1 Step forward, 3 back...

You know, some days it just doesn't pay to get up.  LOL.  I can laugh now that I have my mess fixed.  But, in Claire's class, we discovered my fashion fabric (the boucle') had a distinctly greenish cast on one side and pinker cast on the other.  So....since green definitely isn't one of my colors, we use the pinker side.  Well - guess who forgot?  If you guessed me, you would be correct.  Gah!!!  I had to unpick at least 6 quilted pieces, maybe 8, I forget how many.  Remembering to put wrong sides together for me is very difficult.  Now you know silk leaves needle marks in it.  So I had to be very careful in re-quilting the relaid pieces.  I now have only 2 more pieces left to quilt and I'll be done with all the quilting. 

Now for a little fun, more creative interlude.  LOL.  I went to Loops yesterday hoping to find another yarn or two to add to my braid palette for the jacket trim.  I found a couple.  These pictures really don't do them justice.  All the yarns I purchased are really pretty.  Please click on the picture to zoom in on this gorgeous yarn.  The 2 pictured at the bottom are the new ones from Loops.  The thick one at the top is the braid I made from twisting the 3 together.  I love the way it looks.  I'm going to work up a mock-up of a braid trim and when I have something, I'll post a picture for you.

Since I've been correcting the mistake I made with the quilted pieces, I haven't been able to get back to working on my winter robe.  Hopefully soon.

More later...

Chanel Progress...

Previously, I showed you the basted pieces.  Now this is a piece that has been quilted.  This is all I'm doing right now, basting and quilting ALL the pieces together.  There are sixteen separate pieces to this jacket.  I have four more to do and I'll have my homework done for the next Claire K. class where we'll start actual construction.  

I've been doing a little running around looking for yarns to make my trim and have found a couple of good possibilities.  These dark teals should set it off really nice.

I'm going to finish basting/quilting the last four pieces then stop.  I'll be going back to the winter robe project.  I'm itching to get it done.  LOL.

More Later...

Pictures!

See...I do keep my promises.  LOL.  Here are a couple of pictures showing my fabric choices for the jacket.  They also show how I laid out a sleeve piece on the fabric and have basted it down.  I'll be drawing my quilting design on it with chalk and sewing it out. 

Oh, I think I forgot to mention last night that Claire re-drafted my one piece sleeve into a 3 piece sleeve.   I just love the fit!

Here's a closeup of the basting.  Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Btw, I had to lighten the pics.  Even with a bit better lighting during the day, it's still not optimum.

Lata!

Where do I begin?

All I can say is that I'm tired.  LOL.  Last week was so busy; teaching on Tuesday & 3 long days in OKC (driving back & forth each day spending almost 4 hours on the road).  Don't get me wrong - I loved all of it.  LOL.  But it does tend to catch up with you.  I've made quite a bit of progress on my Chanel style jacket; the muslin was sewn, fitted and de-constructed.  Using the muslin pieces as my pattern, I cut out blocks of the two fashion fabrics for each pattern pieces and now I'm in the process of basting each of the pieces to each other and quilting them together.  I have the back, the side backs and the side fronts quilted.  I'm doing a very easy up and down quilting design.  After I quilt each piece, I'm taking the long threads I left on the starting and ending stitches, threading them through a needle and pulling those threads in-between the 2 fabrics.  Then I tie them off and clip the threads.  With the easy design I'm quilting, there are only 2 or 3 threads on each side to pull to the inside.  Easy Peasy.  LOL.

Its after 9pm and I know I've promised pictures, but it will have to wait for tomorrow when I'll have better lighting in here.

Oh, btw, I managed to stop by Helen Enox, an independent fabric store in OKC, too.  They have some really yummy fabrics there and are so reasonable priced.  I wish I could persuade them to have an on-line presence.  Needless to say, I found a couple of things I just couldn't live without.  LOL.  If you live around the area, you really should visit them.

Later...

Classes in OKC

I'm off to take a 3 day class with Claire Kennedy.  We'll put the finishing touches on my tailored coat - buttonholes and buttons.  Then I'll be starting a Chanel style jacket.  Mine is going to have lapels!  LOL.  I'll have a report on the winter robe and doings in the class sometime this weekend.

I hope you all have a great week!

Later...

Return of the CJ

Work has progressed a bit on the jacket.  I have the fronts and backs put together and side seams sewn.  I'll sew the sleeves together soon and attach them.  To the side is a picture of what I've accomplished so far.  I think I'm happy with it.  But not altogether.  I probably should have laid it out so the silver stripes could up and down instead of across.  Oh well.  I'll just have to live with it. I have made one other decision though.  I'll be using the silk charmeuse as a blouse instead of a lining on this jacket.  I purchased some nice black anti-stat to substitute for the silk.  

I'm sorry the picture is so dark; unfortunately the lighting isn't that great in here at night.  

CJ - The Ugly Truth

Ugh.  Well, if I didn't know before, I certainly know it now.  The pictures on the pattern face don't always match the pattern reality.  The pattern picture jacket looks longer, but in actuality, its a high hip length almost waist height.  And the ugly truth is that photos add about 20 pounds to me and I don't look good with a high hip length anything.  LOL.  Oh, and part of the Ugly truth could be the white fabric I used to make my first muslin.  So here are the pictures and my analysis of what I think needs to be done.

 The first thing I see are drag lines at each shoulder.  I'm going to take 1/4" inch out starting at the shoulder and narrowing to nothing at the neck on both sides.
The next is the sleeves are really drafted large.  I'm going to remove 2 1/4" inches from the under-sleeve, starting at the hem and narrowing to nothing at the armseye seam allowance.

Since the jacket is too short for my body type, I'll add 3 inches in length at the lengthen/shorten lines on each of the 2 fronts and 2 back pattern pieces.
I don't care for the high neckline too much so I folded it down a little.  I may deepen the curve of the neckline a bit later.  But that's a change I can make once I have the structural changes done to my satisfaction.



Now off the make the pattern changes...more later!

Chanel cardi...the beginning

This is going to be my fabric selection for my cardigan.  The boucle', to the right, I purchased from Sawyer Brook's on-line store several years ago and its been marinating in my stash ever since.  On the left, is a piece of silk charmeuse I purchased from The Cloth Merchants here in town.  I won't pretreat the boucle' but I have soaked the charmeuse in warm water for 10 minutes, rinsed it several times, rolled it up into a towel to blot and then ironed it dry.  I have it rolled up on a big cardboard tube that used to house decorator fabric at Hancock Fabrics. 

I have several patterns that would suit a Chanel style cardigan, Vogue 7975 basic design, McCall's easy 5007 and the one pictured here on the left McCall's Make it Crafty 6041.  I'm going to use M6041 but I'm not going to "make it crafty".  LOL.  The main reason is because they include all the cup sizes with this pattern and I really don't feel like doing a FBA since I wear a 38C.  I've decided on view B.  I'm going to cut out a 16 graduating to an 18 at the hips.  I'll shorten the sleeves from a 3/4 sleeve to a 2/3 sleeve.  I'm going to add side slits and possibly lengthen the body of the jacket if I don't think the length is long enough when I make the muslin.  I'll also make a possible sloping shoulder adjustment.  Age and gravity are catching up with me.  We'll see. 

Couture & Chanel cardigans

What does Couture really mean?  The term "Haute couture" refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing.  Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and its usually made from high quality, expensive fabric with an extreme attention to detail and finished using time-consuming, hand executed techniques.  So says WIKIPEDIA.  LOL.  To me, any woman/man who makes their own clothes is a couturier except for the expensive high-end fabrics I guess.

Now I've been retired from the office scene for 15 years and my lifestyle is very casual.  9 times out of 10 I'm wearing jeans with a nice top, usually one I've made.  So couture doesn't really enter into my way of living and even if it did, we couldn't afford it.  Typical couture items can run into the many thousands.  But...I can see wearing a nice Chanel style cardigan with my jeans in my near future.  Since I've joined the Jacket A Month http://artisanssquare.com/sg/index.php/topic,12039.35.html  forum, I've found a few other blogs namely the Go Chanel or Go Home! Blog.  LOL.  I really love the look of the Chanel cardigan.  Well...I mostly love the look; I plan on updating that look somewhat. And since the jean jacket I've almost completed is my first jacket on that forum, my version of the Chanel cardigan will be my second.  Now let's get this straight from the beginning, I will come nowhere near making 12 jackets this year especially since there will be so much hand work on the cardigan.  I'll need to cleanse my sewing palette between jackets with other items.  LOL. 

So...what makes a Chanel cardigan different?  The cardigans are constructed without traditional interfacings, backings, facing or heavy linings.  As a consequence, there are only 2 fabric layers - the outer fashion fabric and the lining.  They are considered a "lined to the edge" type garment.  The fashion fabric is usually a loosely woven tweedy or boucle type fabric that is, as a norm, considered too fragile for traditional skirts and jackets.  Linings are more delicate materials such as silk gauze, China silk and silk charmeuse.

Typical construction consists of, almost invisible, quilting the fashion fabric to the lining so the loosely woven fabric will not sag and the garment can maintain its shape.  Other touches on Chanel cardigans includes a almost totally hand applied/sewn lining, braid trim and brass chains to weight the jacket hem attractively.

As I may have said before, I'm completely self-taught when it comes to sewing.  So I'll be using several reference books (and blogs) to help me construct my jacket.  I have my Threads Magazine Archive and Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Shaeffer along for the ride.  I'm going to try to document my efforts more completely in making this cardigan than I ever have in constructing a garment before.  And the reason why is because I haven't found a single source, on-line or not, that does.  And basically because I want to.  LOL.

More later...