Tuesday 17 April 2012

Chanel Jacket progress - quilted lining complete - Part 7

Well I have managed to finish the quilting and all the seams and this is what the inside of the jacket looks like right now.

When I sewed the quilting I used a long stitch and left the long threads top and bottom so if I needed to unpick any of the stitches I could.  This was the case as I need to access the outer edges of the jacket, to attach a bias strip to the outer edges, hem the jacket and turn the lining under too, so I have been unpicking some of quilting stitches to take the finish line about 2" from the bottom.



Next stage will be to sew on some bias tape all around the  outer edge of the jacket.  The burda pattern provides for facings for the front and hem.  However here is my conundrum.   If you take a look at the Chanel jacket on the front of the threads magazine there are no facings.  The jacket below looks like the fringed trim has been caught between the lining and the jacket fashion fabric.  The other thing to bear in mind with these jackets is that they are meant to be fairly soft, rather like a cardigan than a hard tailored jacket.

I guess I can either insert a similar trim in between the bias trim, turn it, press it lightly and then turn under the lining and stitch by hand.  Alternatively I can just add it to the front of the jacket and then place my braided trim over the top.   Hmmmmmmmm glad this is my test jacket because this is a learning curve that I wouldn't want to be doing on my lovely Linton Tweed.


I keep googling to find other people's experiences with their Chanel jacket.  Everyone does it differently. One lady sewed the shoulder seams together, and then quilted starting at the bottom of the front continuously to the bottom back, however I can see a few problems with this method.

While the Threads magazine talks about most aspects of creating the jacket, there is also quite a bit of information that is missing - no good to man or beast (as they say).

Still I will work it out, and hopefully some of you will benefit from my mistakes.

If any of you can see a flaw in my plan, please let me know (I am in a little bit of a panic now).  I need to finish this jacket by Friday night/Saturday morning and be in a position to cut out my Linton Tweed - I only have about 3 weeks to make my 2nd jacket, a shift dress to wear with it and a two tier wedding cake complete with decorations to take to Scotland with me.  Oh and did I mention a full time job that is keeping me extremely busy too.  No pressure you understand this is just a day in the life of Pauline!!!!!! 

Catch you later..............





3 comments:

  1. You will get it all done; I have faith in you. I have to say that you have put a ton of work into that jacket and it is going to look fantastic. I know your next one will look perfect.

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  2. I think your second option of putting fringe between garment and lining is best with braid/bias added as a trim which allows you to get a better mitre at corners.
    Linings at centre front appear to sit better when applied by this method rather than hand sewing in.
    Sheila

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  3. This is looking wonderful. While I have made a couple at this point I think there is a lot of subjectivity in making these jackets. Your ideas sound fine to me. I did my lining edge to edge and handstitched the trim on top. Many ways to skin this cat!

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