Local Grandson’s Sweet Wife asked me for some pointers in making up a Christmas gift for her mom. Her dad died very suddenly only a few months after they got married, and she wanted to mount one of his Coast Guard uniform jackets in a shadow box to hang over the sofa. I told her I knew places such as Michaels and A.C. Moore sold deep frames for military flags and such, and that was the place I would start. Figure out how small you could fold this jacket and look for coupons for custom framing, which usually run 40 to 50%. I also offered some other “artistic” suggestions, but it was her project, and I wasn’t trying to tell her how to do it.
The Squire and I had to go up to Eldest Daughter’s home on Wednesday, and ran into LGSW while we were there. She had a HUGE shadow box and a piece of poster board, and was draping the jacket this way and that over the unopened box. “I took the jacket to the store and they told me it would be about $400 for them to mount it for me, as it all had to be hand-sewn.” I asked her what she said when she got up off the floor.
“I’ll do it myself!” The clerk suggested the frame and poster board approach and sent her on her way.
After some to-ing and fro-ing, I offered to sew the jacket to the poster board by machine, and the two of them came down this afternoon so we could work on it.
We got it lined up on the poster board and I ran a cut off piece through my sewing machine to make sure the needle could handle it, and we figured we were good to go.
Well, putting a 2 by 3 foot piece of poster board through a domestic sewing machine doesn’t work. We had to do it by hand after all. I sewed around the label at the neckline and she sewed down the center back. We buttoned the jacket and got it arranged in the frame, and I gave her the extra thread to take home. At this point she only needs to tack the shoulders into place and get the sleeves the way she wants them, so there shouldn’t be too much more to do. She has a Coast Guard Manual and a photo of her dad which she will put in the box, and it will be ready to go.
But we do understand why the store wanted $400 to do it professionally!
thisendoftheswamp 
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