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.

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.