Shabby chic: done at last!

My #1 trial Chanel: finished and inaugurated at work, and then - in the middle of taking pics just now, it "unfinished" itself. As luck would have it, the bottom hook broke- OK, I broke it, wanting to first tighten it a tad, then un-tighten. I will, of course, replace it - and all the others, as these here, though a great colour match to the rest, appear have been designed with form but no function - they keep popping open. Arrrrgh.



So, do I love it? Ummmmmm.... I DO love the three piece sleeve with the in your face vent and buttons running up to the earlobes! I'm not crazy about the slightly rumpled look, or the fact that my chain is too light to give the hem a good downwards tug - I think I'll replace that too. I think I might eventually replace the trim, if I can find something better, as this thin little twisted cord is doing a terrific disappearing act (you didn't even notice it was there?! what did I tell you!)

I love my leather buttons! Isn't it nice how the little things can give us so much pleasure?

Fall colours inspiration

I decided to make a wearable muslin. No, no no, not a wearable muslin - a wearable garment, a version #1, only out of a lesser fabric than my fuzzy, and likely to turn out to be one to fray terribly, mohair. Our gorgeous fall dictated my choice here.

I grabbed a fall-colours cotton or rayon tweed (burn test says no synthetic fibers) purchased a year ago at Ottawa's Fabric Flea Market for a song. There wasn't much of it and I was first inclined to have it as a wiggle skirt, but when the leaves turned this month it leapt up begging to be a jacket – and I loooove making jackets. I made it exactly to spec as above, but then took two 1.5” diagonal cuts out of the top & bottom of CF, to make two V-shaped openings, each about a third of the overall CF length.

This fabric came fully interfaced with black fusible knit, which must've been done industrially as the interfacing wouldn't budge despite laundering, steaming, or high-T pressing, and still had nice sideways flexibility. Great!

(the pic at left shows the jacket's completed, but not yet fully trimmed out. You will notice it has no pockets. I cut out one pocket, but would have to piece a second one, or make welt pockets. The strategic aka easy way out aka DH said, forget the pockets)


I didn't do any quilting on this pre-interfaced baby, though I did tape the neck line and CFs. This body is a straight out of the envelope standard jacket construction, with fashion fabric front & back facings and a bagged lining.


The lining's a nice weight sueded silk twill, dyed with brown Jacquard dye. This was one of my early stovetop dye jobs, and the result came out surprisingly mottled in reddish and golden brown hues. Making lemonade here, an ideal match to my fall tweed! I faced the lower sleeves just to the top of the vent with leftover black silk dupioni from another project. But a little hand-sewing was inevitable: the facings were sewn to the CF-SF SA's, and the side lining seams to the side SA's. Hemmed the bottom by hand & attached a gold chain (pssst: from Home Depot!) at the bottom, under the lining fold.


On to the decoration: that's always the tricky bit, isn't it? I brought a scrap of my tweed to this year's Flea Market to look for nice gold buttons, but I never could find the minimum 6 little + 3 big ones that matched or looked good together (I even considered the “unmatched vintage button mix” look). Lo and behold, I found a set of eight little and four big leather (!) buttons, with just the right mix of yellowish to reddish brown shades. So, four buttons on each vent (I even made a tiny buttonhole for each, in retrospect a ridiculous waste of my time since the buttons cover them completely), in keeping with the non-uniform colour scheme throughout, sewed on with variegated embroidery floss.


Still to finish: hook & eye closures and the large leather buttons on each side of the middle part of CF. Attachment of the twisted cord piping to highlight the neckline and CF. Advice solicitation: DO tell, should I continue around the bottom hem as well? Once all that's done, I'll post the jacket in action!

Oo-wee - I'm in!

A late arrival here, and hi to y'all. I bumped into this delightful blog only last week - fortuitously perhaps, or more likely not, as I've been working on my own two Chanel-esque jackets these past few weeks, and have been looking for image & info ideas. Lo and behold - look what popped up right near the top. Your lovely, lovely, fun titled sewalong.

Some of you may remember me from the GreatCoatSewAlong, and what a fabulous learning experience that was. I will never fear padstitching, ever again. Oh sure, you say, that's why you're now making a Chanel jacket: no lapels or collar to padstitch! Ummmm......

I loooove making coats & jackets, and though I make all the other stuff too, they're definitely in supporting roles. With my busy work schedule, I just don't have the time to post about these lesser actors. But jackets, oh! there's something just so delicious about the smell of steamed wool and silk, and slipping on a nice jacket lined with sueded silk jacquard, with nothing but a little tank top underneath, feeling that silk sliding up my arms, yum!

My late summer efforts have been the Nannette Lepore knockoff (McCall's 5815 with bracelet sleeves, in cornflower blue wool crepe), the Vogue 1098 jacket in cream wool crepe, and this little Burda coat. I'll have to post reviews for the jackets, I know.... eventually.

So, on to the Chanel. I started this process a couple of weeks ago, motivated by the dropping temps and a wish to finally have a new red sweater-like jacket for casual Fridays at work. We're encouraged to wear red on casual Fridays, and it's high time for another version of red Friday. I just happen to have a 75/25 wool-mohair blend, purchased a year ago last summer from Dorr Mills in NH. A great place, btw, if you happen to be in the state and love wool as much as I do. Oh the colours, the tweeds, the herringbones! The weather was so pathetic this summer we didn't go, but next summer, for sure! But I digress....

I've known for a long time that I'd be making a Chanel jacket eventually, and have had both Vogues 7975 and 8259 for a couple of years. I'm using V7975 for the body, as I think its shape is less boxy than the other one, and V8259 for the tres haute couture three piece, vented up to there, sleeves.

The muslin: initially a straight 10. Took a 1/4” tuck just above waist in the centre back piece, tapering to nothing at side seam. Lowered the back neck to the size 8 line. Dropped the shoulders 1/4” at the sleeve seam, and pinched out a bit out of the upper princess seams, to bring the shoulders in 5/8”. Added 3/8” FBA to each side of each front princess seam over the bust (a total of 1.5”). Cut each body piece 1/8” wider below the waist, and sewed a standard 5/8” SA, giving myself an extra 1.5” ease over the hips. Made just one V7975 sleeve, to establish finished length & ease, and then adjusted the V8259 sleeve pieces for same length & width. The finished back length is 22.5”. No photos, sorry!

Next: wearable muslin, aka Digs' Chanel #1. With pics.