Which just points up that common sense is hardly “common”: it’s wisdom that comes from experience and study.  That which is common sense to an expert may mean hours of pondering and experimentation for the novice.  I am pleased to note that I am starting to develop “common sense” for pattern drafting.  Hooray!

In muslin news:

I was still mulling over the jacket fabrics as I drove up to see Sharon.  I really loved the diamond pattern, but wasn’t convinced it would work.  Sharon thought it would work just fine, and after seeing myself pinned into the jacket muslin, with the diamond pattern draped over the jacket front, I agreed.  In fact it may work better than the Celtic braid, so that’s what we’re going to do.  I will resley the loom and start weaving the yardage for the jacket – 8 yards ought to be more than plenty.  The pattern still needs one more set of tweaks (and Sharon says I really need to learn how to set in sleeves; apparently my sleeve-setting is horrendous), so I will do one more muslin as well.

Coat: the coat pattern, as it turns out, is just about fine the way it is!  As with the jacket, there are still a few tweaks that need to be made, so another muslin is in order.  But it’s almost ready for prime time.

The one catch, though, is that it really won’t work well with the black and red Celtic braid fabric, because the braid produces a straight line that clashes with the diagonal of the front:

coat muslin, with contrast collar and cuffs

It really needs to be used with a subtler allover pattern, something that will be interesting but which will not clash with the collar for attention.  So, oddly, developing the pattern to a good design has eliminated its suitability for its original purpose, which was finding a use for the Celtic braid fabric!

All of which reminds me of a lovely quote from Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, on the writer’s way of working:

Courage utterly opposes the bold hope that this is such fine work the work needs it, or the world.  Courage, exhausted, stands on bare reality: this writing weakens the work.  You must demolish the work and start over…

The part you must jettison is not only the best-written part; it is also, oddly, that part which was to have been the very point.  It is the original key passage, the passage on which the rest was to hang, and from which you yourself drew the courage to begin.

The unfortunate truth is that the stripes clash with the flow of the coat.  So it’s time to let them part ways, and find something else to do with the Celtic braid fabric, while developing a fabric to suit the design of the coat.

I am eyeing this pattern from a previous post, one which I had discarded as “blurring into static” from a distance:

sample 2 - Handwoven.net draft 29495, from "Fancy Twill Variations" by Ralph Griswold

I will probably rework this draft a couple of times before declaring it suitable, but it will be a good base for the coat pattern: subtle enough to be interesting close up, but not so bold as to draw attention to itself.  I want the clear focal point on the coat to be the dramatic collar (which also draws attention to the neck and face), and a strong fabric pattern will muddle that.

I have not thought about colors yet.  I’d like to have strong colors in the collar at least – Sharon is suggesting blues and greens or blues and purples, but I’m more attracted to red.  (Hey, you knew I was a drama queen!)  Because I can’t dye leather dependably (and I do want a leather collar), I think I may approach the problem by buying the leather for the collar first, then designing a fabric around the collar, rather than trying to find leather after the fact.  This is a great occasion for a trip to Leatherwise, a shop in Santa Cruz that specializes in fantastic leather.  I will probably go down two weekends from now – I’m booked next Saturday and they aren’t open on Sundays.

Meanwhile, I have not forgotten the Celtic braid fabric.  Sharon suggested making a cape or a cloak from it – the long lines would go well with simple rectangular shapes, and I have (more than) enough to make a very nice cape.  I borrowed one from Sharon that I think would work well, and will take the pattern off the garment and make myself a mockup in fleece before proceeding with the Celtic braid.

I won’t be seeing Sharon until late September, though, due to conflicts in both our schedules.  So that gives me plenty of time to adjust the patterns, redesign drafts, and finish that article for Handwoven.  I will weave up the samples for it today and tomorrow, and hope to get back to my own weaving this week.

So it looks like I have my work “cut out” for me!

coat muslin, with contrast collar and cuffs

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

original muslin mockup

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:

cashmere coat and leather collar, 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!

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

sketch of altered design

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:

altered muslin mockup

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!

muslin for coat

Compare it with the original mockup:

original mockup of coat

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!

coat mockup, with buttons

I like this because it adds some punctuation to the middle and bottom and outlines the diagonal front slightly, without being obtrusive or heavy-handed.  I will make this one into a mockup and take it to Sharon’s, to check the fit and see what she thinks of the design.