The unicorn of winter gear: a Swedish Anorak!

If you, like me, have been looking EVERYWHERE for one of those infamous Swedish anoraks, that were very popular just a few short years ago, but have become as rare as unicorn tears lately, fear not! I happened to stumble upon an Etsy store that managed to get their hands on a few. They are located out of Sweden. They can be found at this site: Swedish anorak. The communication from this shop was outstanding. Shipping time, from notification to arrival, was 1 week, exactly. The anorak was rolled up, packed in heavy shipping paper, tied together with cotton twine, labeled. It arrived just fine. The model I got was a new, unissued, anorak, with the epaulets. Here are a couple pics, front & back:

There are several modifications I will be doing to it:

• Removing the crotch tab-for me, it serves no purpose, and I can repurpose both the tab and the button.
• Remove the inner waist cinch strap. There really isn't a need for this, as the anorak will be a windbreaker and, if I need it cinched tight, I can simply tie something around my waist. And, the cinch strap being located INSIDE the anorak makes it impractical.
• Removing the epaulets. These will be repurposed for my cuffs. The epaulets themselves serve no purpose, as I will not be putting any rank tabs on :)
• Adding a hood stiffener, to keep the hood face open
• Adding a hood tab in the back, to reduce the volume of the hood.
• Adding Velcro for the cuffs, so they will be more adjustable.
• Adding a fur ruff. I have a coyote tail on order.

Another idea I'm toying with is to add a central chest pocket. I haven't decided if I'm going to do this yet or not. As I don't have a sewing machine, it would have to be sewn by hand-and I suck at sewing.
Anyway, I will update with each project separately, as I finish them.

Lastly, if you've been looking for one of these, just follow that link, above. He only has a few. Make sure you contact him PRIOR TO ordering. Let him know you saw it here, and he may waive the shipping-which will save you $30!