Thursday, March 31, 2011

Avoiding a wedding faux pas




My lovely niece Shelley is getting married this June.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and it will be in the gardens at the beautiful Clay Hill Farm in York (or is it Oqunquit?) Maine.  It's been my plan to make a sport coat for the event.  I found an interesting 1980's pattern on Etsy that caught my eye and was in my size.  I love when that happens.  There are no overly complicated pockets, and I'm drawn to its narrower lapels. 

 I was in NYC after Christmas and hit the garment district on a mission.  It was a weekday so Steinlauf & Stoller was open.  This store is invaluable for anyone wanting to sew menswear.  The salesman was extremely helpful.  He patiently explained the differences  between wool canvas, hair canvas and french canvas.  He also set me up with some pocketing material, shoulder pads and sleeve heads.  So with a bag full of coat "guts" I went on the search for my jacket fabric.  

I crisscrossed from W 35th to W 40th finding absolutely NOTHING that said "early summer wedding".  My preconceived dream fabric was a silk/wool tweed in a chamois yellow.  No such luck, nothing even close. As the afternoon waned and darkness fell I ended up at A & K Fabrics on W39th about 3 minutes before closing time.  In the very back of the store I found a bolt of aqua linen/poly blend.   Sold.  

I was feeling victorious for about 2 weeks.  Then I found out that the colors of my niece's wedding are aqua and chartreuse.  As you can see in the photo my coat fabric coordinates very nicely with the invitations.  Hmmm is it appropriate for the gay uncle to show up matching the tablecloths and bridesmaid's dresses?  I think that's a big wedding NO.  So back to NYC I go.  

I met up with Peter (always the gracious host) and my Jersey boy/bear Joey.  I made a beeline to Gray Line Linen, which in retrospect is where I should have gone from the beginning.  This store has everything linen, from fabric to make your own dishtowels to upholstery fabric.  I quickly decided on a terra cotta linen in their Warsa range.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.  It's currently at the dry cleaners being pre-shrunk and pressed.  A new sewing adventure begins.  And a huge wedding faux pas narrowly avoided!  

2 comments:

  1. Ooohh.. I love having you active on the blogs again!

    Being from Scandinavia, I don't really get the whole color-coordinating thing with bridesmaids and all that.

    But to me that color-coincidence says 'Waiter mingling with guests'. I also think the darker color suits your skintone better :-)

    Looking forward to seeing jacket-innards turning into jacket.

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  2. Sounds GREAT! At the moment, I am making a linen work shirt for my son (I made one for his father last summer and he went nuts to get one for himself. Light, tough, cool).

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