First Responder Jacket

Those of us who grew up with color pamphlets for underground bomb shelters on the end table in our neo-colonial suburban tract homes have an endless fascination with survival fantasies. I can remember starting a diary at age ten or so because hey, it happened to Anne Frank. This latest piece in an ongoing series of survival art (or artful survival) is a first responder jacket.

This upcycled thrift store find was a little blah until I started applying patches created from iron-on printer paper and images borrowed from Red Cross and Marine handbooks, and a circa 1950s pamphlet.

Jacket front: lower edge of the two front flaps have been sewn closed to create large pockets

Jacket back

The patches: I've decided that patches convey a gritty urban look to just about any article of clothing. Even patches of bunnies and puppies would look gritty from a distance. You may recognize some of the same images used for these patches from an earlier project, Survival Doll.

Back patch: creating primitive weapons

Back patch: creating a water filter using a pants leg

Making splints and slings

More weapons and CPR

Surviving an atomic blast

Applying a tourniquet

Because I may want to casually fling my jacket over the back of a chair, revealing the label, and because the original label no longer represents the garment, I also stitched a patch over the original label.

Patch covering label

To confirm the fact that I'm the gal you want to be crouching under a table with when the earthquake hits, I've sewn an emergency whistle inside the lapel.

Emergency whistle

And finally, I've converted the front inside linings into hidden pockets to thwart bad guys who want to steal my stuff.

Hidden pockets

And a final thought for those tempted to take this seriously: If you lose your sense of humor there is really no point in surviving.