Sewing fail

I bought this silk tweed and silk sating lining (seemed only right given the lustrous luxury feel of the tweed) about 18 months ago.

I vaguely planned to make a coat but really I bought it for its sheer loveliness and tried not to think about the price. I eventually got around to making it up a week ago and finished it today.

But I won't be wearing it - ever.

I may blog about it, I may blip a picture of the finished coat but as for putting it on and going out - never. Because as I cut it out and began to work on it I made a nasty discovery. I knew it would be a challenge to work with, so loosely woven it was going to fray and could pull out of shape as I wore it so I took precautions, but not for this

The dye is not fast and it is not fast in a very spectacular way. The colour rubs off on my hands, it even rubs off on my sewing machine and when I tried to damp press one of the seams the colour poured out into the pressing cloth and right through the coat and stained the ironing board cover.

It's the red that runs and it looks like blood

P.S. Just in case anyone comes back here to see the end of the story... I e mailed the shop last night and this morning they rang me. They were so nice, although they cannot do anything before the manager is in on Monday I'm very impressed with their customer service already - I'll keep you posted or post the whole story on my blog if it turns out to have a happy ending