Monday, August 31, 2009

Chanel Jacket 1

I am sewing a Chanel jacket for the Chanel Sew Along blog. I decided to use Kwik Sew 3258. I have made up two muslins and now I need some opinions. First I made the S based on my waist measurement. I have a narrow back but wide-ish shoulders and I figured it would be easier to snug up the back. Wrong. Today I sewed up the XS. It fits much better.

This is an XS fronm the shoulder to just below the bust. Then it goes out to a S. Then, I took in 1/4" on the side seams on both sides. This style does not overlap in the front. I'm going to put a zipper in at CF. I only drew the grainlines and pockets on one side.


The armhole finishes about 2.5" below my armpit.


What do these back wrinkles mean? I'm thinking I need to take in the back just a little bit more below the armcyse. Overall, I'm thinking it's pretty dang good. If I can fix those back wrinkles, I think I'll be in bid-ness.


We had spaghetti and the girls were supposed to be washing their faces. I decided to check on them when I heard the words, "No, I not be Santa. You be Santa now. Ho, ho, ho!" There were making beards out of bubbles. Inventive little soap trouble-makers.

17 comments:

Amanda S. said...

Great pants she's wearing! I have no opinions but I think the bubble time is hysterical!!!

Sharon said...

It would be good to see the sleeves in and then we can see if this makes any difference to those pull lines or whether you need to take a bit more out of the back, but I wouldn't do anything until the sleeves go in. HTH.

Myrna said...

Putting the sleeves in could change those lines. It's amazing what a difference it makes. You might want to try that first because it's so close.

- Myrna

Anonymous said...

The fit looks great--for the back it looks as if it needs to be taken in a bit but I agree with sewing in the sleeves--just in case.I am liking this pattern! And love the edge-y zipper idea.

btw--Bath night and spaghetti night always have to coincide in our house too--inevitable!

Anne L said...

I think it looks as if the fabric is hanging from the top of your shoulder blades. IF the problem is still there after inserting the sleeves, I would try slashing it horisontally just at the "peak" and spread it just a tiny bit. I struggle with just that when I try to fit anything.

Katharina said...

Did you put the shoulderpads already?
My analysis is the following: the wrincles in the back are diagonal that means you are lacking a bit of length in the back and there is bit too much width. In the side view the front is pulling up a (tiny) bit, too. So i think you need a bit of extra length there, too. I think i would unstitch the shoulderseams and let them out a bit to the middle (towards the neck) and see how this changes the back. And then maybe take in the back a bit more.

another idea: maybe just the seamallowance of the armscye makes the armscye too narrow? In that case staystitching and pinking the seams should do the job ;).

Myra said...

I am surprised at how good it fit you off the bat, I would try basting in the sleeves, with others on this one. The kids & bubbles, I know SOOOO well, your household sounds like mine with regard to soap and sinks and them out of our sight for a moment.

Cole's Corner said...

I love the little soap monsters. Too cute.

Daisy said...

Your children are adorable! At least the bathroom is sudsy clean. As for the wrinkles--what I discovered for me was that I had sloping shoulders and by taking up some of the shoulder seam, the back smoothed out. Just a thought for you to consider.

Pamela said...

Your blog is one of my top 3 favorites! I really enjoy your creativity in fabrics and designs. Thank you for your frequent posts - I look for them almost daily and have learned from you.

Kind regards - sewsincere

Jacqui said...

I love that this pattern has a zipper. I can't wait to see your progress.

Those girls are inventive little creatures, arent' they?

Anonymous said...

Cant wait to see your jacket. It looks good so far. Of course I agree with everyone and see how the sleeves alters the fit. Oh and your daughters are tooooo cute!! I remember when my two were that adorable!! LOL!!

Kat said...

Dawn, I think the issue might be the shoulder blades. I would treat it as such if I saw those wrinkles on my own body. However, agreeing with others--put in the sleeves first before doing anything else.

My feeling is, if you let out the lower side seams, you probably wouldn't see the wrinkles, because then it would be extra ease (unstitched dart). Once you start to tighten things up and try to get a flat piece of fabric around a curvy area, the wrinkles will form.

Maybe tightening up the side seams would help, sometimes it is just hard to tell from a pic. But my instincts tell my to dart the excess where you see it on the flat pattern and transfer it to the shoulder or neck. I think it's a shoulder blade issue.

Your shoulder slope appears to be relatively normal and I'm not seeing any sloping shoulder issues in the front either.

Vicki said...

I posted over at the Chanel blog before I came here...so fit suggestions there. But how cute is the look on her face - guilty or what?
It is great reading others feedback. We all learn from these posts!

marysews said...

I don't like tailoring, so I'll just watch you, if you don't mind.

Meanwhile, I like the painted-on shorts!

Unknown said...

I have been told that as we age, and start to develop a dowager's hump (yikes), that adding an inch or so in the shoulder length will get rid of those wrinkles...not a pleasant aging process, but an alteration that does work.

Kathi said...

Oh my - they sure managed to get a lot of bubbles in the sink!!!! My boys would be very envious of all those bubbles!!!!!!