A weaving publication has expressed interest in the cashmere coat, and it’s got a tight deadline: the photo shoot is just two months away!  For a couture coat, with an as-yet-unfitted sewing pattern, that’s practically nothing.  In fact I’m not sure why I agreed to it, but I did – perhaps because I was thinking of doing it anyway, and I love the suspense of a tight deadline.  And there’s nothing wrong with being published, of course!

Here is the pattern I am planning for the coat, Vogue 8674:

This is basically a vest combined with a cape.  The vest front will be black suede, with red-and-black buttons.  The cape will be the Celtic braid fabric, with the stripes running down the front, lined with black silk charmeuse.  I haven’t yet figured out what fabric for the back of the vest will be – possibly the same silk charmeuse, possibly a wool suiting.  (I don’t have enough suede to do the back.)  The collar will be a contrasting fabric – perhaps the black silk charmeuse or the Celtic braid fabric with the stripes running lengthwise.  A trip to Britex Fabrics may be in order!

(If you don’t remember what the Celtic Braid fabric looks like, here it is:

I really love the fabric and am pleased to find a use for it!)

So, today I am working up my first muslin for the Celtic Braid Coat.  (I’m renaming it from “the cashmere coat” because I think it’s more descriptive.)  If I have time, I’ll do the first round of alterations before Sharon comes by on Sunday to help me with a second fitting.  Usually it takes three or four rounds to get things perfect, so there’s no time to lose!

Meanwhile, we have harvested our first cucumber and a handful of beans from the garden.  The butternut squash is really cranking out babies (unlike the zucchini which is taking a more leisurely pace) – I’ve counted seven or eight so far, with more yet to come.  I’d take Julia’s suggestion (from a previous post) and eat some of them young, like zucchini, except that mature butternut squash is my favorite vegetable and I can’t bring myself to sacrifice delicious butternut squashes for the sake of a better-tasting zucchini.  Perhaps next year I’ll plant two butternut squash, one to produce mature fruit and one for eating young.  There is plenty of space in the backyard, after all!  We are “farming” only about 1/3 of it so far – next year we’ll likely do more, and prepare the beds better.  I love gardening, especially since we finally have enough land to do it.  I remember fondly the days when I had an 1800 square foot garden, and grew 83 tomato varieties (and a dizzying array of other vegetables!).

Off to the farmer’s market!  When I get back, I’m going straight to work on that muslin.

By working nonstop for six hours this morning, I managed to complete the coat muslin with an hour or two to spare:

Compare this with the last mockup, which was cut apart and then roughly pinned in place:

Aside from a few problems (most notably that I accidentally flipped the collar right to left), it works and looks pretty good.  I’m very pleased with my first attempt at drafting an asymmetric collar.

Just as a reminder, here is what the fabric looks like, draped:

I’m not entirely satisfied with the fit of the coat muslin on the dress form – there are a LOT of fitting issues – and I think I may have added too much flare at the bottom, but these are all correctable, with Sharon’s help.

Off to Sharon’s!

I took up the muslin to Sharon’s and I did indeed get it right.  However, Sharon thought the overall design was boring (too traditional), and together we tested out some other alternatives – a few of which I liked better.

Here is the winner from yesterday afternoon’s sketch-fest:

In this case, we still have the dramatic collar with the Celtic braid and black border, but the collar is smaller and tapers as it reaches the opposite side, disappearing just at the point of the neckline.  The pocket will be black and red, with the line of demarcation paralleling the line of the larger collar section.  We kept the buttons going diagonally down the front,  though  they aren’t shown in the sketch.

Here is the pinned-up muslin showing about what we intend:

Sharon also suggested that I change the design from a fitted, darted straight line (which she felt would be too rigid when combined with the stripes) to a swing coat – minimally shaped and slightly flared at the bottom.  This, per Sharon, would give a looser feel and still be flattering.  Since I’ve never tried on a swing coat, I have no idea if she’s right, but I figure it’s worth a try.  So I will be trying to mock that up as well.

Of course, I’ve never tried drafting an asymmetric collar or a swing coat (this is only my third or fourth attempt at drafting, after all), but Sharon gave me rough instructions and I think I can figure the rest out.  I’ve got three weeks to do it, which should be plenty of time – I’m busy next weekend and Sharon is busy the week following, so we’re meeting up in mid-August to catch up again.  We’ll review muslins for the jacket, the coat, the kimono jacket, and the sloper which I’m going to draft based on the measurements Sharon took yesterday.  Lots of stuff to do, and happily, plenty of time to do it in!

Meanwhile, I’m turning my attention back to weaving.  I’ve decided to weave off the rest of this warp before installing the Fireside rolling temple (now that we’ve got the placement down, the fabric is very much in the way) and after that I’ll throw on a warp for the Handwoven article I’m working on.  That should be quick and easy (we’re talking mug rugs here), so I think by mid next weekend I’ll be threading up the loom with that 37-yard warp, and starting to weave the samples for all that yardage.

Off to pit some cherries!

I cut and sewed the coat muslin this morning.  My first attempt failed spectacularly, but the second was spot on!

Compare it with the original mockup:

I totally win!  Not only did I successfully draft a pattern of my own design (and differing substantially from any “in the book”), but I managed to troubleshoot and correct the pattern when it failed initially.

I feel as proud as a four-year-old holding up a scribbled drawing and announcing, “I did it all by myself!”

At this point I have drafted and sewn three muslins: the kimono jacket, the jacket with shawl collar, and the coat body.  (I’m not bothering to put sleeves into the coat since it is using the exact same pattern as the jacket sleeves, except maybe a little longer; since there will probably be corrections to the jacket sleeve, I’d only have to make the identical correction on the coat.  So it makes sense to fit just the body, and leave the sleeve to later.)  I have also started the strawberry jam (it will take more attention later this morning, as I need to boil it briefly and pour it into large sheet pans to start the sun-cooking), and Mike and I have marked the spots where we need to drill holes to install the Fireside rolling temple.  (95% of the credit there goes to Mike, who did all the hard work, figuring, etc.  I mostly just stood there and held things!)

I’m guessing I will finish most of the muslins, get the strawberry jam into the sheet pans for sun-cooking, and get the rolling temple on the loom.  I will probably pit the cherries for a cherry pie, but make the actual pie tomorrow – though one never knows: I might have more time than I expect.  But since Mike and I are going out for breakfast in a bit, it seems unlikely I’ll get much more than that done.

Still, three out of four (projects) ain’t bad!