Lady In Waiting

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been sewing like a madwoman. But not the Lady Grey.

As you can see here, I have gotten the muslin sewn and pin fitted, but that's where I stopped. The weather changed and I realized all my pants were either linen or cropped, so I made three new pairs of pants in three days. More on those later.

I also needed a bag to carry some things to a special event, so I finished my Favorite Things Carpet Bag, which had been sitting as a UFO for 4 years!

Lady Grey Muslin Traced, Pinned, Cut

Yesterday I traced, pinned and cut the muslin for the Lady Grey coat. I had a class this evening or I would have started basting it together. I have another event tomorrow night, so it looks like it will be the weekend before I do much more. Here it is on my cutting table.

I wanted to cut my muslin from something with a similar weight to my coat fabric. I had an unused red faille shower curtain that I thought might work, but it turned out to be too small. (It's now tagged to become a raincoat for Moby, my very large white Standard Poodle. He looks great in red!)

I decided to use the floral tapestry home dec fabric that I blogged about here. Part of me thought it would make a really cute coat, but another part of me thought I would look like I was wearing someone's grandmother's sofa. It was that image that helped me decide to sacrifice it for the muslin. (What you are seeing in the photo are the strange colors of the reverse side. The background is black on the right side.)

I'm thinking of using what's left of the tapestry after cutting my muslin to make this Cynthia Rowley purse, Simplicity 2350. But that's a project for another day.

Time to Get Serious About Lady Grey

Today's post by Gertie is all about gearing up for sewing our Lady Grey coat muslins. I've decided to go with the black and mocha houndstooth, but I still haven't found the right lining fabric. I think a trip to Gala Fabrics has been added to today's to-do list.

I'm also going to take my fabric to the dry cleaners to have them steam press it. I've steamed coat fabrics myself in the past, but I want this one to be perfect, and I have a lot of other things to do.

A while back, Carolyn asked, "Are you a tracer or a cutter?" Most patterns I cut, unless I think there will be a lot of alterations, in which case I trace the piece or pieces that I think will need a lot of chopping and taping. That way if I screw up too badly, I can start again. I think with the Lady Grey, I'm going to trace. This has just been moved up to the top of the to-do list. I'd better get to work.