A Coat To Cherish Of all the sewing projects Georgette Sutera has taken on since she started sewing as a teen, the coat she made recently may be the most unique. The pattern itself isn’t extraordinary. She deliberately selected a simple design. What makes the coat stand out is the material Sutera chose: the old Army blanket once used by her stepfather, Wally Konieczny. Sutera came across the blanket after Konieczny’s death in July 2016. The green wool twin or cot-sized blanket was carefully tucked away with some of his prized possessions. “As soon as I found it I felt I needed to find a way to make something out of it,” Sutera says. “I’m a quilter. I didn’t need another blanket. If I stuck it in a box in the closet no one would even know it was there.” Since Army blankets were made to stand up under hard use, Sutera knew whatever she created would be sturdy and wear very well. Initially, she considered using the blanket to make a cape, since she already had a cape pattern. “But there wasn’t enough material in the blanket for the cape,” she says. “I measured the blanket to determine just how much fabric I had to work with and that’s when I decided to make a coat.” After selecting her coat pattern and identifying a polyester lining that worked with the green wool, Sutera stitched up the coat. The design includes two pockets and three buttons. The wood-look buttons she found in her button box nicely match the green wool. “Sewing the coat itself was easy,” she says. “I made bound button holes for the first time and that wasn’t bad, either. Then I decided to use the needle punch attachment I had just purchased for my sewing machine to create a pattern on the cuff and along the bottom of the coat. The punching process itself wasn’t so hard, but deciding on the pattern design and laying it out so it was uniform in size and placement was challenging.” Sutera used scraps of the blanket left over from making the coat to practice some needle punch designs. Initially she worked on a vines and flowers idea but didn’t like the way it looked on the fabric. After several attempts at creating a design she settled on black acrylic yarn to create the rippled design that seems to blend well with the coat. She carefully measured to maintain a uniform trim height and measured for width as she applied the trim, carefully checking to make sure the trim placement was even on the bottom front and on the back of each cuff. “I was really concerned that I Prescriptions Filled. Expectations Exceeded. We go the extra mile to ensure you receive the friendly service, fair prices and pharmacy expertise you deserve for your entire family. Michelle Lamberty, R.Ph. We can help make taking your medications easier by synchronizing your refills so you can make less visits to the pharmacy. We offer free in-town delivery. Visit our website at www.rogersfamilypharmacy.com or sign up for our convenient mobile app and you can simplify your life by refilling or transferring your prescriptions to us online. 218 W. 4th Street, Yankton, SD • 605.665.8042 • www.rogersfamilypharmacy.com 14vHERVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2017