I am on vacation. I will not be going anywhere. At all. Seriously, when you’re gone all the time, home is good. I may even buy new sheets to celebrate.
When I got back to SFO the other day I thought I’d drive home via Berkeley and a seriously great fabric store there, Stonemountain and Daughter. I’ve been hankering to make a coat. I love coats and own several (more than several, but I shall have a clear out soon). I usually just wear one or two, plus my uniform coat and those coats are all black. I want to make a coat that’s not black, something a bit more fun. But not too hard since I’ve never made a coat and I want to be successful.
Stonemountain has an upstairs section where all the fabrics are half price. They usually have some fab wools and silks up there so I thought it would be worth a look. I found several pretty coating fabrics – gray, black, brown – but knew that this raspberry Italian textured wool coating would do for my frivilous, non-black coat. Raspberry! AND it was $13/yard.
Now to figure out how to make a coat and find a pattern. I’ll look in my reference books and online, but if anyone has coat making recommendations now is the time to share them. I also need to find a pattern and that turns out to be the hardest part of all. The big pattern companies have about 2 coat patterns each in their Fall offerings and one is so 80s it’s almost fashionable again. Luckily I’ve got years of Burda magazines to look through. I’m sure I’ll find a few to choose from there.
Also, now would not be the time to point out that it’ll be in the 80s all week where I live, so coat needs are not immediate.
Foodwise, I got a baking stone at Kohl’s sale the other day. It’s a rectangular “cookie sheet” but I’d never make cookies on the thing. Pizza and bread yes. The first thing I made was Smitten Kitchen’s Shaved Asparagus Pizza and it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Seriously. I used low fat mozzarella, a bit of cheddar leftover from Mac and Cheese and lots of red pepper to make it hot. Yum. I tried the pizza dough recipe from The Bread Bible and that was good and easy too.
While relaxing in my bed fighting off the jetlag, I was watching a Hercule Poirot (my fave of faves btw) and there is said HP rocking a mighty interesting shawl (he’s got a cold in this episode). Gorgeous colorway, interesting use of feather and fan-like pattern. Must note that for possible Raspberry coat coordination at a later date. Also, be afraid. I learned how to do screen grabs and it’s totally easy…
Must get back to relaxing now!
What style of coat are your after, Silvia? I’ve seen some lovely version’s of Collette’s Lady Gray in blogosphere & on Patternreview.com
I can’t wait to see what pattern on you decide on!
The fabric is pretty, but the pizza looks absolutely divine!
If raglan suits you, it can be easier than set-in sleeves, when the fabric is thicker and perhaps less flexible. And a stand-up collar would be easier than something with lapels. It’s funny, but as I write, I’m beginning to see something in my mind. J’aurai dû penser d’écrire en français. Utilise qqch de formidable comme doublure, un imprimé.
YAY RELAXING> I have a couple coat patterns I love in my bag full of patterns I’ll never make. I’ll look and see if there’s something you’d like and scan ya a picture. also there is some cute stuff in the BBW coat book, FYI.