Chanel for the Generations

Hello:

I’m Doris of Mpressive Threadz Studio and I am excited about the sew along. I have been thinking and strategizing about this jacket every since I signed up a week ago. I immediately started sketching my jacket, trying various pocket options. I searched online fabric stores and trim shops. I went to the library and got copies of the articles “Inside a Chanel Jacket” and “Shortcuts to a Designer Jacket” that appeared in Threads magazine. While I enjoy hand stitching, I agonized over whether I wanted to thread trace all the seamlines of an entire jacket.

Yesterday I thought about generations and how a Chanel jacket might translate over the various generations in my family. Suddenly I thought about my mother and her Aunt Dot. Aunt Dot had a black Chanel inspired skirt suit with white braided trim and pearls that my mother fell in love with. My mother took a horrible picture of Aunt Dot at a family gathering and got the bright idea of “blackmailing” the suit from Aunt Dot. She threatened to show the picture to everyone if Aunt Dot didn’t give her that black suit. Aunt Dot gave up the suit. My mother died a few years ago and that suit was in her closet. I chuckled when I came upon it. I know Aunt Dot loved my mother dearly and that picture had nothing to do with her giving my mother that suit.

I asked my daughter did she know about classic Chanel jackets. She Googled it right away. I pointed out the highlights of a Chanel jacket and asked her if she would wear the jacket if I made her one. “Sure,” she said. So I plan to make two jackets, one for each generation. I will use the classic Chanel techniques for my jacket and the shortcuts for my daughter’s jacket. I think it would be fun for the both of us to go to New York and shop for fabrics and trims. I am very interested in what she will select.

Sue's Chanel Vision....

Well I am actually halfway through my first Chanel style jacket but love the process so much I decided to sign up for this sew along to make another...

The first one is being detailed at my blog -Quiltsewsue.

I am using Vogue 7975 for that one and have decide that the next one I make needs to be a different pattern - preferably vintage (just because I like them).

Looking through my collection I found this pattern in a magazine I picked up at an op shop.

Enid Chilchrist wrote pattern books in Australia in the 1950's - 1960's - I am not sure if they were used any where else in the world. I have one of her pattern books my MIL used to make babies & toddler clothing for my husband (when he was a baby, of course) which was passed onto me and I actually made a few items for my boys from it also (after converting the measurements!)

This magazine has an 'economical suit' for bust size 32-34 inches.

I am one size up from that but the magazine actually has instructions on how to scale the pattern up, so I am prepared to give it a go! You need to draft the pattern yourself from the detailed drawings -


I love these vintage patterns - things like the dart at the shoulder really make it fit well so I am prepared to try and draft it and make a muslin to see how it goes. Then my plan - if it works - is to perhaps lengthen it slightly and make It from a cream fabric with a brown trim (perhaps petersham or a braided trim). I don't have any fabrics yet for this but I am planning a trip to Melbourne so I am thinking if I can find a suitable fabric down there it will be my holiday souvenir!

My inspiration(s)

This fabric says Chanel Nana chic to me, don't know about you. It's a wool tweed, in aqua and granny lavender. Ever since I saw it I have wanted to make something with it, but I didn't buy it because I know where fabric crushes can lead. To that dead end one way ticket to never being made into anything called "stash".

When I heard about the sew along I knew I had a reason to purchase it and a reason to make it into something. This channel hip length jacket is my inspiration (sorry, don't know where I lifted it from for my inspiration board so can't credit it), but I'm still keeping my mind open, plenty of time. After all, Chanel jackets are not made overnight.

Inspiration Garment from Chanel Pre-F/W2009 Collection

Hi everyone, glad to see so many of us sewing along and following along! There's no set schedule to this sew-along but Cindy and I were thinking a completion date of Nov 15 would be a good target.

I love the iconic Chanel jacket, but not generally on me. A jacket from the Chanel Pre-F/W2009 collection jumped out from among the costumey Russian-influenced garments, and when I saw this ad featuring said jacket in W two months back, I ripped it out and posted it on my bulletin board.

This jacket doesn't seem over-the-top to me in its embellishment at all. (The styling does -- bedazzled fur hat and oversized baroque chair? -- but that is another matter.) I don't use a lot of trim in most of the clothes I sew for myself, as that would require patience both to find the right trim and then to sew it. So I look forward to learning various techniques for sewing on different kinds of trim generally practicing patience. :)

I'd like to refashion the jacket from some other wool thing -- men's jacket or wool coat or something -- but I've been looking out and so far can't find quite the right source garment. I also haven't decided if I will use a pattern or drape on my form. I've never draped anything that is worn over other clothing, so I'm not accustomed to including so much ease. That's what muslins and first samples are for, right?

With my son going back to school at the end of August, I bet I won't get much serious sewing time with this jacket before then. It's probably realistic to read up on techniques and get my source garment/ fabric, trims, notions, and pattern selected by then, though.

So, fellow sew-alongers -- what are you thinking of for your project?

The Making of a Chanel Haute Couture Outfit

Everywhere I turn, I see Chanel! I'd like to smart off and say there's no way I'll be going to this level for my Chanel jacket, but I might be. Just with far more rudimentary tools.

This video is from New York Magazine/ The Cut:

Inspiration Photos

Rather than violate gobs of copyrights, here's a link to a Google Image search for Chanel jackets. There are so many to choose from and the image bank is constantly updated! One is all you need....