There seems to be a problem with finding the proper colored dusty pink wool to create the coat. My answer for this problem is to check E-bay. This is were I found the pink wool that I purchased for the coat, and it is nearly identical to the original in color. The seller that sold it to me was trim999, who sells this pink wool in their E-bay store by the yard. (I purchased seven yards)
Tracie plans to begin my coat sometime next week, as soon as she has the embroidery on the collar and cuffs mapped out. She has hired a woman who does embroidery from designs, who will add the embroidery on the coat by machine, which should save Tracie time. A friend of Tracie's is sending her a copy of the J.
; For those of you who are completely detail obssessed, as I am, will notice that the J. Peterman Coat's collar is more rounded in the front than the film's coat, which is more angular, as well as a difference in the materials used to create the Peterman coat's buttons in that the Peterman's are decorated in a cording fabric while the film's are simply button form disks covered in black silk.. Tracie and I are both
Photo courtesy of Ebay's theantiqueguys.
Before even beginning work on my pink wool, Tracie plans to create a muslin mock up of the coat, to make sure that everything lays properly and the collar is the right size, etc. She also plans to create my coat a few sizes too big (per my request) so when worn it will have the same visual affect as when Kate wore the coat, which was 4 sizes larger than her size. (Kate was a size 4, the coat, a size 8)
She plans to have my coat completed and shipped out by the first week of December!
Tracie recieved the J. Peterman Coat today, and she informed me my pink wool is a more dusty rose color and a darker pink, while the Peterman is on the light pastel pink side. She assures me that my coat will still be beautiful none the less. I whole heartedly agree. The slight color variation is quite fine with me, being that
She will be basing the sizing of my coat on the Peterman coat she had sent to her. The Peterman is marked as a size 14, but Tracie has told me that the coat runs extremelly small and is much closer to a size 10/12, which according to my measurements should be just large enough.to give the same larger effect to the coat as the coat does with Kate in the film. The Peterman's length will although have to be extended, being that I am quite tall at 5' 8", the same height as Kate, actually!
After examining the J. Peterman Coat over the weekend, Tracie has discovered that this Size 14 marked coat is not a 14 at all, it's not a 12, and it's not even a 10, it's closer to an 8! I guess the key is to watch the size you buy when shopping with J. Peterman!
Anyway, Tracie was planning on using the sizing on this coat to base the sizing of mine on, but while she says if she did base the sizing on this truely size 8 coat, it would still fit me, it would not have the same oversized look as was in the film, so she plans to bump the sizing up to a true size 10 (not a Peterman 10, which would be a true 6!) Interestingly, with my coat being made in a size 10, it is being made in the same size as the original!
Currently Tracie is having massive problems with Audrey, the embroiderer. She is not returning Tracie's calls, or her emails. She has made the decision to seek out another person, and she already has the phone number of a lady that is supposed to be really good with embroidery design etc... She is hoping that if she gets all the imformation concerning the embroidery to her as soon as possible, she can get the designs digitized and ready for Tracie by the end of next week so she can get the production of the coat going.She will be drafting the pattern over the weekend, and she will get at least the base portion of the coat completed, so she will just be waiting on the completion of the embroidery on the collar and cuffs.
Tracie has told me that she is staring to be really nervous and excited all at the
Tracie currently has a few other orders besides mine going right now. "Nothing major, thank goodness but [I] still want to get them out of my hair so I can concentrate on the coat soley." she said. she just needs to rectify the embroidery portion and to use Tracie's expression, "...the rest will be gravy." She tells me that "It should all bust open next week and I will have things to show you :)" which means that I will have photos to post HERE so stay tuned!
Again, Tracie plans to have my coat completed and shipped out to me by the first week of December!
Tracie has informed me that her embroidery lady has totally flaked on her! She is meeting with another lady later today, to try and get this resolved. She will take the designs for the embroidery, as well as a swatch of my wool so she will know what to use in the process. This may be more expensive than she had wanted, but this is how she tells me it often occurs when she creates the first of any garment, which should allow her to just break even. She does although plan to get the pattern for the coat developed, and offer it for sale in the future.She believes since this is a holiday week she will probably not be getting the designs digitized wntil next week, which means the coat will probably not be ready to ship until the second week of December.
Tracie met with two different embroiders today. One was trying to rip her off majorly, quoting her a price that exceeded what I am paying for the coat to do the digitizing and the embroidery. I can tell you that I am paying a very sizable amount for my coat, and for anyone to charge more than that just for the embroidery is absolutely crazy!
The other woman Tracie met seems very nice and she will be meeting with her tommorow. Tracie is enthusiastic about her, being that she seems to be the "guru of embroidery" so I suppose we will see. She also sent me copys of her sketched artwork of the embroidery, which I have posted at the right.
DO NOT take these sketchs for your own use, they are the sole property of Tracie Arnold. Tracie told me, "yes, it looks a bit rough but once it goes into a digitizing program it all gets cleaned up so it will be nice and smooth. I had a fun time trying to trace the designs from the coat to paper. I had to be very careful not to puncture the paper and get pencil marks on the Peterman caot but I got a good transfer so I am happy :)"
Once the designs are digitized and stiched out, the construction of the coat should be a snap!
My Coat's Construction