Chanel Post #3

I had my third lesson last Saturday. We discussed a lot on the day but did not sew so much..lol!

One of the things discussed was an alternate way to sew the seams for the lining. In my previous post, you can see I butted the seams together and hand stitched them. This time I tried a flat felled version. One side of the lining is sewn (by machine) to the opposite seam allowance. Then the other side of the lining is folded over and hand stitched over the top of this. I hope that makes sense... this is a photo of the seam after one side has been stitched down and then the other side is pressed and pinned ready to hand stitch.

This is the result - a much tidier seam than I managed with the other method....

Pity these seams are inside the sleeves and will never be seen! My next job was to insert the sleeves - what with trying to keep linings out of the way, etc it wasn't great fun! One went in beautifully - the other hung strange. It was sort-of alright but you could see it wasn't sitting like the first one. So, after emailing Felicity, I checked all measurements to discover one sleeve wasn't matching the other (the seam was different by about 0.5 cm at the top of the sleeve) so removed it , basted it - still not right. Then I noticed (another pointer from Felicity) that the sleeve was a bit twisted compared to the other one. The ribbon stripes were not the same on both, so took it out again and straightened it. It still isn't as good as the first one but is much improved and I think I have passed my limit for patience so I a happy to declare it good enough!

This is the jacket now with shoulder pads pinned in place.

Next up is to work out exactly where the shoulder pads should sit, then attach them and finish the lining around the sleeves.

I have been enjoying this process so much that I have joined the sew-along Go Chanel or Go Home. I will be sewing a second jacket in September when the sew-along starts. This suits me well as I should have time to finish this jacket, have my planned week's holiday, draft the pattern I want to use and muslin it (hopefully) before September. This post outlines my plans. Should be fun!