Things are rapidly getting out of hand

Okay, so jacket #4 didn’t work.  And I really liked the idea of the black-and-white Celtic braid with a dramatic red-and-black contrast color.  What’s a girl to do?

Well, I started by flipping through my entire (large) pattern collection, looking for a fitted jacket with interestingly contrasted collar.  No luck.

Then I went online, searching through the major pattern manufacturers for something that would suit.  Didn’t find anything.

At this point I lost my temper, and decided – what the heck! – to draft my own jacket pattern.  This morning I hauled out my sloper, Helen Joseph-Armstrong’s book Patternmaking for Fashion Design, and my big roll of pattern paper.  I’m using her instructions to draft a jacket pattern with a shawl collar; then I’m going to modify the shawl collar to give myself a dramatic, asymmetric collar that will suit nicely.  I’m going to spend Saturday drafting and sewing muslins; Sunday afternoon I’ll be going over to Sharon’s armed with patterns and muslins, so she can help me identify what patterns will suit best and help me fit the muslins.

This is, of course, snowballing rapidly into a Major Project, not an off-the-cuff, simple little side project, but then, you knew me, right?  🙂

There are a few other things in the mix.  One is an Issey Miyake culottes pattern, which I simply adore.  I love culottes (basically very wide-legged pants, could be mistaken for a split skirt at a distance), but I haven’t been able to find a culottes pattern for twenty years (and I mean that literally!)  So I am going to make that up in muslin and take it over to Sharon’s for fitting.  Another is a project I am considering resurrecting…the cashmere coat.  I love that fabric, and really want to get back to it.  I could redraft the pattern for the coat while I’m doing the jacket pattern (they would share the same foundation, so it should be relatively quick) and get started on that.  I hadn’t planned on it, but if Autumn Splendor is not going to be ready for Convergence, I can delay restarting it for several months while I get the other stuff done.  (I am not abandoning Autumn Splendor, by the way; it’s way too fantastic a piece not to finish…eventually.)

Oh, lots of stuff!  Very exciting.

I think we can safely assume that the worst part of the learning curve at work is over, and my Muse is back in the swing of things.  I look forward to whatever she brings me!