~slow progress~

All those rows of quilting have caused progress to be quite slow on my Chanel-style jacket - the thread ends need to be unpicked and restitched back into place after the shell seam has been sewn - and there is a lot of thread ends! Next time I will definitely take a more minimal approach to my quilting!


Here's what I did:

Unpicked the quilting threads, cut the panel seams (being careful not to cut the threads), and sewed the seam by machine:

Pressed under the seam allowance on the centre back panel, and lapped it over the seam allowance of the side back panel:

Handsewed the lining seam using a fell stitch with 3mm spacing:

This is how I sewed fell stitch:

Proof that I completed a whole seam in fell stitch! Now all those threads need to be stitched back into place:

I backstitched the ends in place, following the needle holes from the previous stitching, and it looks a little bit hand done, but close enough to the machine stitching for me:

Of course, on the right side there is an equal number of thread ends to be handsewn back into place too.....

And that is just one side back seam! I have completed the other side back seam, and will start work on the side seams shortly. See you next month.....!

A couple of things I learnt through trial and error:

• Leave long thread tails when machine quilting.
• Overlock panel seams once cut, to prevent fraying. (although backstitching the quilting threads does help to stabilise it quite a bit)
• When machining the seam, make sure that not only the checks/plaid matches, but the quilting lines match too - I was half a quilting row out when I sewed my second seam.....

~my chanel jacket - the beginning~

Hi everyone! I'm Sherry and I've just begun my Chanel-style jacket, after having the fabric for a few months!  I hope to share it with you here as well as on my sewing blog pattern ~ scissors ~ cloth.

As you can see it is going to be a fairly standard shape, so I started from my existing jacket block with a princess line, which is a standard NZ size 10, and I graded it up to my measurements, which are a mish-mash of sizes between 10-14!  I made a quick calico toile, and it fitted perfectly - I just need to rotate the sleeve forward slightly. I am after a cropped fitted look, so I will shorten the body to high hip level and the sleeve to 3/4 length.

Luckily I happen to have perfectly matching silk/cotton in my stash, and I will use this for the lining. I have 5m of this silk/cotton, so might even make a matching blouse just like Chanel used to do!
 

I played around for ages experimenting with trims - I unravelled threads from the cloth and plaited them, crocheted them, and mixed them with existing trims I own. But have finally settled on simply using the selvedge like in the above photo. The fabric reverse has a lot of black threads so it provides a bit of contrast, and the selvedge is pretty cute. The left and right selvedge is slightly different though, so I won't be able to use them together.

And I couldn't help myself, I had to immediately cut out the back blocks and start quilting to see how it would look!:

I machine quilted in the lines of every second check repeat, which amounts to quite a lot of quilting! But I quite like the effect - just like a Chanel handbag ;)
 
So I imagine I will be seeing straight lines for the next few days!

Chanel progress

This jacket is taking shape slowly but surely. For a more detailed progress report see my post at My Fabrication