood I didn’t want it to end.
I also understood that I would need a new project soon. A night in New York is over far too quickly, no matter how brightly one may sparkle.
