Chanel Jacket - Launch

2 years ago about this time of year I flew off to Palm Springs Ca. for my class with Claire Shaeffer.  I knew when I took that class that I had the perfect piece of fabric in my stash for practicing these new skills.

I am just now getting to that project... 

The Pattern Vogue 8804 by Claire Shaeffer

The advantage this pattern has is the traditional 3 piece sleeve and of course Claire's extensive directions.

 My fabric, a loosely woven silk purchased from Sawyer Brook and lined with 16mm silk charmeuse. I took an additional mini class from Claire during ASDP's 2015 Convention and she showed me a technique of moving the princess seam and moving the bust shaping by shrinking and manipulating to create a seamless look.  A technique heavily employed by the house of Chanel in their classic jackets.  If you look closely at the above picture you can see the seam at the bottom but it disappears as it goes above the waist.  The portion of the seam that is showing will be covered by my pockets, causing the front to look as if it is made from one piece of cloth, not two:)  

Now we can see the lining I chose, the trim I am thinking of using and a start of a buttonhole.  After trying black and green buttonhole twist this tan disappears the most, so I am pleased with that.  The trim is a combination of fringing the silk, a black braid I had in my stash and the matt side of the lining.

Of course all of this progress came after creating a muslin of the jacket, altering it for fit, and marking the pattern pieces onto the silk weave with a basting stitch.  

To learn more about making a Chanel Jacket for yourself be sure to check out Claire's book " The Couture Cardigan Jacket" which includes a step-by-step DVD

Zipper - How I came to love sewing with Zippers

Time is a precious commodity and must be used wisely.

 I recently reactivated my account at Pattern Review because I needed some sewing motivation and now I find myself back to blogging in order to do more sewing?  Well if one wants to post pictures to share with fellow sewists....having a blog is useful.  A great place to track progress, post pictures and create some accountability.  Somehow during my hiatus I lost track of this fact, so ....here we go.  I will need to keep it short and sweet because....time is precious and my job requires more of my attention than ever before.

Speaking of needing attention...meet Zipper, my new puppy, a toy fox terrier.

She makes me move away from the sewing machine throughout the day, and provides lots of good kisses and sweet attention.   A client nervously asked if she had chewed anything up yet...I replied "not that she isn't supposed to" and that was true until a few days ago when she created a hole in my ripple quilt.....sigh, but its mended now and good as new.

Next up....the progress on my Alabama Chanin top and the start of a Chanel Jacket courtesy of the wonderful Claire B.Shaeffer

It has been quite awhile since I last posted...business got the better of me.  WilliamsStudio2.com has kept me very busy sewing 66 Batman and Robin Costumes along with an increasing number of Wonder Woman costumes...so needless to say this has left me little time for personal sewing.

I recently attended the ASDP conference though and that provided me with a much needed vacation and reboot!  The instruction was world class but I will discuss that more in another post. today I want to share my Alabama Chanin project with you.

Just a few in process shots for Tuesday.

 This is a fitted camisole in two layers.  Its been stenciled with her rose pattern. 

 As you can see I am now in the process of quilting around the stencil with beads.  Once beaded you cut away the top layer to reveal a bit of color. 

Her organic cotton jersey is amazingly soft and so lovely to hand sew on. 

Have you sewn any Alabama Chanin projects?

or do you own any of her clothing?