Gosh, the whole drama of the fitting of this coat, when it really heated up, played out over on PatternReview's message boards and didn't make the blog at all. Now I find I just can't bring myself to bring things up to date by adding photos of the saggy, draggy, wrinkly effect of the sleeves as they were drafted. On me. On others, and in another fabric, perhaps they are fine.
But thanks to PatternReview members, most especially Belinda, aka sew4fun, I am able to report that it all worked out in the end. Generally I am tragically stingy when it comes to fabric, but I happened to have three yards of this gorgeous cashmere. At first it looked as though my mother, the prowling rug hooker, was going to make out big with a whole yard of my extra fabric. But no! I had to cut new sleeves. And then I nixed the hood, so I had to cut a collar. Not so much left for rugs now, but I can't say I feel too guilty.
And cashmere is such a dream to wear! Soft and warm. I am very happy with my coat. It fits me; shoulders are right, sleeve length is right, no bunching in back at my swayback, no pulling around the tummy and hips. Take that, ready-to-wear!
