My jacket is finished

I've worn it this afternoon. I can say it is very pleasant to wear and light as a feather. What I like best is the lining ...

and the functional sleeve vents and hand buttonholes

Nevertheless,though I made a muslin and I am not happy with the sleeve heads. I supposed it is because the sleeves are not from the same pattern as the bodice. The shoulders shoud be shorter I think, too bad realy. Another explanation is perhaps that the shoulders seams elongated because they have not been staystiched. This has just occured to me. Anyway I will have to do with this. I will try not to think about this when I wear the jacket. Here is what it looks like seen from the back

Why I've reduced my activity.

My husband has been diagonised with a transient ischemic attack due to a atherosclerotic plaque in one of the carotid arteries. He is in hospital waiting for the removal of the atherosclerotic plaque by surgery and he will have to rest for some monthes before he is able to work again. Of course my sewing and blogging activities will be slowed for some time. But I will still be reading my blog roll.

vogue 8259 three piece sleeve

Here are some pictures of the sleeve :

I absolutely love the result. The functional vent makes all the difference and gives the jacket a couture look. I do recommend this pattern.
Here are some close up views :

 

 The buttonholes were hand sewn with Gütterman silk buttonhole twist.

Apart from the quilting, the lining was completely hand sewn with beeswaxed thread following Claire Shaeffer's very detailed pattern instructions. I chose a contrasting fabric for the facing.

Yesterday I just had to pin the sleeve to the jacket and put it on to see what it looked like. Wow I loved what I saw in the mirror. This sleeve pattern is very well drafted and has a unique line indeed. I am so impatient to finish this project.
Hopefuly my next post on this blog will show a picture of me modelling the jacket.

Trim issues

Here are some updates concerning my jacket.

The first thing I want to talk about today concerns some issues I had with my trim.

I first purchased some trim  I found a tidbit too thin for a Chanel style jacket. After much research concerning Chanel trims I stumbled on Birgitte’s exceptional blog where she explains how to make your own trim.

In the picture above you can see from right to left how mine turned out. First, I made a continuous bias with the fabric I used for the shell. I stitched it in the middle with a very short stitch length (1.5mm) and eventually topped it with the purchased trim. I then fringed the bias strip and inconspicuously hand sew it on the finished CF edge. It is not a very fast process but I spent so many hours in this project so far that I have stopped focusing on time.

Yesterday, I went to town to purchase so more trim but to my great disarray, the shop where I bought it run out of stock.

I had to find an alternative. My mind is quite set up concerning where I want my trim. That is along all edges including the hem. When I went to bed last night, the situation seemed to be hopeless, I could not figure out an ersatz trim and I had already trimmed the pockets and one of the CF edge. But as we say here :”La nuit porte conseil”. When I woke up this morning I had found how to solve that trim issue. The neck and hem lines will be trimmed with the fringed bias only. So that all the edges I had first planned will be trimmed without using another color or motif which would have been too much indeed.

The next step will be to hand sew the weight chain. I must say I am putting great expectations on the chain to improve how the jacket wears though it is already great to wear as far as I can say. The last but not least step will be assembling the sleeves and setting them in. One question I am asking concerning the sleeve is Do I have to make sure that the weaved plaid pattern (small scale) in the sleeve cap area matches the bust. So far I’ve been very careful to match everything and I think it is worth the effort but when looking around I noticed that sleeves are not always matched with the sort of fabric I am using.

Please, tell me what is your own opinion?

buttonhole test

Test a la chanel hand buttonhole

Right side view of the test buttonhole

Reverse side of the buttonhole

I used Claire Shaeffer's technique explained in Couture Sewing Technique (page 91) to make this test hand buttonhole.

Viewed from the outside it is an embroidered buttonhole with a bar and fan. On the underling side it is a bound buttonhole.

This method is time consuming, but it is meant to be nice to look at from both sides.

What I like best about the result is that despite the fabric it did not fray at all and I am very pleased about that. To avoid fraying I applied beewax on the edges before overcasting.

What I am not pleased with is the thread I used (cotton quilting thread) I know I should have used silk buttonhole twist and what is called gimp for the strand but unfortunately these are impossible to find where I live. I've found a british online store and I'll probably pass an order with them.

I intend to use these buttonholes for the sleeves vents which are meant to be functional. That's another Chanel traits.

parting shot:

two closeup shots of a vintage Chanel Jacket

I found them here. I suppose they are David Page Coffin's drawn from Behind the Seams The Claire Shaeffer Collection: Part 1 CHANEL

Quilting sneak peak

I first want to thank all the ladies that are bringing me their support. I would never have been able to undergo this project without your comments. This SAL is fantastic and I am learning so much everyday.As you can see back sections are sewn including the quilted lining .

 

To achieve this I am following Claire Schaeffer's method in Couture Sewing Techniques

This book is invaluable.

 

 After I quilted the lining the vertical seams were hand sewn with bee waxed thread

 

 

As is explained in Claire's book, one important difference between upscale Ready to wear and Haute-Couture is the huge amount of hand sewing used in Haute-Couture. For permanent sewing you have waxed your sewing thread before.

Ann from Ann's Fashion Studio sent me this great reference concerning tailoring techniques, including how to wax your thread. I know it is time consuming but I hope it will pay off. Furthermore, I find this hand sewing very pleasant to do.

I am so slow

This prject seems like a never ending story.
I've just sorted out fitting my muslin. Fitting the 3 piece-sleeves took ages. My sister pointed aout that the shouders were too long. So had to shorten them.
I thought I would feel better with a little bit of ease around the biceps line and add 1/4'' around the arm at the sleeve
Here's what it looks like.Plus the sketch my sister made to help me fiitting the sleeve end.

I know I am procrastinating  because I am anxious about quilting the shell to the lining. So yesterday, instead of cutting the fabric and lining I read everything could find concerning this step.
I must say that Claire Schaeffer's Couture Techniques is realy helpful. Eventually I ended making a swap following her method :

1 Cutting rectangles for each section from the shell fabric and the lining fabric about 4in. bigger than the finished garment section

2 Roughly outline the section shape ont the right side of the rectangles

3 Lay the lining wrong side up and top it with the fabric side up aligning grainlines.

4 Pin the sections together on on the intended quilting lines.

5 With diagonal stitches baste between the pinned rows and remove the pins.

That's where I stopped.

Today I will machine quilt the sample and that's where I need your help, please.


Some of you are using a walking foot. What is it and can it be donne with a normal foot?

The dominant colour of my tweed is off white and the lining looks like hand painted splashes (does it make sense to you?) of acid green and  deep purple. I intend to use invisible thread on the lining side because I fear that the off white thread that I want to use for the shell might be disgracious. Does it sounds correct to you? Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Here are my fabrics. Forget about solid fuschia.

Marie-Noëlle

WIP : 3rd version of my muslin

Last Friday, I tested my altered muslin. I made those alterations looking myself in the mirror as I had no dressform. As I expected the result was far from satisfactory.

Sunday, I brought the jacket to my sister who is a professional drafter. She was so helpful.
She pinned all that needed to be altered and I made a 3rd version of my muslin yesterday.
Moreover, my mother lent me her dress form, so that I can work more efficiently.

Here's how it looks like this morning

Today, I will work on the sleeves and hem lime.
I expect to cut my fabric tomorrow. I am so impatient to do so.

trim choice

Due to some usal migraine, I haven't been able to work as much as I expected on fitting my jacket. However, I've made my choice concerning the trim and what I came out with is quite pleasing to my eye.
I will fringe some strips of my fabric an top it with a bought trim matching the colours of the lining. The bought trim is sewn with invisible thread.
The colours of the pictures are not true to the real ones .
I think that this option is quite Chanel-esque. Don't you,

I am slowly progressing

Even if I am slowly progressing, I am very glad to announce that I started to build my Chanel jacket.
Be warned that the quality of the pics will be very poor due to issues with my usual camera that have been lasting since early summer. My sense of perfection will suffer from that but let's say that poor pictures are better than no pictures at all.
The last post dealing with my jacket was about the fabrics.
Since then I chose the pattern. To be true I shall say the patterns.
Vogue 7975 for the bodice in the shorter view with at least to patched pockets.
I will use Vogue 8259 for the sleeves shortening them to obtain a a 3/4 length .
At that point, I must say that I would not have been able to make my project come true without the help of two awfully kind girls. One of them being no less than Cindy Phelan, one of the administrator of this SAL. The other one is Ann from Ann's Fashion Studio.

THANK YOU CINDY AND ANN. YOU HAVE BEEN SO HELPFUL. YOU ARE MY ANGELS.

Thanks to them I will be able to make the unique 3 piece sleeve and to follow Susan Kahlje method for quilting mentionned in Threads 121.

The next step was choosing the trim. I chose a plain one that has the same colour as the lining. And I intend to embelish it with the brightest multicoulored threads of the main fabric.
This trim will be sewn on two layered fringed strips of my fabric in order to obtain a fringed trim. No picture available yet, it's al in my brains.

Yesterday, I started to make the muslin.I've never made a muslin before and my mind was not quite clear about how to achieve it. I found very detailed explanations here and I intend to follow them them step by step. I know it will take ages but I think the pattern is worth it. In fact it is very versatile and it can make a TNT jacket pattern.

Right now, I've pined basted the jacket muslin made from an old cotton table cloth. I am quite pleased with this fabric choice. It is very easy to work with.

Tomorrow, I will try it on and make the alterations if needed.

That's all so far. I'll keep you posted

MARIE-NOËLLE

I've chosen the fabrics

The lining

This one is for the jacket itself

I have made a choice for the fabrics.
The tweed with multicoloured threads will be used for the shell. It is not made of wool but of a blend of cotton an man made fibre. It was very cheap, I will say about 4$ for a yard. I love the threads shining like gems. It is more of a summer fabric. It really caught my eyes. The only fear I have, is about the quality, but I read that Coco used fabrics that were considered too loose-woven to make jackets. That's why it needs to be quilted.
As for the silk lining it's a love-affaire aswell. I didn't buy it for this project, but when I saw it, it just shout to me " buy me, buy me! "
The colours are tremendous and make me want wrap my whole body with them.
I don't know if I will use the fuschia wool because it is heavier. But I can imagine it would look good as a border/trim. Anyway those fabrics works well together for me. I only have a yard of the fuschia wool and another way to use it would be as a skirt to wear with the jacket.
I'll be very glad to read any of your suggestions.
As a conclusion, I want to thank Cindy and Ann for their very nice help.

Shall I use this one too ?