I've had the cashmere sweater I wore on Sunday for around 4 years. I love the fit and the warmth and how well it's held up, but I thrifted it before I completely understood my colours, and this shade is wrong for me: I end up a bit yellow, a bit washed out. I didn't want to donate it though, so I channeled the 'make do and mend' philosophy and decided all I really needed was a way to bring a different colour up near my face. And I'd been lamenting the lack of peter pan collars in my closet...so a plan was formed! I pulled out my bag of thrifted felted wool sweaters, made a peter pan template, and got to work. Originally I was going to use a light grey I have, thinking to keep it as a light neutral sweater, but this blue-grey seemed to go so nicely I used it instead.

Since it's felt there's no hemming, so I just sewed it to the sweater with some embroidery thread that matched the main colour, to make it look more intentional. Since I was hand sewing anyway, I added French knots every 3 stitches, for a decorative touch, but I think I made everything a bit too small, as from far away it looks more crooked than decorative! Then I decided to add in elbow patches to make the collar look more intentional; the colour reminds me of rain clouds so I made a cloud template and sewed them on using the same thread & French knot detailing.

I really love the result, and now this is one of my favourite sweaters! I haven't quite decided whether to leave the collar as big as it is (which keeps more flattering colour near my face) or make it a bit smaller; I also haven't decided whether to extend the collar across the back or not. But the nice thing about felt is it's very flexible. I promise the collar is symmetrical! In my contorting for the detail pictures (very difficult to photograph one's own elbow, hehe), I must've skewed the sweater without realising it. For this first wearing, I paired it with my looser pair of jeans and just a bit of tiny silver jewelry, as now the sweater has so much detail it didn't need much accessorising! Wool socks kept my feet warm.

For my walk, my feet were feeling quite sore (arthritis) so I put on one of my most supportive shoes, from Aurora Shoe Co. I fondly think of these as my hobbit shoes, so I know they're not for everyone, but I like the kind of casual, easy going, functional, hand made, countryside feel of them. I added my pink hat for a bit of colour, and then this coat, which I would appreciate YLF opinions on!

I thrifted it last fall, and it's a faux suede outer with a faux fur lining that makes me feel like I'm walking around being hugged by a teddy bear. It's good quality: the buttons have back buttons on them, all of the seaming is nicely done, the hang tag says 'Company' in cold and a regular one says 'by Ellen Tracy,' which I googled and seems a brand carried by Nordstrom's. I love the super light taupe-ish/beige-y colour, especially for when I'm walking around dusk/evening because I stand out more to cars (I also have a head lamp I wear around my neck for safety, although I'm on sidewalks and not in the road) and the a line shape. But is it too big? It's a raglan shoulder, so there are no shoulder seams to droop, but the armpit hits fairly low on me. It's obviously intended to be a swing coat, so that's why I figured I could get away with wearing it even though it's a medium, but I thought I'd ask the forum first. I have several winter coats, so if this one is relegated to donating (in reality I'll probably save it for my dark dog walks until I find another light coat but won't wear it out and about) I won't freeze. It was $12, and I wore it almost every day of a trip I took last fall to Montreal, Toronto, and upstate NY, so I've already gotten my money's worth. Feel free to be honest! I've included quite a few pictures so you can get an idea of how it sits on me (I could easily hem up the sleeve cuff inside to make the sleeves a bit shorter although I prefer my sleeves to come down further than most).

Thanks in advance for offering your thoughts/opinions! Of course the whole outfit is up for discussion, but especially re: collar size/continuing the collar on the back of the sweater and the coat's fit.