pelisse hiccups

Best laid plans and all that 

.
This new mission is proving to be a pain. I bought an 'historically accurate'  spencer pattern as a base thinking that this would speed some things up. Oops.

 

Could tell almost imediately I tried the toile on that having overlapping neck and gaping waist line was not a good look for me. So am still in the middle of  trying to adjust- smaller overall size and then cutting and splicing to give the fullness required.   On the far side is the adjustment - still pinned at present -  this side is as was, looks neater but the edge of the fabric is the centre front! 

 I would normally pop a side dart in to sort the flabbiness under the arm and to realign things but there isn't a side seam to work to. I think the back is still a bit too large,  so  still serious fiddling to be done.  oh well.

When this is right I will make it up as a spencer just to check it out properly.

What this really means is a very large delay in this project. Of course plan b is to find someone the same shape as the pattern- no problems then! or surgery.

This could not be allowed to put me off tooo much - so started a dinky one. I do not remember seeing or buying the fabric, I am not a dotty buyer, but there it was, all, fresh and ironed saying 'me'. Couldn't resist. Perhaps it is a magic fabric stash..... I wish!

 Only started redrafting from the facing trial version yesterday morning!  Cheating again - haven't bound the edges of the vandykes - these are lined. The sleeves don't look long enough now - on the informal image of the pelisse they are gorilla-length. I've gone with the same dimensions skirt as in the trial but added in an extra couple of cm width to the  hem of the centre back panel.
I wasn't intending to do this properly-properly but its coming together so sweetly that it is tempting to put more into it. Narrow ribbon couched on to give a suggestion of the decoration might be smart. Need to see how the skirt, collar and belt work - I don't think there will be much space for fancy things. 

 Even though it is giving grief I still adore the coat, I keep going back to the website and drooling.....

Scissor update - in full control of all major pairs.  Found a spare snippy pair under the front passenger seat in the car. Left them there so at least one pair can always be accounted for.  Thinking ahead.

I know just how she feels.