and eventually everything went together

My last post on the Chanel jacket sewalong blog is published: "and eventually everything went together"

I reported the stitching lines on the fabric with basting thread and on the lining with tailor's chalk and then I cut the fabric and the lining keeping large seam allowances.

Then quilting the lining was easier than expected. I used a walking foot for this.

It is really important to keep the quilting lines an inch away the stitching line or it would be really challenging to sew the jacket by machine (don't ask me how I know....). To sew the pieces together, the lining seam allowances were kept away from the stitching line with pins.

Once the pieces were sewn together, the lining was sewn by hand, concealing the seam allowances.

And finally the hem and the facing were hand sewn:

I did most of the hand stitching during a looooooong phone call.

My jacket was almost finished:

I just had to choose buttons and braids.

I wanted to go for contrast, and I fell in love with a red braid that I bought without thinking twice. Once at home, I pinned my lovely red braid to the jacket:

The result was not exactly the chic jacket I had in mind... so I did not stitch the braid to the jacket and kept thinking about it...

Since my husband has a kind of "Chanel eye" for buttons, I asked him to choose some buttons for my almost done new jacket. I would have chosen white pearl buttons... he came home with black buttons instead. But he was right and I finally chose a black braid to complete my jacket.

Here you are my Chanel style jacket, what do you think about it?

A detail of the sleeve vent, the buttons and the black braid:

I love this jacket and I have been wearing it a lot during past two months!!!

You can't see the matching red shoes in this picure...

New post on the "Go Chanel or go home" blog

I've just published my second post on the Chanel jacket sew-along blog: ...and the pattern. Oh, the pattern!

When it was time to choose the pattern I recalled I had seen a Chanel style pattern on Burda Magazine 10/2009 - 128. I started working with it, making the alterations I usually need. I could not make it fit, no matter how I tried...  It was probably a wrong combination between the checked fabric, the diagonal dart and the amount of fabric I should have added to make my FBA.

Then Burda Magazine 02/2010 was published and pattern 108 simply called me from the pages of the magazine.

I tried altering again the pattern from the October 2009 issue with no success, then I finally decided to try with the pattern from the February 2010 issue. It worked at the first try!!!

My idea was to distort the fabric grain as little as possible, so I transformed the vertical dart into an armhole princess seam and moved the back darts into the side seams.
I wanted the front pieces to overlap to have buttons (the original pattern did not overlap), so I separated the facing piece from the front piece and added the necessary amount to get it.
The sleeves, finally, were too close fitting, so they needed to be enlarged.

A lot of work, but I had a pattern for my jacket!!!

Here follows my pattern modifications:

armhole princess seam + full bust adjustment:




Full arm adjustment:



It was time to play with the fabric, then!

Burda Magazine 03/2010-111

Pattern Description: 
Kimono style dress with obi belt.
Technical drawing
From the Burda website: The softly draping fabric and casual cut take the edge off this sexy tiger-print dress - otherwise the men wouldn't stand a chance. The obi belt of a contrasting print draws attention to your waist.

Pattern Sizing:
Burda sizes 36-44

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes! Except that I made it shorter, to wear as a top instead of a dress.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I did not follow the instructions. I sewed the belt first, then the skirt back piece to the top back piece and the front skirt piece to the front top piece. Then the shoulder/sleeve seam and the facing. Finally the front and the back together, paying attention to the angle of the underarm seam.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
It is superquick and easy! And the belt is really flattering.
On the other hand, I find the underarm seam too low: I will raise it a bit next time I sew it. The V neckline was too deep, so I had to stitch it close a little once it was finished.

Fabric Used:
Cotton, a soft and lightweight cotton.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
FBA, as usual. I made it shorter to wear as a top. Topstitched the belt and the neckband(I love topstitching!!! I use my blind hem foot to topstitch).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I will sew it again!!! I am going to make it with the dress length and I will make the version 110 as well.

Conclusion: 
This pattern is really easy and quick to make and the final garnment is soooo comfortable!

A picture of the top.

Go Chanel or go home

I have just published my first post on the Chanel jacket blog: It was the fabric first.

Hello! I'm Challis, and I have been reading this blog for a long time. I have been inspired more than once by the Chanel style jackets posted here and I just completed mine.

Before all, I would like to thank Antoinette and Cindy for setting up this blog and for letting me post here and I'd like to congratulate with all the nice people who post here.

Let's talk about the jacket then!

I fell in love with this black and white boucle during last Autumn, and I have been wondering what to make out of it since then.

That is when I first met this blog and I started reading and following... it would be nice to make a Chanel style jacket with the boucle, I tought.  So the boucle I loved came home with me and my sewing adventure started.

Here follows another picture of the boucle, it is a blend of wool, polyester and lurex. Unfortunately the nice silver sparkling thread is not visible in the picture.

I cut a sample, to put in the washing machine. It came out perfect, so I pretreated all the fabric with the washing machine in a delicate wool cycle.

It was time to choose the pattern then.

Burda 8125

Pattern Description: Kitchen accessories - this review is about the bread roll warmer (view L).

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I did not use the instructions, except to check the order to assembly the layers of the bread roll warmer.

Instructions call for basting the layers together in order to keep them together while sewing the bias tape: instead, I used a temporary spray glue for fabric (and of course I had to wash the bread roll warmer to remove any residual glue before using it with bread!) and a bias binding foot to apply the bias tape. This way, it took just a few minutes to make the single layers.

These are the three layers on my iron board:
bottom layer
middle layer
top layer

To assembly the layers together, I drew the sewing lines on them with white chalk and then proceeded with sewing: first the top layer on the middle one, then these two on the bottom one.

The final result:
the bread roll warmer assembled (you can see the white chalk lines under the stiches)

And the bread roll warmer in action:
bread roll warmer
bread rolls

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? This was a super quick project: it took less than two hours from tracing the pattern on tissue paper to finish it.

Fabric Used: floral printed cotton; the pattern suggests six 45x45 cm (18"x18") scraps of fabric, I made it with a 110x70 cm (44"x28") piece of fabric.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: none.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? yes!!! I am going to make Christmas gifts with it.

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And even the bread was easy to make! The recipe is available here: No-Knead Bread (but bread rolls were made instead of a loaf to take the pictures) and the story behind this recipe here: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work

Simplicity 4273 (ter)

Pattern Description:
Misses & Miss Petite Jacket, Pants, Skirt, Top & Dress

Pattern Sizing:
16-24. I sewed size 18 with alterations.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes, even if I made a major adjustment to the pattern, this did not change the overall appearance of the trousers

Were the instructions easy to follow?
yes

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the fact that it is really quick to make these trousers, and they fit very well.
I don't like the way the crotch curve of the original pattern fits on me (too long at the front), that's why I made the alterations described in this review.

Fabric Used:
Cotton, a special one looking like linen.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
It is the third time I sew the trousers from this pattern: you can find previous reviews here and here

When I sewed it for the first time, I had that nice striped cotton that I wanted to use to make a comfortable garment to use during Summer time and this pattern provided exactly what I wanted.

The second time I made it with a lilac crepe backed satin fabric to get something a little bit more sophisticated to wear in more formal occasions: at this time I realized that the crotch curve had to be altered to get a more accurate fit expecially in the front part. I also like to wear trousers a little more below than the point where this model sits.

I found this cotton looking like linen at fabric store and I thought it was great to use with with Simplicity 4273 pattern to make trousers to wear at the office, but I really wanted to make the adjustments at the crotch curve and at the waist.

What I did was redrafting from scratch the pattern on my mesurements and then compare the original pattern from Simplicity with the self-drafted one.
In my case the crotch curve had to be redrawn both on front and back pieces and since I wanted the trousers to stay lower than the original pattern, I had to enlarge the yoke front and back pieces too.

I also topstitched the inner leg seams, the crotch seam and the yoke to get a more refined appearence.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes and yes again!!!
As I mentrioned before, it is the third time I sew these throusers: I like this pattern very much and the altered version I sewed this time even more. I think I am going to sew it again since this style is one I really for trousers I can wear everyday to go to work or during spare time.

Conclusion:
I really recommend to draft a pattern on real mesurements before sewing any trousers and to compare the crotch curve of the commercial pattern with the one drafted by you: it really improves the fit.
You can find a good method explained here: Leena's Pattern Making

The following is a picture of the final garment:
trousers
and a closer detail of topstitching:
yoke

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Edit on 13/9/2009
Here follow pictures of a lightweight denim version I've just finished:
Denim trousers
and a closer detail of topstitching:
yoke

Simplicity 4273 (bis)

Pattern Description:
Misses & Miss Petite Jacket, Pants, Skirt, Top & Dress
Pattern Sizing:
multisize 16-24. I sewed 18.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes; it is the second time I sew this skirt and these trousers. You can find my previous review here

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the fact that all garnments are easy to sew and look really great

Fabric Used:
Crepe back satin
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
I used a size 18 for everything with "petite" adjustements.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes!!! I like this pattern a lot!!!
Next time I sew the trousers, I will slightly modify the crotch curve on the front, to get a better fit.

Pictures:
Skirt
Trousers