A Jacket (Coat) Seemingly Out of Nowhere!

Pearl would like to wish everyone a happy start of winter and a shout out for peace on earth and goodwill toward man! (Or I will laser you all with my death eyes.)

I've made a few refinements to the coat, trying to push through a bit of debilitating insecurity where patternmaking is involved. First thing I noticed after photographing myself (ignore the general wonkiness of the shot - I'm no good alone) was the need for a bit of a sway back adjustment, as seen in this photo:

See where the back is kinda wrinkly around the waist area? This is because I may have a shorter torso and a bit more ample rear than the company whose coat pattern I used as a starting point expected the average home sewer to have. And it ain't much, lemme tell you. Anyway, a tiny tuck at the waistline and it flattened out nicely:

The side view was pretty swell, as you can see below. But there are a few issues that would drive me nuts in a finished project. First, the side seam pulls a bit to the rear of the garment. I might fix this by rearranging the gathers at the back so that the seam falls where it should. Not sure how this will affect the center front panels. If it's too much for the front to take, I might need to add additional inches to the band under the butt and redraft the center front panels to absorb the alteration.

The blue lines at the side indicate where the seam should be. It's difficult to see, but the seam lies (lays? lay?) about an inch and a half behind that blue line:

I will also need to add about a half inch to the back panels (where they meet the bottom band) to make up for the sway back adjustment. I am surprisingly happy with the sleeves - which sort of makes me unhappy since it was just a happy coincident that they worked out at all. So, yeah, I'm sorta unhappy that there was no need for me to dissect them and learn from them. But then again, happy that there was no need for me to dissect them and learn from them.

And I changed the front closure from an asymmetrical, curved front (which, incidentally, would match my asymmetrical, curved mug):

to a more traditional style closure with a straight closure line down the front:

and I took up a couple of tucks in the center front panels down under the closures where the side front panels start to curve around to the back to improve the silhouette and pull the band in a bit closer under the butt for maximum bubble-ass effect. Sorta want to start a bubble-ass revolution.

In other news, we have new neighbors in the house next door. They seem young, perhaps, and sort of couple-ish. And I have the wish hovering in the back of my mind that they will never, ever want to have a topical chat as I try to get in my car to leave for work in the morning. Or wash my car, "just because," in their speedo. Or throw a brick at my mom's boyfriend. (Ask me about that one sometime.)

And with that, a special holiday shout out for my peeps:

Happy holidays -- spread the joy around far and wide. May you have plenty of light at this dark time of year, filled with loved ones, food, and celebration!

Can I just say...

...making a coat from scratch is a bitch.

A total bitch.

BUT it has been an incredible learning experience for me. So there.

I've got some semblance of a muslin worked out, sort of. And the fit is coming along better than I was expecting, given my slow progress on it. But I am terrified to cut into the fashion fabric for it. Paralyzed, really. I bought twice the required amount of fabric for it to account for screw-ups, and I still can't bring myself to do it.

I'm dumb.

Whatever.

My camera is dumb, too. I mean aside from it simply insisting on taking nothing but crap photos of me anytime I point it in my direction. It is now having a ball torturing me by hiding its cables and making the card reader on my computer crash, and blah, and other things that result in sum in my not posting for 2 months. Okay, maybe not totally the camera's fault, but whatevs. We march on.

In other news, Ms. Pearl is being a total doll -- which removes her from the list of excuses I can use for not getting around to finishing this coat. Also, Nutburgers-the-Neighbor has been in the clink for the last month or so, eliminating him from my excuse list as well. Though his spot on said list may have been replaced by the luxurious joy of drinking beer on my porch at twilight without worrying about whether I'll be accosted by the latest "discovery" that his ex-roommates are tunneling under the house and feeding him rat poison in the middle of the night while he sleeps. I could not make this stuff up, I swear. Amazing shit.

At some point soon I hope to make a decent attempt at finding camera cables and making an effort to be productive. We'll see how well that goes. Wish me luck!

In solidarity,
Ms. May

Procrastinate much?

Yes, I lag.

And, yes, I stress about lagging. But enough already!

I will shove the neurosis down to show you:



Which is supposed to come together to make this:



How, you ask? I don't know.

I spent the better part of Furlough Friday installing padding on my work table so I can iron big pieces of fabric instead of figuring out how to actually make this thing exist. My hands are permanently clutched into claws from stretching layer after layer of flannel and stapling like a crazy person rather than drafting the mock-up to this coat. There may have been an over-abundance of coffee involved.

I also realized that I've never made a sloper for myself, which I think anyone who sews for themselves will tell you is an absolute must. I'm a rebel. I like doing things the hard way. Some might say, the impossible way. I feel like I learn more this way. Har har.

And this weekend was spent in Palm Desert, so there was much more of this:



...than designing and sewing going on.

Seriously, though, my next post will prolly be about boring slopers. I just think emerald green silk and SUPER scratchy double pinstriped wool are much more fun to look at. And Mr. Dude and Pearl in their Fourth of July glory, also. And, since I'm still setting up my basic tools for this project, I've decided not to start the clock yet.

Neener neener,
Ms. May