DIY: The Lace-trimmed Coat

Occupying one of the precious coat hangers on my leaning clothing rack was a white coat too large and too square to look sharp. It was high time I did a DIY project; and though I'm content wearing nearly all-black nearly everyday, I thought it would be a worthwhile challenge to push myself to resurrect an unworn piece and personalize it with a method never used before: no more paint, no more cutting, and no more studs. So I trimmed it with a material that would be top-of-mind for any normal boy: black Venetian lace.

Here's what I used: Heat N Bond iron-on no-sew adhesive, textile adhesive in a tube, a yard and a half of black Venetian lace, and a steam iron

This Theory X Barney's Green coat was gathering dust in my closet. I resisted the urge to paint-splatter it in primary colors and instead spent a little more time and effort and went mildly Oscar de la Renta on it with a band of black lace trim along the hem.

I trimmed the iron-on adhesive to fit the bottom part of the lace, minus the protrusions. I then ironed the adhesive on to the lace, peeled off the paper backing, and positioned it on to the coat, following the line of the hem stitching to keep it aligned.

I then ironed the lace on to the coat, panel by panel. The instructions say "no steam needed," but I found that with the thickness of the lace, it helped get the heat on to the adhesive and have it bond better.

With the base of the lace trim attached, I carefully glued on the rest of the trim with the textile glue.

As always, I heat-set the trim with a hair dryer, just to make sure everything is dry and bonded.

As a finishing touch, I trimmed off all straggly threads and glued on any pieces that seemed to be gaping open.

Here it is worn:

Illesteva sunglasses, DIY lace-trimmed coat, printed chiffon shirt of my own design, Black Fleece belt, Uniqlo black jeans, Opening Ceremony shoes

close-up of the lace on the coat

Opening Ceremony lace and zip shoes with a lace-trimmed zip-up coat

last three photographs by Michael Shaeffer