~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.....

And eventually everything went together

I reported the stitching lines on the fabric with basting thread and on the lining with tailor's chalk and then I cut the fabric and the lining keeping large seam allowances.

Then quilting the lining was easier than expected. I used a walking foot for this.

It is really important to keep the quilting lines an inch away the stitching line or it would be really challenging to sew the jacket by machine (don't ask me how I know....). To sew the pieces together, the lining seam allowances were kept away from the stitching line with pins.

Once the pieces were sewn together, the lining was sewn by hand, concealing the seam allowances.

And finally the hem and the facing were hand sewn:

I did most of the hand stitching during a looooooong phone call.

My jacket was almost finished:

I just had to choose buttons and braids.

I wanted to go for contrast, and I fell in love with a red braid that I bought without thinking twice. Once at home, I pinned my lovely red braid to the jacket:

The result was not exactly the chic jacket I had in mind... so I did not stitch the braid to the jacket and kept thinking about it...

Since my husband has a kind of "Chanel eye" for buttons, I asked him to choose some buttons for my almost done new jacket. I would have chosen white pearl buttons... he came home with black buttons instead. But he was right and I finally chose a black braid to complete my jacket.

Here you are my Chanel style jacket, what do you think about it?

A detail of the sleeve vent, the buttons and the black braid:

I love this jacket and I have been wearing it a lot during past two months!!!

You can't see the matching red shoes in this picure...

Wanderlust to Chanel

After Wandering Aimlessly for the past month...I'm back and now ready to delve into the making of my Chanel jacket. I have finally decided upon Vogue 8369. There were several choices that I had been contemplating but I truly loved the V8369 due to the neckline and the longer length of the jacket. I’m 5’10” and am short-waisted with very long legs so the shorter version jackets that I’ve seen other participants make won’t work for me.

It has taken me a while to find this out-of-print pattern. The Vogue Patterns website does still offer it but only in the smaller sizes so I have been on a constant search since the past December. As luck would have it I was clicking around the internet the other day and happened upon Pattern Mania on Etsy and low and behold she had the pattern in the larger sizes and at a very reasonable price. I ordered and paid for the pattern on Saturday the 23rd and I received it today, Wednesday the 27th. Very fast and nicely shipped in a cellophane sleeve and shipping envelope. I’ll definitely purchase from her again!

I’ve also been compiling some reference and resource materials to aid me in my sewing of this jacket. I received “Couture Sewing Techniques” by Claire Shaeffer from my daughter for Christmas. What a fantastic gift!!! Prior to receiving this gift, I had purchased “Great Sewn Clothes” from Threads. I am now on the search for Threads Magazine No. 121, pages 34 – 40 for the “Inside Secrets of a Chanel Jacket” article by Susan Khaljie. Tough issue to find…wish me luck!  Any help in finding it would be greatly appreciated.

As far as fabric goes, for my first jacket I am starting with a boucle that I purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics. I chose a fabric that had a combination of browns, golds and oranges. As always the picture doesn’t do the fabric justice. The jacket will be the perfect color for fall in New England. This is the first time I’ve chosen a fabric in these color ranges. I usually stick to mauves and purples...I’m trying to break away from the norm...walk on the wild side for once...if you can call this fabric wild.

Now that I have the fabric in hand I can now make a better call on the lining color too. I found a real nice silk on Fabric Mart that might fit the bill. Have to look into it a little bit more along with getting thread to match. In the mean time I’m going to look over the pattern instruction sheet and notes by Claire Shaeffer, press the pattern pieces and adjust them as necessary and then cut and sew the muslin.

I am now off and running...all be it very slowly!

TTFN ~ mimi o ~

Better Late Than Never…

Through my recent web surfing activities I accidentally stumbled upon this blog and was just thrilled to see the topic of interest; a Sew-A-Long for making a Chanel Jacket, how lovely and exciting!!

I traveled through the accompanying links of the various participants and was pleased to see everyone’s projects in various stages of the construction process. Seeing that there had been a deadline I decided to give it a shot to see if the blog would be continuing and contacted Cindy to sign up

What luck…she mentioned that this sew-a-long would continue through the winter and I saw this as an opportunity to work on a great project and have a “some-what” structured time-frame to complete it in. I am looking forward to working on my jacket and receiving input…first up will be the pattern.

Please visit my post Mail Call…Another Sewing Goodie to help me decide. Let me know what you think and feel about your pattern of choice and any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Here are some of my choices:

Vogue 7975

Vogue 8369

Vogue 8259

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!

Thanks ~ mimi o ~

Chanel deserves a trip for fabric

What fun to do this jacket, and great fun that the gang here is prompting everyone to do one! A great chance to hone my mothballed skills in this AND get a new jacket for me!!!

So first is design - on the Chanel.com site is the Winter 09/10 collection and there's this:I love this jacket - I love everything about it, but wonder if it will suit for a Chanel styled jacket - the quilting, the whole feel of the jacket. So I also find this...in black my fav classic color and of course hard to see, but I like the body style of this, and love the collar of the first, so this will be my design....
So this is my line drawing I'll work with....buttoned to waist, longer sleeves, probably a "kissy" type closure (where CF meets but doesn't overlap), stand up and stand away collar, no rounded extended shoulders (like the top design), and fairly classic, as these are meant to last.

Next fabric.... (and these are with my iPhone so they're not the best!) Although I can't take the time for a trip to NY to get fabric for this, I can trek to Dallas for the day and visit my favorite haunt there, Fabrique. If you're in the Southern Plains area, this is well worth a trip to visit. The girls there are so accommodating and willing to please, that I've rarely been disappointed. This is where I got the fabric for my muse's wedding and I do love their wares!


And although this looks like a Pucci accident, it really is fabulous....and maybe a slight redo in the design, as I love this print and may use part of it as binding for the jacket. And I love the black tweed, although it's hard to see in this picture, but wanted something relatively plain so that I could have the freedom to quilt the pattern of the lining or just whatever and got that. I also loved the colors in the lining/charmeuse as although the gray isn't in my family of colors, everything else is.

Here's another pic to show more of the tweed:
As far as the trim, it is fairly nondescript, as I will probably visit a fabulous shop in the historical capital city of my fair state, Sealed with a Kiss - they have killer yarns, and I will probably get something to tone with that yellow/beige to weave into the trim - at least that's Plan A! As far as buttons, I have two sets of Chanel buttons in my collection, so I will wait and see where I am...maybe a faux trip to NY to M & J via the net!