Oops! Life got in the way of sewing, and I ended up at the end of this past week having to take an unexpected trip up to Nashville. This means that my Lady Grey coat is not cut out, though all the pattern pieces are ready to go. That should happen Monday or Tuesday. And I did get a cute purple dress cut out, but alas, no pictures yet.
Instead I spent 3 days with my wonderful children, and yesterday we did a trail run at Warner Park, just west of Nashville. You can see that my kids come by their exercise-induced pinkness naturally! We ran a 2-1/2 mile loop, of which the first 2 miles were apparently all uphill! Well, maybe not, but it sure felt that way. And you would not be surprised to hear that we did not all stick together on the run, as Kyle announced that once he started running, there was just no stopping. Too bad, mom, if you get lost in the woods!
Here's my other "child", new son-in-law Thomas, and you can see that he fits right in with his very own pink face. It was a gorgeous fall day, and we're all invigorated, and ready to tackle all the challenges that face us. I hope you all had wonderful weekends!
The tinkering is finished, and the cutting is about to commence! I did a final version in the fleece, taking a wedge out of the front sort of a la Patty the Snug Bug, and I also needed to take an inch out of the side front piece above the waist to accommodate my short waistedness that I was trying to ignore. I was also trying to ignore my narrow shoulders, but also ended up narrowing it at both the front and back and will still use the shoulder pads to make it hang more nicely.
It looks a bit like Frankenstein's monster, but that's not so evident in the pictures. And the back is hemmed and front isn't. C'est la vie. Today's goal is to simply prepare the pattern pieces, making sure I have all the markings on them. Another option is to take it all apart and use the actual "muslin" as your pattern, but this fleece tends to do some weird stretchy things, and I'm not really comfortable doing that, so paper it is. Plus, have you ever tried to write on fleece? Not easy.
Gertie has laid out a very doable schedule for the making of this coat, and that will also allow me to get a couple of other things made that have been either in the queue or floating around in my head for at least a couple of weeks now.
I've made my second muslin and this time I used fleece which is closer in weight to the wool that I've chosen. So, what changes did I make? Here ya go:
First, please ignore the wonky hem. I lengthened the pattern, and then turned up the hem, just to get an idea. I like the length. I shortened the sleeves. Are they too short now? That's an easy fix.
I made the lapels and collar slightly smaller. I think I like this better. And I deepened the armscye 3/4". That seems like a lot, but it feels so much better, and will allow those winter clothes that eventually we may need. (The ceiling fan AND another fan, plus the AC, are going for this photo shoot!)
I stuck with the size 10, but graded out to a 12 at the waist on all the seams and then back to the 10. Then, when I stitched the princess seams, about 2-3" above and below the waist, I used a 1/2" seam allowance, then back to the 5/8". I don't think that will be necessary at all on the front and will stick with 5/8" SA all the way.
Now for the back view:
I think I will keep the 1/2" SA on the princess seams for the back. It's a bit wrinkled looking, but that is really from the belt. Take a look without the belt:
The back is much better, and I think with a lining, many of those wrinkles will not be in evidence.
The thing I'm most concerned about on the back is how the shoulders look kind of droopy, and it generally seems a bit too wide. I'm wearing sweater underneath, and it's plenty comfy, so I think I can do a bit of narrowing at about the halfway mark on the armhole on up to the shoulder on the back and the front. No more than 1/2" narrower. I'll unstitch and try again and see what happens.
I'm feeling pretty good about this version, and it will come in handy as a bathrobe, I think. Or not.
The blogging awards are making their rounds, and earlier this week, Julia presented me with the Beautiful Blogger Award. Thanks so much, Julia! The rules are to post 10 things that you don't know about me, and to pass it on to more bloggers. First, on the passing it on... lots of the sewing bloggers that I read have already gotten this award, so I'm going to branch out, and pass it on to the Etsy group that I'm a part of, The Daily Sweets, and to those girls that have blogs.
Now, on with the 10 things:
Julia (yes, the one that gave me the award) and I are practically related! Let's see. My daughter, Laura, married Thomas who is from Julia's hometown, and Julia is married to Thomas' aunt's cousin. Or something like that. We've met once, but a proper meeting, where we both know who we're actually meeting, and not realizing it later is definitely in order!
I've been in the Etsy group I mentioned, The Daily Sweets, for about 2-1/2 years now, and several of us are meeting up for the first time next month in California! I can't wait!
I'm addicted to certain reality TV shows, especially the kinds that have competitions. Project Runway, the Amazing Race, and So You Think You Can Dance are my favorites.
OK, so I'm also addicted to other TV shows, but I rarely turn the TV on until later in the afternoon, and then it's CNN.
I like it completely quiet when I'm sewing, but occasionally will turn on some music, or CNN, when I want a little "company."
I really like hot weather, and am secretly thrilled that it still feels like summer outside.
I don't like to go fast, as in when you ride a jet ski, or ski downhill, much to my children's dismay.
There are no teenagers in my house anymore. Both my kids are now in their 20s.
I recently killed my son's pet fish. Who knew that betas really thrived on neglect?
I love growing avocado trees, starting them from seeds, though I have only done it once successfully. I do have another seed trying to get started now though.
If you've made it this far, how about a Lady Grey update? I've decided to make another muslin from the changes on the first one, and I'm retracing the pattern with the changes, and I'm going to use fleece, which feels way more like the thickness of my wool than the muslin does. Pictures tomorrow (hopefully).
Do you have those? I sure do, and one of my favorite fabric store memories is from when I lived in Maryland and was able to shop any time I wanted at G Street Fabrics. And take classes. Of course, it wasn't on G Street anymore, but was in Rockville on Rockville Pike. And, most of the time, the fabric was out of my budget. So, yes, it was Cloth World for me. Is Cloth World even still in business?
I'm not a huge shopper, but on the recent weekend getaway, G Street was the only place that I had to shop in. Now there are 3 G Streets, too! Two in Virginia. The Centerville shop was too far. Falls Church was a possibility on Saturday, but we didn't fit it in. That left Sunday and the Rockville location. I had printed out some coupons, so that was great, and it turned out that all their apparel fabric was 25% off with some 40% off. Yay!
It wasn't on Rockville Pike anymore, but had moved about a block away, and did not have nearly the glamorous feel that it did before, but I still had some good luck shopping. I bought 3 pre-cut "skirt" lengths of suiting fabric for $6 each (actually less with the discount).
Then I found a plain gray cotton jersey that's a really nice weight. Not too light. I didn't take a picture of it, but gray is gray. The best deal is a matte jersey border print that turned out to be 40% off! I ended up getting 4 yards because it was the end of the bolt. Are you ever talked into getting that extra that you didn't really need just because that was it? I am such a sucker for that. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and while stash builder is not really how I would describe myself, I think there are lots of possibilities for creativity with it.
Finally, I bought another button for my Lady Grey coat, and all the interfacing and other notions that I'll need, too. My one disappointment was that they were out of Burda Magazines. Silly, I know, but I can't find them anywhere in Atlanta.
... on my run yesterday. And, yes, the sky really was that blue!
Roland and I spent a long weekend in the Virginia-DC-Maryland area this past weekend, mostly catching up with old friends, but doing a little sightseeing. I had not been back to the area since we moved away more than 5 years ago, so it was wonderful! We did visit the new Native American Museum which opened after we had moved (wonderful cafeteria!), and I managed to squeeze in a shopping trip to G Street Fabrics. I'll show you what I bought tomorrow.
It's time to restock the pantry and fridge now, though!
Oh! That's not what we're making? Well, darn, must go back and read the instructions.
Ah, yes, it's just muslin time, and so, what did I do? First I measured across the shoulders of my current favorite coat, and chose the size based on that, and went with a 10. I realize that I don't appear to be a 10, and that none of my other measurements match up to that, but never mind, I didn't make any changes (yet) and just cut out a straight 10. (The snazzy red belt belongs to my trenchcoat.) Here's the result:
So, on first glance, the collar over my right shoulder is crumpled up. And do you see that leaf on the ground? That doesn't mean fall right now... it was 92 degrees F when I took this picture. So I'm wearing a sleeveless dress. Yep, the Lady Grey fits me great! As a blouse! Look at the back:
Hmmm, I'm leaning just a bit. See that big ol' wrinkle across the middle of my back? That will have to go.
I don't know if you can see it, but the dark line on the lapel is the seam line. I'm still on the fence about narrowing the lapels and collar just a bit, but I kind of like how the width of the collar/lapel balances out the width of the hips. Covers up my narrow shoulders in other words.
So, a few changes to be made:
the excess on the back.
the super long sleeves. What's up with the sleeve length? And is it just me, but I couldn't find in the instructions how deep the hem was on the sleeve or the coat itself. I tend to be a skimmer though.
I actually like the length of the coat. I think that length makes the peplum hit at a more flattering place on my body, so will make that my finished length and add the hem depth to the pattern.
I think I'm going to go with 1" seam allowances on the body and give myself some extra room for actual winter clothes to fit underneath. My wool is a medium weight, so I'm a little concerned about how that's all going to fit and plan to baste the seams first for fit when I hit the actual fabric.
add a bit of extra depth the armscyes for those winter clothes that I mentioned above. I don't plan to interline because I live in Atlanta after all, and it just doesn't get that cold. And if it happened to have a day or three where it was that cold, this is not the coat I'd be wearing.
So, what do you think? Am I delusional? I know there's some discussion on whether or not this coat works for everyone (uh, no), but I'm kind of liking it on me.
