Loes Hinse Zipper Jacket 9 years later

These photos were taken using different cameras.   I wore this jacket today with the very same tropical wool/lycra slacks I paired the jacket with in 2003.

Feb 2003 -  Jacket and Donna Karan slacks

Same jacket & slacks Dec 26, 2011

A silver and black eShrug

Here's another  eShrug I sewed as a gift.    I've made a number of these for friends and as gifts.

This one is out of the same novelty silver/black stretch lace in an animal print I used to make this Loes Hinse cardigan summer before last.    I think it looks nice with my new Tango pencil skirt and a charcoal pullover with a black chiffon edge at the bottom.   As Loes says, wear one "talking fabric" and this is the talking one.    It's a tasteful animal print that will perk up lots of outfits.

Styling Holiday Separates

The holidays are here -  what to wear to different places and events?  I've never made or bought anything special to wear just for holiday dressing.   It has to work for more than just a certain time of year or event.   So, based on where I'm going, and the weather,  I put together appropriate looks with what I already have, adding accessories,  a little sparkle and a faux fur or real fur wrap and hat if necessary.  

I don't dress like a circus performer during the year, so why should I dress like a Christmas tree during the holidays?   I just don't understand that mentality but then each to their own.   I don't (and never did) wear flashy, cleavage revealing, butt hugging outfits.    Donna Karan is 64 and Vera Wang is 63.   Carolina Herrera is 73.    Each of those women look fabulous and dress elegantly whatever the occasion.    They don't wear tight or circus.   Those are the style icons I respect in terms of how they've dressed as they age, and still maintain a unique style.   So here's what I put together for holiday ensembles:       

This deep periwinkle blue (Pantone 17-3932) $1,095 viscose (rayon) jersey dress was from Vera Wang's spring/summer collection and was featured in the June Allure magazine.



Deep periwinkle is one of the recommended colors for my palette in Leatrice Eiseman's personal Style guide for Pantone, More Alive with Color.   


Many of the colors Vera Wang uses in her collections are in my palette.   So when I saw one of her dresses in the same color rayon jersey tucked/manipulated and paired with strips of bias georgette in her spring collection for Kohl's I bought it.   Another great detail is a wide black grosgrain sash that pulls underneath the back and gathers the waist slightly at the front side.   I also bought a rayon jersey cap sleeve tunic with the same fabric manipulation detail.    Both of these just skim the body and look elegant.  

For holiday dressing,   I paired this color with silver gray or midnight blue, and accessorized with a cord type necklace with rows of sparkly rhinestones dangling as fringe.  The little dark purple velvet bag with faux tortoise chain is a Donna Karan I found years ago at my step son's resale boutique in Bethesda.   That's the eShrug in a silver/metallic synthetic knit and an Eileen Fisher loosely woven asymmetric sweater /shrug in a  midnight blue.    The tunic is over ponte knit skinny pants but I  can also wear it with a pair of narrow black silk velvet pants I've had for years.  


The two dark periwinkle jersey is an elegant and unique color.  Each of these will be great to wear again next spring/summer.  I'm working on a 3/4 length sweater coat and a long sleeve eShrug using the chunky knit (a fabric used by Eileen Fisher) on the right in the photo below.  Those can be worn with these two pieces and others I already have.  This photo is the best for the color and shows the fun necklace.

Merry Christmas and my best wishes for happy and stylish holidays!

How I Wear the Shapes Three Fold Vest

I made this Three Fold Vest from the Shapes pattern line in November 2008.   It's a cozy variegated knit with some mohair in it.  


Our weather this week has been balmy for this time of year with temps in the 60's but lots of clouds, fog, mist and rain off and on.     Most of the time you couldn't even see the mountains.  


Today is sunny and in the 50's so I pulled out the Shapes vest for layering over a black rayon turtleneck and dark charcoal stretch wool pants by Jil Sander.    I paid $98 for these in a high end consignment store in Chicago during a stop-over trying to make my way back to Washington the week of 9/11.     That may sound like a lot of money but I imagine that was 1/7  the price of them new and I've worn them many times since.  Besides, that's just about what a year of Burda Style costs now and that's $90 a pattern even if you only make one.   Some never make anything.... I'm not renewing my subscription since they've gotten so cheap by doubling up the lines on the pattern sheets.  These are a German size 38 which is a US size 6, a good incentive to stay fit and watch my weight.




Here are some "action" shots of how I wore it today.  I couldn't do this a few months ago.

Refashioning -- some Loes Hinse pieces

It's a busy time of year and I've been going through things based on how and whether I wear some of them.    A couple of years ago I sewed two pair of pants (LH Oxfords and CLD One-Seam) and a Biarritz jacket out of a lightweight green tweed blend from Fabric Mart.    I never got around to choosing or putting buttons on the jacket, and didn't wear it because something just wasn't right.    I sewed on small metal clasps but they were too heavy.   So I looked it over and put it on to figure out how to save it.


It's a great little cardigan jacket that I probably will never wear buttoned up anyway.   I decided to put pockets over the front vertical darts to make it a bit more Ch@nel looking, to give it a bit more weight and make it hang better.   So that's what I did.   Here it is worn with an interesting leather belt I found at the Tanner outlet store for Doncaster in Black Mountain, NC and a knit dress in a color that coordinates well.    Most of my belts are Doncaster that they have made in Italy for them.    They're great buys if you get a chance to go into any of their stores.

To wear it closed I'd just use a brooche or pin like this  

I had a charcoal gray, elastic waist wool jersey skirt that was way too long and had no style.   I made it about the same time I sewed a sheath dress from a Vogue Wardrobe pattern in the same Calvin Klein knit,  but I never wore the skirt.    I had one remnant of fabric left that I cut three panels from,  and I took the skirt apart to cut out the remaining number of panels for a straight, knee length Loes Hinse Tango skirt -- basically a pencil skirt.   Perfect style for me and so current.  Now I will enjoy wearing this easy fitting, stylish skirt that goes with lots of tops and layers!    It works with a Loes Hinse Sweater Coat (photo link shows it with the same knit dress that I'm wearing with the tweed Biarritz jacket) since it has shades of gray in it.   Click on photos to enlarge.  More on my Flickr photos.


..... with the Bergman jacket I sewed last spring out of novelty meshes that looks completely different worn over these fall/winter coordinates.  

Here it is with a pink/charcoal georgette top and the lace jacket from Anthropologie in a very "Biarritz" style

With a dark periwinkly blue rayon knit tunic and the eShrug

Postscript


I wanted to give those of you who care an update on what's going on with my health and medical situation.    I am doing well and making good progress as my nerves continue to heal.    As most know, I ended the three months of plasmapheresis in October before having the catheter removed at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  I am still on an immune suppressant, and will be for several months.   I cooked and catered our son's holiday party for his business last weekend, something that I would not have been able to do a month ago.   I'm much stronger,  but still have weakness and sensory numbness in my feet and my knee reflexes have not returned.   I can't stand on my toes, walk fast, or run.    I return to Johns Hopkins in late March for a check-up and evaluation.     It's been a tough year but there is now light at the end of the tunnel.    I'm hoping to be able to go to some sewing events next year.     I just have to be careful not to be around sick people who have colds and the flu.    This may preclude flying during the season for those.   

  

A JUNK Store that just happens to sell fabric is coming to my town

Early in November my DH and I were in the shopping center where the Books A Million Store had closed earlier in the year.   I saw a sign on the front of empty space that a JoAnn Fabrics store would be opening in that space.    The Asheville Citizen Times newspaper reported it in the business section.

Why would I want or need another big box chain store that sells cheesy cheap fabric from China with a reputation (read the many reviews/comments posted on the internet) for paying their employees a pittance - no wonder you don't even have to know how to sew to work there, and for lousy customer service?     To me it's no different than WalMart (where I also don't shop) coming in causing local businesses to close because they can't compete with the cheap prices.   I haven't shopped at a JoAnn Fabrics store in probably a dozen years except to get some Christmas ribbon while in Florida visiting my sister and mother.   Quality products, great customer service, and business ethics mean more to me than a big store filled with stuff.

What gives a town like Asheville it's charm are all the local businesses, old and new, who have great products and great customer service!   Asheville has two enduring, independent fashion fabric stores (as opposed to the quilt shops that dot the area).   The House of Fabrics on Merrimon Avenue has been in business for many years under the same family.   The owner sews all her own clothes and so do the staff.   Customer service is exceptional, everyone is friendly and are expert seamstresses.   They sell Viking machines and fine quality, beautifully coordinated fashion fabrics at a reasonable cost.    The other local fabric store, Waechter's,  is an Asheville institution that goes back to the Vanderbilts.  It has changed owners several times since.


We also have a Hancocks Fabric chain store here that is a real fabric/notions store vs a junk craft store that happens to sell some fabric.   The ladies who work there are very knowledgable, know how to sew and are friendly, always remembering who you are, even if you don't go there often.    I buy notions, buttons and thread and some patterns there because the quality of most of their fabrics is not what I want to spend my time and effort sewing.   

I'm getting out more these days, and wear my designs everywhere I go around town.  When women find out that I made them,  I am always asked if I bought the fabric from Waechter's.   I respond yes or no depending on where I got the fabric of what I am wearing.   I belong to local women's organizations and shop/eat exclusively at local businesses where we know the owners, their families and employees.   I don't start the conversation, but many, whose families have lived here for generations,  have told me that since the change in ownership they didn't feel welcome after going in and spending big bucks for fabrics or buttons (compared to other stores) so they haven't gone back.    After getting the cold shoulder myself too many times, despite being a great customer,  I haven't been back to that store in over a year.   I don't go where I'm not wanted, brick and morter or web based,  and I don't spend my money at any business where my patronage is not appreciated and me and my friends are not respected.   That they never cared what was going on with me health-wise, nor ever inquired about why or how I was doing after so many months speaks volumes.   


For fine fabrics I shop independent fabric businesses all over the country via the internet or at sewing expos and events.   I spend my money on quality I know I can trust from businesses who treat me well and appreciate my patronage.   For fine Italian fabrics I depend on Michael's Fabrics in Baltimore who sends me swatches and actually cares about how I'm doing health-wise.    Since I have to go to Johns Hopkins periodically,  I try to stop in and shop in person.   Given the one local fabric store's attitude toward me over the past few years,  and their inflated prices,  why should I go out of my way to buy fabric from them when I can buy the same pattern/color/fabric and many more coordinates from other independent fabric sellers like Fabric Mart in PA for much less?   I have been a customer of Fabric Mart since I lived in MD.    They sell high quality products at reasonable prices and treat me well.   As a result I have bought many lovely, quality fabrics from them.      

Bottom line, I don't intend to patronize this JoAnn Fabrics store because I don't need to and don't care to.  Their reputation, the bait and switch advertising, and all their coupon baloney turns me off.   Their wages are cheap, their fabric is cheap and their prices for notions are inflated so you think you are getting a "deal" when they play the game of discounting them when only you have a coupon or sale flyer.   I'll continue to go to Hancocks, and shop the Asheville House of Fabrics and my TNT internet fabric sellers that meet all my sewing needs.     

Holiday Fashion Sewing

Hi everyone -   Here's the view from my sewing room I shot after I finished up with the eShrug in a sparkly knit by Juicy Couture from G Street Fabrics.    It's the beginning of the first snowfall in the lower elevations.

After finishing this project,  I got dressed to go out, and we went out for a late lunch at a favorite restaurant in west Asheville,  Nona Mia Italian soul food.    We've been customers, and friends since they first opened on Patten Avenue, but in August they moved to a wonderful, larger venue off Haywood Road.   Try them when you come to Asheville.    They also have the most fabulous and authentic gelato.    They make their own bread and sausage, serve local grass fed meat and they don't take reservations.


Afterward we went to visit our son's photography and photo lab business on Biltmore Avenue just south of the I40 Winston Pulliam bridge overpass.     It was in the high 30's, snowing and sleeting but no accumulation since the ground and roads are warm from the 60 degree days we've been having until today.    I didn't wear anything I've sewn but it was a very good day to wear my black Revillon bat-wing mink jacket and hat.


Here is the eShrug in the light gray with silver knit that I made.   This is the kind of fabric and garment that you can dress up or down.   Click on the photos to see the larger photo with the detail.   I also bought this same knit in copper/brown and black on black colors.   I'm making these for Christmas gifts.   I know my nieces will love getting and wearing one of these.    It takes about an hour to cut and sew one of these up.   Just the shoulder seams,  setting in the sleeves and a little trimming of the seam allowances.   No finishing required on hems or seam allowances because knits don't ravel.   Besides if Eileen Fisher and Eskandar and Lanvin can do it and charge hundreds and thousands of dollars, what are we worried about?
 I posted some other ways to style this one on my Flickr photos.

I'm sending this sweater coat to my sister in TX.   She's going to love it but her two college age daughters may try to borrow it LOL.   I added a large snap to be able to close it like the Anthropologie knit jacket.    To have some design fun and stabilize, since the knit is very stretchy, I cut out two squares of the double knit,  pinked the edges and sandwiched the sweater knit between them and edge stitched before sewing the snap on.

The male snap is sewn behind the vertical plaid band that stabilized that portion of the garment.   Here are a couple of photos.

Looking back and looking ahead

I got a Thanksgiving card from my sister in Texas whose house burned to the ground in the pre-dawn hours last April and they lost everything.   It was miraculous that both she and her husband and their dog got out and survived with no lasting injuries.   Our mother,  who was being cared for just down the road,  died in March and I was not able to travel to visit her since becoming disabled myself last fall.    

She writes, "This has been a tough year for all of us but especially for you!   We have a lot to be thankful for and I am thankful that you are going to be okay and that we are alive.   Next year will be better."

Yes I am thankful for all those things and more.   We are both fighters for the right things, and always will be.   

Looking forward,  I intend to continue to sew and create interesting things, and will blog about it.   My thanks to all of you who have made my life and my mental state better over the past year by leaving comments, writing me messages and even phoning me.     Sadly,  the internet has become a playground for individuals hiding behind a false personae who use it to play games like spoiled children.  I've decided not to let people like that bother me, and to keep my blog public.  


I want to share with you what my special friend from Canada sent me today.   She is one who has helped me through some tough times. 


What Is Success?

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
     and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
     and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave this world a better place whether
     by a healthy child, a garden patch
     or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
     because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.
                               Ralph Waldo Emerson

November Collection Continued - the San Diego swing jacket

Here's a peak at what I've been working on.   I finished this yesterday.     It looks great with the pinstripe silk and some other silver gray pieces I have.   If you've looked at some of the Chanel collections over the past few years, this is a variation,  as is the knit boucle jacket.  Chanel is rarely the little jacket anymore,  although those are always there in one form or another.      I'm happy to say that I am getting stronger and am just as head strong.   When I wasn't strong, I still persevered to do what I wanted to do, that I was physically capable of.     It might have taken longer, but I did it.   I know that helped me mentally as well as physically.   Now I want to do everything I couldn't do before.   I had other things to do today but did some cutting out.    Today I walked into our local market without my cane!     I felt like Rocky standing at the top of those stairs.

If you've followed my sewing, you know that I like to take advantage of the fabric and use simple but different styles.   Never use cheap fabric -- not worth your time.

Here are some details of this jacket:

• The San Diego jacket pattern has two piece sleeves that I did a faux flat fell seam and used a multiple step zig zag to secure all the seams at the neckline.    I eliminated the sleeve hems and pinked the edges before applying the bands that are secured in the seams.
• sleeves are bracelet length which is an elegant look and best for layering.
• The length is 22 or 23" and the hem is pinked and unfinished with the band sewn inside.
• The boucle looks the same on both sides -   I marked one side and used that as the outside.  
• The bands of the wool double knit are also pinked and topstitched 1/4" from each edge.  
•  I put contrast bands at the inside collar (no facing - only one layer of the jacket) and the inside hem, then on the outside of the sleeves.    

I'm working on other coordinates and added vertical bands to the boucle knit jacket (open and closed photos below) but don't like them on this one.    It's easy to get carried away and junk things up.    I like simple so the fringe at the front edges is enough.

 I used this braided frog clasp as the closure for this jacket.     I bought some nice closures from Couture Fabrics of Alexandria before they closed.   This is one, and the plaid wool boucle came from there as well.   I was a very good customer and even taught classes for them when my schedule permitted.

November Coordinates - black and silver gray

So what have I been working on this past week?   A collection of coordinates,  of course.    I'm working on another blouse in the pinstripe gray silk using the Miyake 2332 pattern.   That blouse will layer beautifully under some of the soft jackets I'm planning.     I thought about using the Miyake pattern or even the Sewing Workshop San Diego jacket pattern for a jacket from this wool doublt knit (shown below with the plaid accent band) but that pattern requires a lot  more fabric than I have. 


But I do have enough of it to make an altered version of Vogue 8430. I worked on the prototype for it today.    The wool double knit has very little stretch whereas the knit boucle is pretty stretchy.     The wool plaid boucle is perfect for a TSW San Diego jacket using bands of the wool double knit with the smaller scroll/paisley motif as contrast.    I think the silk pinstripe will be interesting to wear under either jacket, and I have many other tops that will work with these.   I would wear either black or charcoal gray slacks or a skirt with these.      Nothing boring about outfits with these as the talking piece!

Wool double knit with plaid accents

Here's my work in progress prototype of altered Vogue 8430 in a stretchy salt and pepper boucle knit - I know it's got some wool in it, and definitely lycra.    This came from the PA Fabric Outlet when it was in Baltimore.    They used to get some amazing cuts from manufacturers, many from Italy.    I applied strips of my gray and black wool boucle plaid to the neckline and the sleeves, keeping it interesting but simple.     I put the selvedge of the plaid at the neckline so the fringe peaks out from the other side.     

Here are some detail shots of the knit jacket.    I think my prototype looks a lot like the jackets you might find in downtown Asheville art to wear stores for several hundred dollars.

On the bottom left is a photo of the Anthropologie sweater jacket that that served as my inspiraton for these.     I wore it a lot last winter.   I may add the vertical bands to the fronts of my stretch boucle jacket tomorrow.     They provide stability as well as a design element. 

To get the same look as the Anthropologie sweater jacket, I would put a tie inside and into the right side seam, and a large snap that closes that jacket.    Otherwise, worn open, it looks the same as the gray knit boucle.

I was going to post the alterations when I finish the jacket tomorrow, but wanted to respond to Martha's questions: 

1. I cut a size medium -  this pattern has no hems at any of the edges
2. I added four inches in length
3. I removed 1 3/8" from the sleeve bottom
4. I folded the front pieces on the first view B felting line - that decreased the width of, and straightened the front edge that I place on the selvedge
5. I used 5/8" seam allowances and pressed them open.   

Here are some details about the construction:

• All trim and knit edges are left raw in the Anthropologie jacket and this one.   The bottom will roll to the outside just like the expensive Eileen Fisher and Eskandar knits are cut to do.     It will not ravel.    Hey if Lanvin can do it and charge thousands, so can you and I.
• Sleeves:   it's easier, and neater to put two strips of 1/4" steam a seam down the edges of the trim, line it up with the edge, press it to adhere, then topstitch before you sew up the sleeve seam.    The trim will be caught in the seam -- then press the seam allowanced open and topstitch over to secure the trim nicely.    

• The neckline trim was done the same way AFTER the shoulder seams (stabilized at the back) were stitched, pressed open and topstitched along the funnel collar per the instructions

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BTW I appreciate your comments and am happy to answer questions.   If something I do inspires you, please give me credit.  



     

Miyake Blouse from OOP Vogue 2332

Today I cut out and finished this Miyake Blouse in a fine Italian shirting I bought from Louise Cutting at an Expo.    It's all white with a narrow woven stripe.    My pattern is a size 10 with a finished bust and hip (straight down) measurement of 47".   The pattern is not for sale.

 I used many of the fine sewing techniques from Louise's patterns and technique DVDs since these patterns don't go into detail about finishing every seam and fine sewing techniques.    I didn't alter or change anything but eliminated the tabs and buttons.    I used steam-a-seam on the cuffs.  

I think it looks very elegant and is comfortable.   I'm wearing it with a pair of Easy, Ageless and Cool pants out of a linen/metallic blend.    It layers nicely under many types of jackets.    I wore it shopping at Neiman Marcus in Charlotte, NC yesterday and got many complements from both shoppers and the staff.    The shirting is the finest and looks it!  I'm going to sew up another one in the gray pinstripe silk I used for the A Cute Angle blouse.

Weekly Sewing Recap

I have had a busy week.    In the sewing department,  I sewed up an interesting black and metallic Monaco Shell (Textile Studio patterns) out of a heavily textured stretch brocade knit I bought as a remnant a few years ago.      I like the TS Monaco shells because of the interesting neckline and you can make one out of a piece of knit that is the length of the pattern.    I can cut out and sew one up in about an hour too.   I always put a little tag at the back so I put it on correctly.    I even had some of the stretchy knit left over to make some cowls.    

I've got this old OOP Vogue Miyake pattern on the cutting table ready to cut out in this white shirting with a woven vertical stripe.     This blouse is sewn shut, tucked and opens above the horizontal stitch line.    I figure I need to make up some of these timeless patterns.

Next is an Of the Moment tweed knit jacket in my version of several fall Akris Punto jackets that you can see on the Saks website.   I took one look at the shapes, the fronts and how their unfaced lapels flop over and fold back, and said --  they're all versons of Louise Cutting's  Of The Moment jacket pattern that I've sewn in everything from fleecy knit to tapestry to soft cashmere since the pattern came out in 2008. 

Akris Punto wool jacket

Akris Punto nappa leather jacket

Akris Punto tweed jacket

Saks tells you the length of the jackets and how tall the models are.    For reference, my cashmere OTM jacket below is 23.5 inches long and it only took me a couple of hours to sew it up the night before heading to the Atlanta expo the next day.   Check my OTM Flickr set for the long one in a tapestry fabric, and others.  

I'm using the tweedy knit shown below.    It's chunky looking,  but not thick, as you can see from the edge of the tweed fabric in the photo.   I'm going to experiment with cutting the neckline facings and the front fold over hems from one of these soft faux leathers that will 1) contrast with the tweed and look really neat and 2) softly hold the tweed knit shape at the neckline and bind the edge at the same time.    I think I'll make this one 29" long like the Akris wool jacket.      It's interesting how the gray knit back of my faux black lambskin looks the same as that of the Akris nappa leather jacket that you can see in the photos.      There are numerous views of these  open and closed with more details in the photos on the Saks site at the links under the photos.

Black/white tweed knit and faux leathers

Chanel and Moschino for November DAR Meeting

Today was the monthly meeting of the Edward Buncombe Chapter,  National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.    It was a pretty sunny fall day and I am now strong enough to walk in and around the huge First Baptist Church in Asheville, and stand for periods of time to preside over the meeting.    We had a great turnout, delicious lunch, and a great speaker,  Mr. Lee Pantas, artist, illustrator and author of the 4th Edition of The Ultimate Guide to Asheville & the Western North Carolina Mountains.   The chapter registrar obtained permission from Mr. Pantas to use his illustration of the Vance Homestead for the cover of our 2011-12 Chapter Yearbook.       He has been commissioned to do  drawings of homes in the Asheville area and is known for his drawings of historical and familiar sites in western North Carolina that are for sale as prints or notecards.   On Thursday I'm going to another luncheon  meeting of another historical/genealogical organization,  and I'm looking forward to it.

I wore this off-white Chanel suit from spring 2000 that I bought that year with a Monaco Shell sleeveless top from the Textile Studio pattern.   The Chanel jacket looks pretty ordinary in the photos but it has lots of seaming you can't see, cut-on bias sleeves and gussets under the arms with unique gray/silver modern buttons.   The skirt has 9 vertical seams.  I've worn them together and separately for many occassions, and they wear like iron and fit great.    I thought about wearing this Moschino pink/cream tweed coat that is very Chanel in detail over the skirt, but it is heavier than the weather called for, so I wore the lightweight wool boucle jacket instead.    The Moschino Coat is beautiful but is so heavy that I'm considering shortening it to a 3/4 or jacket length to get more wear out of it.  It would be easy to do -- just need to re-do the facings and edgings.   Comments?  Suggestions on the length after seeing it on me?    Click on photos below to enlarge.

The coat is from the higher end Moschino line vs Cheap and Chic line  (the only thing cheap about that line is the name).   Both lines are always very innovative and interesting in design and details.    I missed out on a similar Moschino coat at Saks the year it came out because it sold out.   It was gray/black tweed with a black and multi silk edging and facing and I was hoping to find one on sale.   I found this pink/white/gray one on eBay a couple years later for less than 10% of the original price ($2,715).   I love gray and pink and cream together.   The facings and trim edging are printed silk georgette.   The buttons are narrow wool braid wrapped around a metal form.   There are more detail photos on the Moschino Coat Flickr Set.     Great ideas and inspiration for similar styles you can sew.