The construction of my Chanel Jacket has been quite a journey. I wrote previously in Why I decided to Make a Chanel Jacket for my reasonings of undertaking such a daunting task. SUMMARY: The Australian Sewing Guild were running a sew-along and I thought a Chanel Jacket would look great with jeans (one of my wardrobe staples).
I was fortunate to get a lot of fitting and sewing advice from a fellow sewing guild member, via email and face-to-face (when safe to do so). I am usually reluctant to ask for help, but I truly needed it with this project.
In this first part I will cover the gathering of supplies and creating a well fitted toile. In the second part I’ll discuss sewing the jacket and the final reveal.
Gathering Supplies
The gathering of supplies started with the star of the show – the boucle or tweed fabric. I took a look online at Linton Tweeds and Tessuti Fabrics. From that I found that I liked the look of a navy or black fabric without any obvious checks as I didn’t want to attempt pattern matching for my first jacket. But as this was the start of the COVID pandemic in February 2020 deliveries were going to be unpredictable or long, so I decided that the best course of action was to find as much as I could locally.
I tried The Fabric Store in Adelaide, but they didn’t have anything. Next in line was Tatiana Light Fabrics as I knew they imported designer fabrics, including boucle. Tatiana had a small selection and the only one that suited me was a light blue fabric. Not quite what I was after, but there weren’t any other options (sorry there was one – Spotlight fabric – but nowhere near as soft and textured). After much umming and ahhing I bit the bullet and bought what the pattern recommended – 1.4m of a Chanel boucle. Only months later did I discover that the fabric wasn’t 150cm wide but 135cm, and the pattern recommendations was for 15mm (3/8″) seams not the much wider 5cm (2″) seams, and 10cm (4″) for hems and sleeve heads. So I ended up with only enough fabric for the bodice. So it was either to be a vest, or see if there was any more fabric – fortunately they had just enough left for the sleeves.
I also bought some silk organza from Tatiana, and an off-cut of some light blue silk lining. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough silk lining so I later decided to go for a navy lining from Ferrier Fashion Fabrics, causing problems all of it’s own, but I’ll discuss that in part 2.
I searched high and low at local shops for some trim, but I didn’t have any luck. However, while I was at The Button Bar to get the buttons I found they had a few trim options and found one that I really liked. And by like I mean it would easily go around corners and suited the boucle. Unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough but I knew I’d make it work somehow.
The basting and polyester threads came from Spotlight, as well as hooks and eyes. I waited for these to come on special, which they do on quite a regular basis.
During all these shopping trips I also tried sourcing the famous Chanel chain, only to be disappointed, there was nothing at all. The sew-along suggested a handbag chain from an Etsy seller Craft Cubs Supplies based in Victoria. So I purchased enough from them for a few jackets (just in case) when the jacket was nearly completed.
Creating a Toile
During this process of gathering the supplies I started on the toile using Vogue 8804 pattern as suggested by the sew-along. Over a month emails were exchanged between me and my sewing friend to improve the fit, but nothing worked. It just made me look bigger than I am.
First attempt:
Sixth attempt:
After all these attempts my sewing friend gifted me Susan Khalje’s – French Jacket pattern as it had princess seams and would suit my curves better. From the first toile I could see that I would definitely get a better fit, requiring just a few tweaks over a two week period.
First Attempt:
Fifth Attempt (with 3 piece sleeve):
Sixth Attempt:
Supply List
- Susan Khalje – Classic French Jacket Pattern
- Blue Chanel boucle fabric and silk organza from Tatiana Light Fabrics in Unley, South Australia
- Navy Nightlife Stretch Polyester Satin Lining from Ferrier Fashion Fabrics in Fullarton, South Australia
- Buttons and Trim from The Button Bar in Adelaide. South Australia
- Silver Chain from Craft Cubs Supplies on Etsy
- Gutermann Basting and Polyester Threads and Coat Hooks and Eyes from Spotlight
Part 2 of this series discusses the cutting out of the Chanel Jacket.
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