almost chanel

My mother has moved a few months ago to a smaller house. Before the move we have cleared out all the excess stuff. We found a few old sewing patterns, including this Burda pattern of a Chanel style suit.

I can remember that I made this jacket with skirt over thirty years ago for my mother.

Over the years I have sewn several Chanel style jackets. The only thing I have not done is quilting, making a three piece sleeve and inserting a chain weight at the hem of the jacket.

The fabric of this jacket is a kind of bouclé. Original it should be a kind of tweed. The lining is a very thin and smooth fabric. Quilting didn’t turn out successful. Despite several attempts quilting failed again and again: the bouclé fabric remained always getting hooked in the foot of my sewing machine due to the loops in the fabric. I decided to skip the quilting.

I sewed a black velvet band along the edge of the jacket and sleeves. The side of the velvet band nearest to the end of the jacket en sleeve is sewed first on the jacket only and the second side of the velvet band on the jacket and the interfacing. On the second sewing stitches the lining is set in by hand using a fell stitch.

The lining is finished with a decorative finishing along the center front and neck. The loop and the pleat in the center back seam have the same decorative finishing.

The sleeve is a two-part sleeve, instead of a three-part sleeve. The sleeve header is made of fleece and a very thin handmade shoulder pad is set in.

The chain was hard to found. I went to a couple of bead stores, but the type of chain I was looking for wasn’t available. Cycling in a small street in a town nearby I found a haberdashery store where I found this chain.

I love my jacket. I wear this type of jacket on jeans with a simple T-shirt. The pattern is self drafted: being a swimmer in the past and a rower now I’ve broad shoulders. I’m not wearing the famous big Chanel pearl necklaces. Instead I made two bracelets with big pink beads. The bracelet with the white beads is a gift from my rowing friend. On my wish list is still making the ultimate Chanel jacket.