A week of Couture and a travel wardrobe

On Friday 10 April my sewing friend Sandra and I drove to Armidale for a week to attend a hands-on workshop with Claire Shaeffer as our instructor.

This was all organised by Rita who owns Fabric Fair in Armidale and Rita had organised two workshops during a 2 week period.

Sandra and I had chosen to attend the 2nd week which was the Chanel Jacket Workshop.

There were 14 of us in the class from all over the east coast of Australia.  The group got on sew so well and it just amazes me how sewers bond and friendships blossom.

Rita had organised a kit for each of us which contained a pattern, fabric and all the notions to make half a jacket in a very small size.

We first focused on the sleeve as this piece lets you learn all the techniques you need to make the entire jacket, except for the chain for the jacket hem.

After two days we had a wonderful range of 14 different sleeve trims to admire.

and by the last day we had this half jacket to keep as our reference.

I was already an owner of Claire's book and she has kindly signed it for me.

Claire also had with her quite a number of original Chanel garments for us to view and inspect (with gloves on) it was amazing to see how Chanel create the jackets, top and skirts - cutting fabric apart and then resewing it together to get the look they are after was the one that intrigued me the most.

It was a truly memorable week, Claire as a teacher was amazing and the other attendees made the week a wonderful experience and Rita for her hospitality and organising this fantastic opportunity for us Down Under.

Now I have some great ideas for my tweed I purchased from Linton last year, just need to find the time!

Travel Wardrobe

I am so used to packing light to travel I did for this trip as well, except for 2 pairs of boots just in case it got cold and we were travelling in a car.

Time Away:
8 days

Where to:
Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

Season:
Officially the start of Autumn and Rita had let us know that the first frosts for the season had been on the ground the week before we were due to arrive.  The temperature range was from 9 to 26, with the mornings and evenings being rather brisk, but the middle of the day was quite warm.

Expected Activities:
For the majority of the time sitting in a class room as well as checking out Rita's fabric store and going out to dinner a couple of nights.

Colour Scheme:

What I packed:
(each garment is linked to its original construction post - top to bottom, left to right)

Minoru Jacket

Kwik.Sew 3740 Sandra Knit

Vogue 1247 skirt in brown denim

Kwik.Sew 3740 coffee/cream/grey cowl top

Taupe loafers

Black boots

Kwik.Sew 3740  red/coffee cowl top

Jalie 2908 navy denim jeans

Possum shawl cardigan

Kwik.Sew chartreuse and grey top

Vogue 1247 skirt in navy linen

BWOF 02-2009-108 cream boat neck top

Brown boots

Black loafers

and I forget to add to the photo my brown mercury jersey cardigan using Simplicity 2603.

Verdict:
This wardrobe worked out really well, all the tops went with the bottoms, my layering pieces worked with everything.  I did have to do a wash during the week but this is something I do on every trip so it wasn't a bother.

I did take a selection of jewellery and I think this changed the look of some of the outfits.

Now it is time to confess, during out visit to Rita's fabric store, this is what followed me home, some gorgeous lightweight "Merino State" Silk Jersey called Cayenne!

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2015 Stash out:  5.85m
2015 Stash in:   15.0m

Chanel inspired workshop

Back here I mentioned that I was working on a 2nd Chanel inspired jacket and I am now happy to say that the jacket is finished.

Now it all started back in October 2012 when I saw an advert in Dressmaking with Stitches magazine.

Rita Camastral from Ricama Fabrics had written a 2 part article for Dressmaking for Stitches, Volume 20, Issue 7 and Volume 20, Issue 8.  Then in Volume 21 Issue 2 Rita advertised this workshop for early 2013 and I very quickly contacted Rita to find out about attending.

As the workshop was being held in Brisbane I chose to only attend the main workshop that was over the weekend of 9/10 March and Rita was very generous in sending me the pre-workshop information as well as samples of her tweeds and gro-grain ribbons.

I also did some shopping and found this perfect cotton tweed at The Silk Shop

and purchased this silk crepe de chine and the foldover gro-grain ribbon directly from Ricama Fabrics.

This workshop is a technical workshop and because my fabric didn't fray I had all my pieces cut out and the edges fused as per Rita's instructions (this is very different to the LFJ). The other advantage about the workshop being held in Brisbane is that I could stay with my sister, so before I headed off to the workshop on the Saturday morning we overlocked the jacket edges and cut out the silk ready for quilting (again following Rita's notes).

By the end of Saturday I had machine stitched the side backs to the back, the front sides to the front - this left the side seams open as well as stitching the 3-piece sleeve seams leaving the under seam open for both the Tweed and Silk. My homework that night was to tack the silk lining to the tweed ready for quilting the next day.

On Sunday I started quilting the silk to my sleeve and then realised that if I focused on the sleeve for the remainder of the day it would have me accomplish:

• Sewing the last seam of the tweed
• Finishing the silk lining on the seams
• Adding the bias binding edge to the sleeve vent.
• Adding the special gro-grain ribbon (it has a groove in the centre) which will bind the whole jacket. 

For the remainder of the Sunday, I then worked on quilting the remainder of my pieces and then proceeded to tie-off the ends in-between the silk and tweed by the time the class finished.

It was at the beginning of October that I picked up this project again.

At the workshop Rita also gave us cardboard templates for the sleeve edge and neck edge for us to pre-shape the gro-grain around the corners with the addition of some small gathering stitches.

Whilst working on the jacket I realised that I needed some additional trim.  I found this rather challenging and even pulled a lot of threads and crocheted a trim but it needed some additional threads to make it better.

Crocheted trim from threads pulled from fabric

When I was at the ASG meeting at The Remnant Warehouse I found this trim and Patricia suggested I place it on the edge, perfect.

Purchased trim

Once the trim was hand sewn in place, I headed to All Buttons Great and Small at Newtown and let the girls find all the different buttons that would be suitable for my jacket.

Then it was off to see Mick at Quick Buttonhole Service at Alexandria to get the 7 buttonholes stitched, which cost $27, very good value in my mind. I waxed my thread and sewed the buttons on.

Finally the chain was stitched just on top of the gro-grain ribbon at the hem edge.

and a few more views:

oops I must have moved!

This will be my first piece for SWAP 2014 - "if you have an item you're working on now, you may include it as long as it is completed before the official sewing date of 26 December 2013."

It is also my first piece to be completed for my December Garment of the Month, now to get my skirt hemmed!

I also must thank one of my lovely sewing buddies for loaning me her copy of Claire B Shaeffer's book, The Couture Cardigan Jacket it was a wonderful resource.  Fingers crossed my 2nd copy arrives, not sure what happened to the first one.

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Stash Out:    29.45m

Stash In:      24.80m

Little French Jacket

It had to happen, I knew as soon as I saw this silk mix it would be another jacket and guess what I have found, the Little French Jacket sewalong.

The icing on the cake for this sewalong is that both of the organisers, Leisa from A Challenging Sew and Inna from Thewallinna have both attended Susan Khalje's - classic French Jacket course and Susan Khalje has also offered to consult along the way!

I would love to attend one of Susan's classes but at this stage that is a dream so even though I have plenty of projects on my wish list, I've decided to join this one as well.

There have been a number of discussions so far and the schedule has been posted. 

I'm going to use Vogue 7975 again, it has been fitted for me and so far I have made two Chanel inspired jackets from this pattern (well the 2nd one is progressing) so I am not going to do the muslin that started on October 7.

Seeing I'm not 100% certain what else is mixed with the silk, I will do a burn test and then figure out how to pre-treat the fabric.  The girls at The Remnant Warehouse did advise not to dry clean it as they felt it would loose some of its lovely hand.

It will be fun working out what colour the lining will be, looks like I need to go shopping and I'm not even sure where to start with the trim!
 

Not much sewing going on.....

May is turning into a month of hemming projects and preparation, but no actual garment sewing.

As you saw in my last post I have been busy shortening hems on my t-shirts, and have finished another 5 since (1 of mine, 2 for my DM, 1 for my DS and 1 for a friend of DM's) and then DH hands over two pairs of work pants that need hemming as well (1 pair is still hiding in the sewing room LOL).

Then last Saturday at our monthly ASG meeting at Rhodes, Angie Zimmerman* talked to us about Chanel Jackets and then proceeded to help us adjust our patterns.

This was the prompting I needed to start the Chanel jacket that I talked about here.

I wore the Chanel jacket that I made about 3 years ago so Angie could see where it was overlapping at the top of the centre front, and the adjustment was a 0.5mm tuck in the neckline tapering to zero at the bust point.



The remainder of the day was spent cutting out the tweed and interfacing. Yes I am going to interface the whole jacket with Sheerweft just to give it a little more body and keep the tweed together. This is as far as I got on this project.

This week I am preparing 4 patterns to take to Brisbane with me on Friday for a long weekend to attend a Fitting Workshop with Alison Wheeler** and maybe by Monday I will have some garments to show you, so keep your fingers crossed.

*Angie Zimmerman writes a lot of articles for Sewing with Stitches Australia (formerly Australian Stitches) and also has her own sewing workshops.

**Alison Wheeler operates her own sewing school, "The Sewing Lady", in Brisbane. She is an experienced dressmaker and teacher offering a wealth of knowledge and information to her students across a wide range of sewing techniques.

Chanel Fabric

I have found my fabric for my Chanel Jacket.

I visited The Fabric Store last Friday afternoon and found this wonderful tweed and it was on sale as well.



It has a cream base with mauve, aubergine, brown through it and it really lifts my aubergine wool. I'm so happy.

I am trying to find some interesting lining to use. I keep changing my mind about my trim, will I use the fringed edge or braid. I have 2 Chanel jackets and they both have braid and I think I do prefer this style.

One of my problems is that I'm having problems finding any trims here in Sydney so if anyone knows where I can look please let me know. My sister is visiting me from Brisbane this weekend, so I will give her a sample of both of my fabrics so she can visit Scakfs Fabrics (who advertise such wonderful trims in the Australian Stitches Magazine) for me when she goes home to see what they can come up with.

Last week this book found it's way to my home.



I must admit to not reading too much at this stage, I've been busy getting my prep week in order for the WiaW.

Go Chanel or Go Home

I've joined a Sew-Along for a Chanel jacket. I just can't get enough of them and the burgundy wool that I purchased when we went to Melbourne just needs a Chanel Jacket to go with it.

I will be using Vogue 7975 as I did for this Jacket which gets worn to all the different activities of my life. I only have a small adjustment to do at the neckline at the centre front, the edges overlap :)

One of my sewing buddies has samples of the Linton Tweed so I am keen to have another look at these.

I also really like how Lindsay T has made a Summer Version of the Jacket and this is may be another one that I will make for Summer.

There is so much inspiration on the Go Chanel or Go Home Sew-Along thread that I will change my mind a million times.