Chanel Jacket - COMPLETED

Hi  I am delighted to say I managed to meet my target for completing my test jacket today.

Looking back over my journey, I thought I would share some of the things that I have learned from this project.

1. If you don't try, you will not know if you can do it or not.
2. Expect to do approximately 4- 5 hours of hand sewing for a Chanel jacket.
3. I actually enjoyed the hand sewing more than I thought I would - good TV multi-tasking work.
4. Making the test jacket before I cut into my Linton Tweed was a good investment of time because I hope to avoid some of the mistakes I made with this one.
5. Remember not to quilt completely to the bottom of the fabric or the top of the fabric - I spent approximately 3 hours unpicking stitches to allow me to turn under the lining fabric and then rethread each loose thread and take it through to the right side (more texture so didn't show) and knot the two threads together to secure them.  However saying this, it wouldn't be good to backstitch on the quilting, so you probably still need to leave enough thread to take the lining thread through to the other side.
1. Read the instructions on other sites for the quilting - Threads say:-
1. cut the lining roughly in the same shape as each fabric piece, mark the quilting lines with pins spaced one inch apart.  Machine quilt along the pinned lines using a walking foot on 3mm stitch length - hold fabric taut as you sew.  Quilt lines in the same direction - stat and stop one inch from seamlines and 2" from hem lines.
2. Tie off the thread ends between the layers.  As you quilt, don't back-tack at either end; this looks messy, and can distort the fabrics.  Pull up each pair of threads between the wool and the lining layers and knot with a jeweler's knot (tied around a pin) clip thread ends down to 1/2".  
6. Buy extra trim - cheaper than the fuel to drive to the market and buy some more.
7. 2 teabags gives a lighter colour than 5.
8. I think 1 1/2" between the quilting rows would be better than 1" I used here (as suggested in the Threads article).  If using fabric with a square design on it, think about doing a grid quilting design on your jacket.
9. Adding the soft interfacing helped to stabilise the fabric and prevent the dratted fabric from fraying too much - and boy did it fray.

Here is the finished jacket on Edna - I will probably make a camisole top to go under this for the summer, but looks nice with the beige sweater underneath.

Here is the jacket on me - I am wearing it with black jeans, black polo/turtle neck sweater, my brand new Carvella shoes (check out those 4" heels"), Mulberry handbag, and some flesh coloured pearls.  In the photo below (top right) you can see a picture of a genuine Chanel jacket.

I am going to enter this into the RTW contest on PR so if you like it and think it looks like a genuine Chanel jacket please vote for me.

So to recap:-

Pattern used: Burda 7934

Pattern Description:  Shaped jacket with section seams comes in three versions.

Pattern Sizing: Women's sizes: 10-24 (36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50) I cut out a size 14

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? No not really, because I was trying to make mine like a Chanel jacket.

Were the instructions easy to follow? I didn't really look at them much.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The fit.

Fabric Used:Woven wool blend.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:  I did my normal FBA, I also added sleeve vents.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes I am sewing this again in some lovely Linton Tweed, and yes I would recommend it.

Conclusion:

This was a test jacket before I cut into some Linton Tweed that I purchased to make an outfit for my sister's wedding on the 18th May.  I have wanted to make a Chanel jacket, complete with quilted lining, chain weight, and of course the trim which was originally white and I dyed it in tea to change the colour.

I am also going to enter this in the RTW contest too.

Right, Catch you later, I have cut out the blue Linton Tweed, now need to start all over again.........