Bits and bobs...

I haven't got any sewing done, as life has been very busy, but I will try and catch you up with some of the stuff going on. Of course, even though I am not sewing, I still have managed to increase the meters of fabric in my house. These are my latest buys...


The first two are the most divine, melt-in-your-mouth silks for tops and the third is a raw silk I plan to make into a lovely simple sheath dress. These fabrics were on sale (does that make it better?) and were bought on a day when Caity & I went to meet Lynn down in Brisbane. Lynn showed us this great little shop. Lynn is visiting from the States and this is the second time we have met up. She is a fantastic lady with a passion for sewing (and travelling).

This is Caity, Lynn and I in front of the fabrics.

This is the shop we visited. For those who can make it into Brisbane, you can find this shop upstairs in the Brisbane Arcade, behind the tea house.
All the fabrics are bought from Europe and are used to make the most beautiful couture clothing, including Chanel-style jackets with beautiful trims. You can find the clothes in a boutique on the ground floor. The rest of the fabric is then sold in this store. (Note - Australian Sewing Guild members can now get a discount in the store!) All the fabrics are high quality and range from silks to boucles, wools, etc.

This is the front of the store. I love this old arcade as it has the most beautiful shop fronts (as well as shops - if you are visiting, check out the milliners also located upstairs.)

We had a fabulous day that day but also managed to catch up with Lynn this week at the Stitches & Craft Show in Brisbane on Thursday. We travelled down on a little bus with other local members of the Australian Sewing Guild. So some more shopping and these are some trims I bought for my Chanel jacket (if it ever comes to fruition).

The petersham I actually bought on-line from America but the other trims were from the show. I also bought a piece of chain for the hem. No more excuses to make this jacket except the weather is now so warm I have no interest so I am leaving this for next year when the weather starts to cool. At least I think I have everything I need for it now!

My husband & I also celebrated our 21st Wedding Anniversary. Here we are before attending a local race day last Saturday. We had a great time with some friends I have made through our local gym. The next night we went to Brisbane (again!) and saw Elvis Costello in concert. Had a great week-end all up.

Now a gratuitous photo of Lulubelle, who is starting to take over our household...

Trim for my Chanel Jacket and planning

I was in Brisbane for work on Thursday (learning how to do internal auditing for the Quality Assurance system - aye carumba!), so you can probably understand the need for a bit of retail therapy on the way home. I found this trim at Sckaf's for my Chanel jacket. It is photographed here with my fabric. What do you think? I need to decide as I have to call them if I want them to post some up to me (I only took a sample).

I had pictured a jacket with Petersham ribbon used as the trim but can only find Grosgrain (even on the web). The Grosgrain will not curve around the neck edge and so is useless to me for this purpose. Anyhoos I need to decide if that is the one I want so I can give them a call next week.

While that is slowly moving along I am planning to start work on my collection of basics - should think of a name for it...hmmm.. Anyway I thought this fabric and Burda wof 03-2009-105 would be my first in the collection.
Off to start tracing...

Chanel Jackets x 3

As mentioned in my previous post, the first outing for the jacket was to see the movie Coco Avant Chanel. The three of us from the class went so it gave us a deadline to finish our jackets. I was still sewing trim on in the morning and Felicity had to send her hubby off to buy more on the morning as she ran out!

So, without any more ado, introducing Chanel Class #1-2009:

In the red jacket , Felicity our instructor who was making two jackets while we were making one!
Then me (of course).
In the blue/tan jacket is Jane who I really enjoyed meeting in this class.
The three of us had a ball in this class with plenty of laughter!

I believe Felicity's jacket is made with Vogue 8529 and Jane and I both used Vogue 7975. We loved the fact that we used the same pattern but came out with very individual jackets.

I had the following questions in the comments of my last post:

katherine h has left a new comment on your post "Chanel Post #4 ...finished...sort of!":

Sue, that jacket is truly gorgeous. The colour is beautiful and you have done an impressive job of the trims. How was the movie?

We all enjoyed the movie. I thought it gave a good insight into Coco's life. There is enough fashion to keep sewist's happy, even though some of it may not have been quite accurate for the time it was placed. Audrey Tatou was fabulous!

Cindy has left a new comment on your post "Chanel Post #4 ...finished...sort of!":

It looks wonderful! Love the light green color and trim. Did you sew the fringe between the shell and lining or is it sewn on top of the shell? I want to use fringe on my Chanel and it baffles me a bit!

I sewed the fringe in between the lining and the shell. However if you look at Jane's jacket, the fringe is cut on the bias and then sewn onto the shell on the outside. It really depends on the look you are after.

Well, even though I plan to do more on the jacket, I need a break from it and have bought some fabric to make Burda wof 08-2009-117. Hopefully a nice simple top that can be whipped up quickly!

Chanel Post #4 ...finished...sort of!

I have been madly trying to finish my Chanel jacket for its very special first outing! The girls from my Chanel jacket class went to the movie 'Coco Avant Chanel' and we wore our jackets for the very first time! Piccie of the group of us to come,when it is edited and approved...

Here at the end of the day are photos of my jacket, the front...

the back - excuse the creases...


To show the detail, it is modelled here on Diana - first up the inside of the jacket - I think I should wear it this way all the time considering the amount of work in it!


A close-up of the trim at the neckline and front edges...

A close-up of the inside chain hemline detail...


I am reasonably happy with this jacket... but (isn't there always..) the sleeve heads aren't quite right. I have a few clues on how to remedy this so will give them a try and report back. Also I think it needs a closure as it swings open too far, so I plan to add some hook and eyes. So not quite finished but proven wearable - especially to a lovely ladies lunch day!

Chanel Post #3

I had my third lesson last Saturday. We discussed a lot on the day but did not sew so much..lol!

One of the things discussed was an alternate way to sew the seams for the lining. In my previous post, you can see I butted the seams together and hand stitched them. This time I tried a flat felled version. One side of the lining is sewn (by machine) to the opposite seam allowance. Then the other side of the lining is folded over and hand stitched over the top of this. I hope that makes sense... this is a photo of the seam after one side has been stitched down and then the other side is pressed and pinned ready to hand stitch.

This is the result - a much tidier seam than I managed with the other method....

Pity these seams are inside the sleeves and will never be seen! My next job was to insert the sleeves - what with trying to keep linings out of the way, etc it wasn't great fun! One went in beautifully - the other hung strange. It was sort-of alright but you could see it wasn't sitting like the first one. So, after emailing Felicity, I checked all measurements to discover one sleeve wasn't matching the other (the seam was different by about 0.5 cm at the top of the sleeve) so removed it , basted it - still not right. Then I noticed (another pointer from Felicity) that the sleeve was a bit twisted compared to the other one. The ribbon stripes were not the same on both, so took it out again and straightened it. It still isn't as good as the first one but is much improved and I think I have passed my limit for patience so I a happy to declare it good enough!

This is the jacket now with shoulder pads pinned in place.

Next up is to work out exactly where the shoulder pads should sit, then attach them and finish the lining around the sleeves.

I have been enjoying this process so much that I have joined the sew-along Go Chanel or Go Home. I will be sewing a second jacket in September when the sew-along starts. This suits me well as I should have time to finish this jacket, have my planned week's holiday, draft the pattern I want to use and muslin it (hopefully) before September. This post outlines my plans. Should be fun!

Chanel Post #2

Madly sewing this week-end - this jacket is very time consuming... I went looking for information on how to make Chanel jackets - out of my books I found this book had some great information on pages 182 to 185. It is very similar to how we are constructing our jackets in this class.

I am using fringing as part of the embellishment of this jacket. The selvedge does not have a great fringe, but the other way can be fringed and comes up lovely. Basically - cut a straight edge, fray the fabric to the desired depth, then zigzag the edge to stop it fraying any further. Cut the strip off...

Closeup of the zig-zagged fringe...

This is my faux welt pocket with trim that I have attached to the jacket (hand sewn - my finger tips are really sore - I should have used a thimble!)


I was planning two pockets on each side but was not happy with the embellishment of the 2nd pocket so decided to go with just the one.

Next was to sew the seams and keep the lining out of the way....

The seam is pressed open and then the lining is trimmed and hand sewn closed...

Tip to help with this - quilt up to the seam allowance x 2. You need to keep the seam allowance clear plus enough space to open the jacket seam before closing the lining seam. Leave long threads on your quilting and adjust as you go. I ended up taking the jacket in a bit on the sides so you need to be able to adjust the quilting. (hope that makes sense) .

This is the jacket so far, does not look like much yet but there is still plenty more to come...

Just a note for anyone who has been following my other blog - 'Fit and forty *mumble*' I have made this blog private for the moment as I am having trouble finding time or energy to post to it. Maybe I will get back to one day... not today...

Chanel Post #1

I have attended two classes for my Chanel Jacket class and had a hoot of a time! Don't you just love hanging with people who understand your need to sew....

I think I have shown a similar photo before but this is the fabric I am using. It doesn't photo true to its colour - it is quite spring/lime green in real life and has lots of threads woven in of many different colours - cream, brown, pink, yellow, etc - you cannot pick it up in the photo.

Here are the back pieces lined in white silk and hand-quilted to the main fabric pieces. We have chosen to hand quilt in this class as we are all using fabrics that are loosely woven and suit hand quilting best.
We had lesson two today and spent the time working out what pockets where, what trim and how? Heaps of fun. Lucky the class is located behind a brilliant little quilting shop that carries heaps of great trims. These jackets are going to be Chanel all the way in terms of trim...

And my parting shot is to show you my new best friend... Diana - my size, stands still to try sewing on but not much of a conversationalist...

Diana is wearing my jacket to hide her modesty... and it fits ... amazing!

(Trivial note -- two staples of my life in the photo - gym bag and my slippers!)