Jerilyn - Houndstooth Dentistry

Or perhaps you'd take houndstooth to the Veterinarian? I'm not sure.

Upon dissecting the mens blazer that I will be using for fabric, I discovered 4 holes in one of the inner sleeve panels. My guess is that they are cigarette burns.

Here's how I repaired the damaged "teeth":

Step #1 -

I was able to salvage some black interfacing from the sleeve cuff, it easily tore away from the fabric, so I wasn't sure that it would re-fuse upon ironing, but it did!

Step #2 -

I stitched back and forth over the holes with black thread to prevent fraying. (the 2 larger holes are pictured below)

Step #3 -

Lastly, I used a small tight zig-zag with cream thread to mimic the original pattern.

It's not perfect, but I couldn't afford to lose any portion of the fabric, and it shouldn't be noticeable from a distance.

As for my muslin, it's as far as I'm planning to take it:

I added darts to the chest, and then fixed the arm hole to compensate for the darts. I'm going to cut my panels longer than the pattern/muslin because I think the length is appropriate as it hits unhemmed.

The next step is the most challenging... figuring out how to cut all these panels out of the original jacket! The sleeves had an inner panel similar to the pattern so they will go smoothly, but the back is 2 panels vs the 3 panels of the pattern, and the front... oh don't get me started. There's a small breast pocket on the original jacket that is making me pull my hair out, but I figure it's all downhill after surviving this (she says with the blind optimism of someone at the beginning of the this project).

I'll be sewing this weekend... will you?

Jerilyn - New Kid on the Chanel Block

Hi, this is my introductory post... I'm definitely getting a late start, but too many stars aligned after discovering this blog, so I felt compelled to join.

I do a lot of refashioning which I share on my personal blog and a refashioning blog. I saw "Coco Before Chanel" a few months ago and was inspired to dress better, but then I came across this post by Mary Anna who said "For me it's more about sewing in the Chanel spirit. Taking a piece of menswear, and turning it into women's wear in a simple, fitted style." and I knew this was the challenge for me, the refashioning addict!

But as in most creative pursuits, there's a difference between having the inspiration to take on a project and finding the skills and materials! Before signing up I went to a local thrift shop to see if anything caught my eye. Nothing interesting on the Ladies rack, so I headed over to Menswear and there it was, calling my name...

The fabric is a black and cream houndstooth in tight woven wool.

When refashioning, the size of the original garment is crucial to the overall success of the project. It didn't have a size tag, but I'll take the Rochester Big Tall Clothing tag as a positive sign!

I had rummaged my pattern stash and found a few items suitable for undertaking the muslin, but before leaving the thrift shop I looked at their patterns... and what are the odds? They had an unused Vogue V7975 in my size (cost: 25-cents)! How could I not sign up after all that?

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 ~

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.

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