Shades of Things To Come

It was cooold in Chicago today, 13 degrees this morning.  I loved it! A friend of mine and I met for lunch which only makes a good day that much better.

The coat I wore is an old Vogue Claude Montana pattern. Oh how I miss Mr. Montana. There was rarely a pattern of his that was put in the Vogue Pattern Catalog that I didn't absolutely love. What a dream it would have been to have worked for him.
For the ties I used a great stretch cording that I found at Soutache here in Chicago. For the stops, I used some natural stone buttons that I had. They work perfectly.

 If you're interested in the pattern, it is out of print, but the number is Vogue 1483. I tried to find one, but if you're interested I hope you have better luck than I did. It seems that vintage Claude Montana patterns are rather hard to come by. There's one that I've been looking for for quite some time and it never comes up on Ebay. I keep hoping!!

And now on to what I wore underneath the coat, a little top that is my own pattern. Notice the draped sleeves. Here's the good news, starting Saturday, March 3rd, I will be starting a new series called "Sleeves On Saturdays." By that time we'll be past the half way mark for Fabulous Free Pattern Friday. Every Saturday I'll post a new sleeve and show you how to draft the pattern. Sleeves are great and a wonderful sleeve can make a simple garment really pop.

The patterns won't be as easy as the rectangles, squares and circles of Free Pattern Friday, but hopefully, by seeing step by step how to draft the sleeve I'll be able to make it fairly simple to do. At this point March seems like it is so far into the future. It's less than two months away!!! I'm really looking forward to Sleeves On Saturdays. It's going to be such fun!