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 ~

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!

Hello, Sew-Along Friends!

Hi everyone! My name is Gretchen (Gertie for short) and you can check out my blog about vintage sewing here. I'm super psyched for our jacket sew-along, since I've been meaning to try a Chanel knock-off forever.

I just ordered the pattern I plan on using (above), from this lovely Etsy seller. It's Simplicity #5189, from the early 60's. The jacket in view 2 (the pink) is perfect, don't you think? I might need the matching dress too.

Also, I just wanted to echo Gail's post from yesterday, and recommend the Threads article on choosing trims. It's excellent! I also have two articles in hard copy from back issues of Threads--one is the couture method of making a Chanel-style jacket, and then the other is a shortcut version. I'm definitely leaning towards the shortcut method. I hope that's not cheating!