Coat for "Grand-puppy" and Some Lovely Linen

Now that I finally finished Tabitha, I'm on to making some Christmas gifts.  My daughter and son-in-law are living in Oregon where it rains a lot during the winter months.  They have a little dog, Riley.  They affectionately call him our "grand-puppy".  I picked up an adorable coat pattern for dogs last year and intended to make Riley a coat last Christmas.  That didn't happen but this year I intend to make the little guy a coat.

So I bought some bright blue rip-stop nylon.  I have on hand in my huge fabric stash some blue fleece that I will use for the lining that is a very close match.  Here is a picture of the pattern.  I'm going to make view B:

My daughter requested I make the coat in blue fabric and not red.  She didn't want Riley to look like Little Red Riding Hood.  

I have been receiving very enticing emails for months from an online fabric company called Fabrics-Store.com.  They sell very nice linen fabrics.  Last week I received an email that they had a "crazy sale" on their bleached softened medium weight linen.  I bought a "yard" for $1.00 plus shipping.  I say "yard" because I actually got much more than one yard.  And the fabric is 60 inches wide.  The fabric is very high quality!  Here is a picture, but it doesn't do the fabric justice:

I'm not sure what I will make with this linen but there is definitely enough for a skirt and maybe a vest; or depending on the pattern I might even manage to make a jacket with this lovely fabric.  I will definitely plan on purchasing more linen from this company sometime.

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Presenting Tabitha

Well, I have some good news to share this afternoon!  Tabitha is done! Hallelujah!  I finished the muslins. The first one was for the fitted cover for Tabitha's perfect little body and one was for my not so perfect little body. Then I dressed Tabitha with her fitted cover, padded her in strategic areas until my muslin was filled out where needed.

Tabitha is actually a bit bigger than me but according to the directions I read in Threads Magazine by Kenneth King, it is good to pad a little more.  The padding may condense down some over time.  And it adds a little built-in ease when draping and fitting.

Here is my finished Tabitha.  Well, she's almost finished.  I should secure the muslin by hand stitching the neck, zippered back and armholes of my muslin to the padding as well as down the center front.  Since I don't plan to take the fitted muslin off Tabitha, I'm not in a big rush.  I don't plan to use this dress form for anyone else besides me. The only reason to take it off at this point would be if my weight changed drastically. If so, I would need to do this all over again!

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Tabitha Update

I finished draping Tabitha and then drafted a paper pattern from the fitted bodice front and back and skirt front and back muslin pieces.  Then I cut out some muslin from the pattern pieces and stitched it together.  I need to purchase a long separating zipper to install down the center back.

Then I will begin the process, with hopefully my dear husband's assistance, of making a fitted muslin of myself. Then I will pad out Tabitha where needed to fit my muslin.

I do need to tweak Tabitha's fitted muslin more yet as it needs to be very fitted to her.  But below is a picture of my progress along with a picture of our crazy cat, Eclipse, who thinks he has to inspect all my sewing projects.

Thanks for reading,

Marla

Muslin of Tabitha beginning to take shape.

My sewing inspector.