Guesswork

The coat pattern doesn't have lapels on it, so once I cut out the front panels, I needed to take a pen and just eyeball where the lapels should be. For lining fabric I found a good, (if slightly soup-stained) rayon-linen tablecloth that a friend donated to me for projects. (Thank you, Vicki!). The gold braid should cover the stains, and if not, perhaps the Admiral was an enthusiastic diner. The biggest headache was making sure the balustrade-and-peacock pattern was the same on both lapels, and mirror image of each other. Once that was done, I pinned the braid down loosely on one lapel to decide how I wanted to outline the buttonholes. The correct way seems to be to make chevrons on both ends of the braid, but because I have to finish this soon, I am going to shove the cut ends under the edge braid so I don't have to hand-chevron the cut ends of the buttonhole braid. There are 14 sections of buttonhole braid, and I am out of Hornblower dvds to watch while I sew by hand.