On my birthday last year my mother-in-law sent me a giant stash of patterns, a few yards of muslin and another few of a gray-and-black wool fabric, three gray buttons, and a note that said I should use the wool to make a jacket from Vogue 8429.
I was ecstatic! From her generous gift, I acquired more patterns than I had ever dreamed of owning and, to top that, supplies to begin a new project.
My free time in the fall was taken up with marathon and ultra-marathon training and writing thank you notes to our wedding guests, so I wasn’t able to start the jacket until late November.
My mother-in-law had suggested that I start by making a muslin, but I was too eager, so, after reading the full set of instructions and feeling confident that I could make it through the project, I launched right into cutting the wool. After having cut out a few of the pattern pieces, I stopped short.
“What is this writing?,” I thought to myself as I looked at the edge of the back of the fabric. “Does it really… No, it can’t be…” The wool that I was cutting into without having first made a muslin was Georgio Armani. I sat petrified, scissors still in hand. What had I done?
I took a few deep breaths, decided that I would continue on, and began cutting again. I figured it would be good for me to make the pattern as is. I convinced myself that my limited sewing experience meant that altering the pattern, even based off a muslin, would likely do more damage than good! So far I’ve completed the outer layer of the jacket including the pockets. Next up is the collar and lining.
Sew Well 
Your mother-in-law sounds AWESOME!
Oh. The wool is actually Armani.
Oh god.
(And how did I not realize — just came here from one of your MMM ’12 posts — that a jacket called an _Armani jacket_ might just possibly be made from the fabric?!)
Yes, my mother-in-law got me started with the good stuff from the beginning. I was petrified at first about cutting into it; you have no idea.