A minor tragedy...

Well, perhaps "tragedy" is a little strong....But for a few minutes there I didn't think so. Nor did it feel so very minor! Let me explain:

Way back in March, I bought the Style Arc Audrey Jacket pattern.

 It's a bit different to what I'd usually wear, but I really loved the slightly 60s feel of the wide stand up collar and the swing style silhouette. Not to mention the sleeves! I'd been wanting to make a coat for ages, and this seemed like an ideal first attempt, being a little less structured and tailored than most coat patterns. Then I found a glorious red wool and that pretty much decided it.

So why am I only attempting it now, given we're already halfway through winter down here? I'm not proud to admit this, but I really, really wanted to do bound buttonholes on the collar, and when I made such a hash of those on my Sew For Victory dress, I was thoroughly intimidated. And isn't it just so easy to procrastinate on a project when you're intimidated??

But, after pulling myself out of my sewing rut (see last post!), I decided it was time to tackle my coat properly. Armed with the absolutely superb bound buttonholes tutorial by the Little Tailoress, (truly, I can't praise this highly enough) I sat down at the machine determined to master this bete noire.

And did they work out? They did! They really did! Look!

You can imagine the happy dance that ensued. :)

And then....tragedy! To my utter horror, I realised I had marked and sewed the buttonholes in the wrong place. The collar piece is folded in half length-ways, and the buttons are meant to be central. Instead (and ignore basting thread):

I'll admit, there was some movie-style "noooooooooooo!"-ing to the heavens. Then I tried to come up with ways in which the placement wouldn't matter. No good. There was nothing else for it but to sulk. And knit instead. Right up to the point that I discovered that sulky knitting had made me read the pattern wrong and I would have to unravel and re-knit. Flounced off to read a book instead.

Oh I know, worse things happen at sea and all that. But it did seem like the sewing gods were being a tad unfair... 

After a day's break, (and a renewed ability to see the funny side of it all) I'm ready to tackle my coat again. I'm hoping to get it finished tomorrow.  I'm happy with how the rest of it is coming together, and I'm taking extra care (for once!) to make sure the insides are finished off nicely too.  At least I know I can do bound buttonholes now! I'll just be very, very sure to pay attention to pattern markings...

Have a wonderful ( tragedy-free!) week :)

Danielle oxo