After a short, much too labour-intensive and difficult existence, Burda 7731 Coat, latest sewing project of The Sewing Lawyer, was removed from life support on New Years Day, 2010.
Burda 7731 was a lovely idea - a long, elegant, flared overcoat with cut-on sleeves, a high and sinuous pleated collar, cute button-on belt and in-seam pockets. Burda 7731 was an eagerly-anticipated addition to the Sewing Lawyer closet - the fabric a lustrous and waterproof taffeta in iridescent teal, the lining a satiny and elegant ikat-like floral print. With light and warm interlining of Thinsulate, Burda 7731 would have been the go-to workhorse of a winter coat for wet/snowy workdays. Burda 7731 will be sadly missed.
Burda 7731 Coat had a difficult birth. A few hours into its existence, a congenital pattern defect needing immediate, experimental surgery was discovered. The surgery was successful but Burda 7731 would continue to struggle. Sadly, the Sewing Lawyer's choices for Burda 7731 only added to its (and her) misery. The in-seam pockets were a disaster given the thinness of the fabric and the lack of any stabilizing for the pocket opening. Further surgery was needed to install piping at the openings. The fabric was also constantly prone to puckering at the seams no matter how much The Sewing Lawyer adjusted stitch length and tension, used "taut sewing" (holding the fabric behind and in front of the needle, applying tension to the fabric as it passes through the needle but without pulling it), and labour-intensively edge stitched each and every seam. This is why even though Burda 7731 Coat was within striking distance of actually being finished, there will be no photos.* The Sewing Lawyer has her reputation to uphold and Burda 7731 Coat was, at the end, a sad wrinkled thing.
Although The Sewing Lawyer is one seriously stubborn person with lots of experience in curing apparently-fatal defects which have cropped up in many of the older sibling sewing projects of Burda 7731, it became clear with the end of 2009 and in the clear (okay, snowy and gray) light of January 1, 2010, that Burda 7731 would never recover, that further surgery would be extremely painful for all concerned, and that it would not likely succeed. And that is why, after much anxious thought and with sincere regret for the iridescent teal taffeta-like fabric and all that sewing time which are now lost forever, The Sewing Lawyer decided that she had to let go.
R.I.P. Burda 7731 coat.
* As Vicki has pointed out, a picture is available on my Pattern Review. That's for the scientific interest of other sewers who need to know why they must run far away from Burda 7731 so as to avoid having this fatal condition attack one of their own sewing projects... But the point of this post is only to mourn the brief existence of Burda 7731 Coat. (Closed casket, ya know?)
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