Meet muslin #9

…and, I am pleased to say, I actually like this one!

Here’s a pic:

I’m still not crazy about the front – I think I will mull over Judy’s advice from my post in muslin #8, and ask Sharon for her thoughts – but I love the back.  It has exactly the dramatic motion that I was looking for.  So I think I will use it in the final design.  (Thank goodness!)

Now I will set aside the sewing machine, and start weaving again.  I have weft dyed for one more light panel, and three skeins of rayon chenille in different shades of purple, for the collar/facing:

I plan to weave up about 8″ of each facing in a 3-1 broken twill (which will not roll as badly as the 1-4 satin I used last time out) and use it to see which color is best.  Once I’ve settled on a color, I can think about pattern (or no pattern), and weave up some more samples.

My objective is to finalize the pattern and weave up all the fabric for Autumn Splendor by the end of the month, leaving me a month and a half to do the sewing.  That is a mighty tight timeline for couture work by a single person, but I think I can swing it.  What I don’t know is whether I will have time for my other project, which is weaving a present for one of my relatives.  I know she’d love it – but it will take a week or two of focused effort to finish, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to do that and complete all that work on Autumn Splendor.  But I’m not going to worry about it; there are plenty of other gifts I can make or buy, so I’ll just let things unfold.

Speaking of unfolding, I finished rough-drafting the first three paragraphs of the book.  While they will definitely need editing later, I’m extremely pleased with them: they “frame” the discussion nicely and provide a strong narrative thread that I can use throughout the book.  They’ve also provided me with a style and tone to start off with.  So I’ve made a lot of progress, already.

Off to dinner!  Roast pork and brussel sprouts cooked with Chinese sausage, yum!