Underlining - Myrna

In Great Sewn Clothes, there was an article called The Garment Within The Garment: Why Couturiers Love Underlinings And How They Use Them. It was another great article. Is it my imagination or has Threads significantly simplified over the years? These articles seem more thorough and advanced although I can't really say for sure because I rarely read the magazine anymore.

ANYWAY... since I haven't done a whole lot of fashion sewing in the past twenty years, anything more than a serged seam will be a "step up" for me. My goal is to create a jacket that I'd wear so it needs to be soft and comfy and I want to finish it relatively quickly so it needs to be less labour intensive without a lot of handwork. I've decided to layer the fashion and underlining fabrics paying careful attention to aligning the grainlines and stitch them together by machine first. After that, my goal will be to make the inside as neat and interesting as the outside.

I've done samples of Hong Kong seam finishes but have never used them on a garment. I think that's the direction I'll go in. The majority of the work can be done by machine and I will get an opportunity to try new things and to take my work just a little bit further. And later, when I take the jacket off or it flips open, it'll be a flash of fun.

- Myrna

Inspiration and Disappointment

I know many of you are in the process of picking out buttons and trims for your jackets so I thought I'd share this picture of Chanel buttons. I think it is these wonderful details that make the jacket.

Meanwhile, I am disappointed and still waiting to find lining for either of the two pieces of fabric I have. As with so many others my local fabric options are nonexistant so I sent swatches of my fabrics to several well known stores. One of my favorite sources, Josephine's sent some nice swatches but nothing that I loved. Another store which shall remain unnamed and charges for swatches, assured me they had a large selection and sent 10 pieces. Among them a silk brocade and several others that were totally unsuitable for lining. And some of the swatches were only about 1" square. I am hoping to hear from 2 other stores this week so I can get started. In the meantime I'm in a holding pattern and checking often to see what everyone else is accomplishing.

Dawn - Another Muslin Tweak

Again, this is copy/pasted from my personal blog.

I put a tuck in it on the front, sleeves, and back to raise the armscye. I didn't take it apart to do these alterations. I did it while they were all sewn together so the intersections are a lot wonky. I took them up by about 1/2" and I have so much more range of motion. It's amazing how much difference a tighter armscye makes. Obviously, I'll have to move the dart down. It was pretty right on in the other photos but it's too high here.

Back wrinkle is still there. I'm going to tackle that on my next muslin. I think Debbie Cook is correct in that this is a boxy jacket and I'm not boxy. I want to keep the boxy feel so I'll play with the side seams until it falls correctly.

The bust area looks funny but I think most of that is from the dart being in the wrong spot.

You can see there is much less pulling across the front with my arms out.

Here are the alterations. I'll take the tuck in the chest and I'll move the dart down the same amount.

I think I'm about ready to cut into fabric. I am going to start with a cheapy boucle first as my second trial. I plan to finish that one fully but I want to work out the construction before I use my really nice wool boucle. I still haven't decided between the houndstooth and rust-colored boucle. I love them both!

Misconception - Myrna

I just finished reading the article The Comfortable Side of Couture: Practical Techniques of Coco Chanel in the out of print book Great Sewn Clothes from Threads Magazine. Great article. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.

Was I ever under a misconception. For some reason, because Chanel's garments were different than the norm at her time I guess, I had imagined them as less labour intensive and quite possibly they were compared to other garments at that time. However, I must have been comparing to the present. After reading this article, the 100-200+ hours that some of you have mentioned is starting to make sense - a LOT of handwork.

I'm enjoying learning more about Chanel. Now, along with contemplating my pattern and fabric choices and how I want to be inspired by Chanel, I'm also debating how to get the look I want without quite that much work. I wonder how Chanel would construct a garment in today's sewing world? Intriguing question.

- Myrna

Hello Everybody....

... my name is KayB from Galway/Ireland and I'm blogging at All Things Beautiful for some time now. Even though I'm not a regular (speak consistent) sewer, once the bug grabs me I really enjoy sitting in front of the sewing machine again.
Ever since I watched 'Coco avant Chanel' I promised myself that I would try to make a Chanel jacket. I also own the DVD of the 2008 'Coco Chanel' movie with Shirley MacLaine and watched it now extensively to find some form of inspiration for a jacket for myself.
Then, one week ago, I went to my local fabric shop and in the sales section I found a fabric, which was not only looking at me, but shouting 'buy me, buy me' - and so I did - for 5 Euro/meter.
I was absolutely gobsmacked, because I never expected to find something, and I didn't go to look for anything specific. The quality, even though on the thinner side, isn't that bad, with 40% viscose, 30% cotton, 10% wool and only 20% polyester. Appropriately enough, the fabrics name was/is Chanel.
So now I didn't have an excuse not starting my Chanel jacket. On my search for a pattern, I then stumbled on Sigrid's blog over this sew-along here. How many more 'winks' would I need - what's for you won't pass you - so they say.

I still didn't find a suitable pattern and the silk lining as well as all the trimmings yet, but this is part of the journey I'm looking forward to take.

Dawn - Jacket Muslin II - KwikSew 3258

I'm copy/pasting from my personal blog so don't read twice unless you really, really want to.

I used up all of my muslin fabric so I'm using this flowered khaki. It's not ideal because it is a stretch twill but it'll do. One thing you need to know if you decide to make this jacket is the arms are skinny. And that's coming from a person with skinny arms. They aren't tight but they ain't loose either. They are fine at the shoulder but they taper pretty steeply from the elbow to wrist.

That back fold is still there and it looks worse than before. I'll play with that tomorrow night.

I accidently cut the sleeve inside out. This is why I love muslins. I don't really have to pay attention. This was the easiest pair of sleeves ever to set.

The armholes are a little low but I'm not sure if I'll raise them. They aren't bad.

Back with my arms folded in front of me.

Boy, is that a smug face or what??!? I feel good about this jacket though because it has gone so smoothly and the fit is pretty good straight out of the envelope.

Half-way there? Not even close...

When I arrived at class Thursday morning, I had my muslin constructed for my first fitting. I got lucky, and only had to alter my side front and side back pieces, so my 2nd muslin was the final version. It was constructed for the final fitting, then ripped apart to cut my fashion fabric. Each pattern piece was trimmed along the stitching line, removing the seam allowances, then pinned to my fashion fabric. Each piece was cut with at least a 1" seam allowance, then I tread-traced the stitching lines on every piece (11 of them) of the jacket. "Thread tracing" just means I used a running stitch to mark the stitching lines so I know where to sew when it's time to assemble the pieces together. The boucle was in my stash, I bought it a year ago from Haberman Fabrics in Royal Oak, Michigan. The lining is silk charmeuse and was purchased in NYC at Lace Star. Absolutely amazing store, filled with the most gorgeous laces and trims. Ann got her beaded lace there for her corset!
It took me about 6 hours to thread trace all the pieces (all of 1 class day). Cutting the lining was the next step, and thankfully, no thread tracing was involved! I just laid my fabric pieces on the lining, and cut, using the same large seam allowances. After 2 days of working on this without touching a machine, I was very excited to reach the quilting part! I used 2 different thread colors so the quilting stitches would blend in, a light mossy green on the boucle side, and a luscious deep purple for the silk side. These are stitched wrong sides together, using a walking foot.

Below you will see between the 2 layers, where each quilting line ends and the threads are pulled to the inside, knotted together, and trimmed.

Quilting lines begin 1" below the seam line, stop 2" above the hem, and are approx. 1" apart from each other. The hardest part was also staying 1" away from joining seam lines, since the next step (which I haven't gotten to yet) is the actual assembly of the jacket. When I stitch together joining pieces, I will machine stitch the fashion fabric (right sides together), but leave the lining on each pieces loose. After the body is assembled (no sleeves yet), I will hand-stitch the lining closed. Like I said, I'm not even close!

Interfacing? None. Shoulder pads? None. Why? Because, Susan said so. If I remember correctly, the idea is to have the jacket fit and drape like a cardigan, so little structure is necessary. I've ordered the Threads issue #121 to help me finish this baby without her direct supervision!

In a few months, when I'm done with the lining... I'll add these wonderful buttons and trim. I'm opting for 2 patch pockets and a more youthful look, so this beaded trim and sparkling buttons are perfect. If you're still shopping for trim and buttons, check out the M & J Trims website, and call for some swatches. I've never seen so many beautiful trims, laces, appliques, buttons, closures in my life! I know it's more narrow than the usual Chanel trims, but I really like the look of it and Susan said it would be fine all by itself. I have 1 last piece to quilt, then it's on to assembly. I'll check back in when the bodice is put together! Good luck to all of you!