mondays

Some days are more difficult than others. Monday morning should not be accompanied by plaid. Especially an uneven plaid. Especially an uneven one directional plaid. Especially an uneven, one directional plaid with a 4"x 4 1/4" pattern repeat for a frock coat on a size 52 man.

Never mind. The colour is totally off in this picture. The fabric is really a brown and black background with a double grey stripe on two sides of the yellow bordered rectangle.

After much consternation, I made some decisions.

Which way was up? I ran the grey stripe downwards.

Could I use both sides of the fabric as the "right" side so as to have a mirror image symmetry in cutting? Yes I can, and did.

Which part of the plaid should be prominent at the CB? Not the bright yellow part of the pattern. I picked the centre of the rectangle, so the grey stripes book-match mid back.

What about the pattern at the CF? I picked the same mid point of the rectangle but at the front the brown areas will book-match.

Should I close the chest dart and move it to a lapel dart? Yes. What you see in the photo is the preliminary closing of the dart and the resulting opening into the gorge line. I shortened the lapel dart so it will be hidden. I do gain a bit of fabric mid chest but that may work in my favour- we'll see. Less pattern interruption at the waistline.

Should I wait and cut my sleeves in muslin? I think so. I'm not that brave on a Monday morning, or afternoon it turns out. Tuesday could be an option.

Yardage- it took 2.8m for everything except sleeves and top collar. I'm pressing for a solid contrasting top collar fabric. There's a plaid limit somewhere! I like to keep track of yardages for future references.

Book-match. Don't words seem odd when you use them a few times too many? Just in case I am confusing you it is a term used more often in woodworking, but it applies here too.

Book Match: The most commonly used match in which every other piece of veneer is turned over so adjacent pieces are opened like adjacent pages in a book, creating a mirrored-image pattern at the joint line and yielding a nearly continuous grain.