As I'm writing this, it's Saturday night. I'm sitting on the couch behind Brian, drinking an inordinate amount of apple juice while watching him finish Resident Evil 4 on professional mode. It's an endeavor that involves a lot of anger and swearing, and the game itself is fairly disgusting, so that's been exciting. I spent the earlier part of Saturday working on a syllabus, looking up humidifiers (thanks, Sara Lynn, for the text recommendation - you know you have good friends when they read your grouchy Facebook messages and respond privately with Amazon links!), half-watching another British crime drama I don't think I like all that much but will likely finish anyway because it's only 8 episodes, and then doing one of my weird impulse activities: making myself a new coat.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I do have a reason for this one, though! My nice purple winter coat, the one I've had for many, many years, has finally bit the dust. I bought it on sale about 8 (or 9 - how long have I been teaching???) years ago, and have worn it my entire "professional" life. While I was able to ignore the pilling and the fact that it kept looking rattier and rattier, its doom was inevitable when the seams finally started to give out.
Nothing like feeling the Midwest Winter breezing its way through a tear in your shoulder.
When I went to go look for post-holiday deals on a new coat, though, I was underwhelmed. All of the coats were more expensive than I wanted, and so after a lot of grimacing and frowning at everything in the store, I wound up picking up a black puff jacket on sale for about 40 bucks. It's fine - it works really well, actually. It's waterproof (something my dad and I tested during the snowfall that occurred a couple times back in December by going on neighborhood jaunts), and it's a lot warmer than I'd expected it to be given a) the price, and b) the fact that I can ball it up and stick it in my purse. It's crushable!
Despite it's success, I still had it in my head that I wanted a long coat for work - something that looked a bit dressy, but was warm and ultimately practical. Of course, given that I couldn't get what I wanted in a store, I adhered to my time-honored strategy of thinking, for some reason, that I can make it my damn self.
LOL.
I'm using the same pattern that I used for Vanessa Ives' coat, because I really like that coat. It's not the best for my shape, but... eh. I want to feel like a warm Victorian, dammit! Also, the pattern is fairly simple when it doesn't involve all kinds of embellishments. My first run through was with a blue sweatshirt-ish fabric, but prettier. I mean, I like it.
However, I feel like it's too bright for a coat. That's probably a dumb thing to think, but I am very attached to the color black (and old habits die hard). Instead, I got the brilliant idea to make the blue a lining of sorts, and then to cover it with a stretchy black fabric. I found the perfect fabric at Jo-Ann (on super sale, because I am super good with coupons), and then took an hour or so this evening to cut out the pieces based on the blue part and then pin it together to check size. It's fine - it covers the blue very well - but there's one problem.
IT'S SO FREAKING HEAVY.
I hadn't thought about it in relation to the black fabric. The blue is nifty and lightweight, but the black is so, so heavy. I mean, that'll be great when the February plunge decides to hit - I assume - but it's going to really weigh me down if there's a sudden... I dunno. Avalanche. Yeti attack. Something. It's just weird; when I put the two pieces on to check for fit, I was not expecting to need weight lifting experience to successfully hoist it up.
So you know. Things are going great! Granted, I'm writing this in the irritation of a Saturday night. When Wednesday hits and it's time to post this blog, I'll need to be done with the coat if I want to wear it to work - Wednesday is my first day! I'll add in a last minute update if it works out. If there's nothing below this... assume I died under the weight of the stupid thing.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I do have a reason for this one, though! My nice purple winter coat, the one I've had for many, many years, has finally bit the dust. I bought it on sale about 8 (or 9 - how long have I been teaching???) years ago, and have worn it my entire "professional" life. While I was able to ignore the pilling and the fact that it kept looking rattier and rattier, its doom was inevitable when the seams finally started to give out.
Nothing like feeling the Midwest Winter breezing its way through a tear in your shoulder.
When I went to go look for post-holiday deals on a new coat, though, I was underwhelmed. All of the coats were more expensive than I wanted, and so after a lot of grimacing and frowning at everything in the store, I wound up picking up a black puff jacket on sale for about 40 bucks. It's fine - it works really well, actually. It's waterproof (something my dad and I tested during the snowfall that occurred a couple times back in December by going on neighborhood jaunts), and it's a lot warmer than I'd expected it to be given a) the price, and b) the fact that I can ball it up and stick it in my purse. It's crushable!
Despite it's success, I still had it in my head that I wanted a long coat for work - something that looked a bit dressy, but was warm and ultimately practical. Of course, given that I couldn't get what I wanted in a store, I adhered to my time-honored strategy of thinking, for some reason, that I can make it my damn self.
LOL.
I'm using the same pattern that I used for Vanessa Ives' coat, because I really like that coat. It's not the best for my shape, but... eh. I want to feel like a warm Victorian, dammit! Also, the pattern is fairly simple when it doesn't involve all kinds of embellishments. My first run through was with a blue sweatshirt-ish fabric, but prettier. I mean, I like it.
However, I feel like it's too bright for a coat. That's probably a dumb thing to think, but I am very attached to the color black (and old habits die hard). Instead, I got the brilliant idea to make the blue a lining of sorts, and then to cover it with a stretchy black fabric. I found the perfect fabric at Jo-Ann (on super sale, because I am super good with coupons), and then took an hour or so this evening to cut out the pieces based on the blue part and then pin it together to check size. It's fine - it covers the blue very well - but there's one problem.
IT'S SO FREAKING HEAVY.
I hadn't thought about it in relation to the black fabric. The blue is nifty and lightweight, but the black is so, so heavy. I mean, that'll be great when the February plunge decides to hit - I assume - but it's going to really weigh me down if there's a sudden... I dunno. Avalanche. Yeti attack. Something. It's just weird; when I put the two pieces on to check for fit, I was not expecting to need weight lifting experience to successfully hoist it up.
So you know. Things are going great! Granted, I'm writing this in the irritation of a Saturday night. When Wednesday hits and it's time to post this blog, I'll need to be done with the coat if I want to wear it to work - Wednesday is my first day! I'll add in a last minute update if it works out. If there's nothing below this... assume I died under the weight of the stupid thing.
Update: FINISHED IT! And just in time for classes, too.
Comments
Post a Comment