I realized this morning that the fourth pattern won’t work as planned. It was this one:
And here is the reason it won’t work:
The top front is cut in a single piece. The minor problem is that my fabric wouldn’t be wide enough, but this could be fixed fairly easily by adding a seam. The real problem is that the draft is strongly striped (the pattern is a variation on the infamous wedding-dress draft, modified to make it work with a point threading), and because the sleeves are cut in the same piece as the front, the stripes will be seriously kiltered on the sleeves. (The grainline runs parallel to the little line on pattern piece #2; notice that this means the stripes will be semi-diagonal in the sleeves of the finished garment.)
This is a real bummer because I loved the look of the garment and loved the idea of a contrast between black-and-white and red-and-black in the collar. I’m going to go through the rest of my jacket patterns and see if I have anything that would let me have the contrast collar, but use a set-in sleeve. At worst, I figure Sharon can help me alter the collar on an existing pattern.
Meanwhile, I am making some progress on the sample for Autumn Splendor. I wove twelve inches yesterday and will weave some more tonight. Here is a photo of the weaving-in-progress:
I love it! The colors are drop-dead gorgeous, and the gold adds a richness and glitter that is not visible in the photo. My one complaint is that the pattern does not show clearly, because of the relatively low contrast between warp and weft. However, since this is meant to be a backdrop for the leaf patterns, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing…I will show it to Sharon this weekend or next and get her opinion.
Off to work! Things are getting easier and I’m starting to understand a lot more of what’s going on, but it’s still an uphill slog trying to absorb so much information while (in theory) leading three project teams. I’m very grateful for my lunchtime fiber break; I’ve been using it to read the new edition of Claire Shaeffer’s Couture Sewing Techniques. It’s completely revised from the original, and chock-full of useful information. Can’t wait to read more of it!
