I finally finished this sucker, despite a number of setbacks. Like discovering I had cut out two upper left sleeves out of the crewelwork, and of course, there wasn’t enough fabric left to cut a right upper sleeve. So instead of making the sleeves half crewel/half solid, they’re all solid. DOH!
The pattern was kind of a bother. The lining has this funky facing + bag lining, which totally over-complicates things. A simple bag lining would have been much smoother and tidier. (Cavet: Yes, I know, this is not historically accurate at all. The pattern doesn’t claim to be, and I wasn’t forcing it to be.)
What following this pattern made me think, though, is that I’m just advanced enough to be annoyed by patterns (unless they’re really smart patterns, like Truly Victorian). I mean, if I had just used the basic pieces, made my changes (just to the neckline, in this case), and made my own bag lining, then everything would have been simple as pie.
Anyway, I did everything but trim this jacket and figure out the closures. I might just pin it closed (accurate, easy, and lets me not have to decide :-). I’m also contemplating pink ribbons, because that’s both accurate and sounds a-freakin-dorable.
Trim will be black gimp around the godets (to cover the crappiness) and along the bottom edge and black venice lace around the neckline. Not sure if I have enough lace for cuffs, but I’d love that too. And to tie the sleeves visually to the jacket better, I’ll applique strips from the crewel-work shawl edge along the center-top of each sleeve.
Neckline and trim are rather inspired by this unidentified portrait.
