Toggle Coat Turmoil et al.

First things first:  I sold my Necchi Lydia!  Yesterday evening the interested party -- let's call her Darlene Gillespie  -- swung by to check her out.  It was love at first sight (between Darlene Gillespie and Lydia of course), what could I do?

You know how something (or someone) you've dismissed suddenly looks desirable when someone else is interested?  All the while Darlene Gillespie was practicing stitching with Lydia I was thinking Why am I selling this gorgeous machine?  Then she handed me a crisp fifty dollar bill and I remembered.

So that's it,  six sewing machines sold in one week!  If that isn't a record, it at least deserves honorable mention.  Now there's just the lonely Elna Grasshopper, chirp chirp.

Meanwhile, my Singer Genie's new owner sends us all greetings along with this heartwarming photo -- practically a Christmas card:

Genie looks happy but I'm not sure about that shawl.

I think we can do away with pseudonyms; Genie's new owner is named Yarrow and Genie was a gift from Yarrow's good friend Deepa.  You can check out Deepa's charming/funny sewing blog, Wearable Toile,  just as soon as you finish mine.  I predict Yarrow will have her own blog before long. 

But enough about sewing machines and pseudonyms.  Let's move on to my toggle coat project, Vogue 8452.  Yesterday I made a muslin and I am not happy with the results.  I cut the Small and it is ginormous.  I know a coat is often cut to fit over a suit, but this coat could fit over a fat suit.

Here's how I envision the fit:

Here's my muslin:









Now I know some of you are thinking, well, it's big, but not that big.   You're right.  I owned a Gloverall duffle coat in the mid-Eighties and I remember it being about this size but everything fit big back then.

Here's a Gloverall coat worn today -- still quite roomy and, let's face it, boxy. 

I think I'm going to cut down to the Extra-small, which kind of sucks because it's not just a question of cutting away, I'm also going to have to get out my French curve and add, since in a few places, like the neckline, the grading for the Extra-small is chopped away when you cut the Small.  Does that make sense?

So I guess I have to make another muslin.  If I still don't like it, I'm not going to make the coat and I'll use the wool for something else.  What's the point of making a coat out of high-quality materials if I'm not going to want to wear it?

And that's it.

Friends, how roomy do you like your coats to be?  Do you like room to layer or prefer the feel of Bemberg rayon lining snug against naked skin or maybe a silk tee?  We're all different, as Sunday's basic sewing machine recommendations post proved once again.  We like what we like and it's not about right and wrong...I think.

Have a great day, everybody!  Any Darlene Gillespie fans out there?