French Jacket: Part Six - The Final Details!

In this final installment I will discuss the trim, the chain and the pockets.
** links to the previous posts on my French Jacket Construction included at the end of this post.

My completed French Jacket!

These last bits of sewing are almost exclusively done by hand. If you follow the full couture method it would 100% be all hand sewing. I decide to use a small amount of machine sewing for my pockets.

The steps for this part include:
1. making and applying the trim
2. applying the chain
3. making and applying the pockets
4. sewing in the label!

Naked Jacket with no trim

Step 1: the FUN part!! The making and applying of the trim. I used 2 different trims layered for this jacket. Each layer was sewed down separately. The design phase of the trim started way back at the beginning of the project. you sort of have an idea as you are constructing the jacket and you have to let all the parts speak to you and kind of tell you how to place them. I know that sounds a bit silly but its how I work. And maybe it is more that as I am constructing the jacket with all the materials around me my mind subconsciously works on the design problem so that when it comes time to actually place the trim it almost feels more instinctual. In the case of my project I had all the materials with me at the last workshop I did with Sarah Veblen. She took the time to do a mini- trim lecture with us using my materials. It was very interesting hearing all of here thoughts about the use of trim and the practical ways to look at them and to apply them. It was also somewhat of a validating moment for me when she totally agreed with my final trim ideas and placement.

zig zagging the trim to stabilize the fringe.

Playing with trims on worktable.

Playing with trims on scrap of fabric.

With Sarah's suggestion of reinforcing the selvedge trim I sewed a wide zigzag all along the edge of the 'hairs' to keep them from just falling apart when I trimmed the piece down to fit under my Chanel trim. I placed my trim about a 1/2 inch back from the edge and all along the front edge and neckline of my jacket. I did not go around the hemline because the skirt I made to wear with this jacket is dimensional AND I wanted to keep the clean lines along my hip and derriere!

Fringe pinned onto jacket and sewn with running stitch first.

Fringe pinned around neckline.

I first pinned on the selvedge trim and with the 'hairs' going into the jacket and secured this with a running stitch. I next pinned on the Chanel trim that I purchased from Susan Khalje brought back from one of her Paris trips. This trim is so beautiful and so well made!!! I was able to trim it wherever I needed at the ends and just to a couple whip stitches and nothing fell apart, just so lovely and the ribbon running through is gorgeous.

Chanel trimmed pinned over fringe.

Hand Sewing of Chanel trim.

Step 2; Applying the Chain. Actually, I think I sewed the Chain on before the trim but that's splitting hairs at this point! I decided to apply the chain only to the back of the jacket. SOme Chanel jackets have the chain only in the back and some have the chain going all the way around. My decision was twofold. The chain can be applied to the back only to counterweight the trim and since my trim was only being applied to the front edges and around the neckline I felt that only the back was needed. My other reason was that more often than not my clothes in general will fall to the front. There are a zillion reasons for this and the biggest one being fit of the garment. the fit of this garment is so spot on that I really don't think this would be an issue. However, the thought did come into play. I measured my muslin from side seam to side seam and the chain was cut to that length. The chain, gunmetal medium, came from Sarah Veblen and is a very lovely high quality chain! She sells chain on her website here.

Chain applied to back of jacket.

My chain actually goes beyond the side seams about an inch in either direction since I have lost so much weight since I first started this project last spring. I did not worry about it. I found the center of the chain and the center back of my garment and just started sewing the chain on at that point. I used a waxed double thread and took 2 stitches around every single link. I tried to put the stitches in the link of the chain where it would not be noticeable but for some reason it didn't always turn out this way. A tiny detail that no one but me will know about... well and now you too!

The chain is stitched on just on the fashion fabric abutting right against the lining with a about a 1/4 inch of space below the chain before the actual hem edge. This was done to make sure that the chain is not seen from the right side. I also made sure to stitch it through to the organza enclosed in the hem to give it some extra stability and keep it from drooping.

Step 3: The pockets. I was actually undecided about pockets for a long time. I like the smooth look of no pockets but I really need pockets and did not place any hidden ones on the interior. So i went for it and i'm really glad that I did. They add a super nice touch of elegance and also give me another place to tie in the glass buttons from the sleeve vents. I used a medium size pocket. From my inspiration photos in this blog post you can see the actual Chanel Jackets often have multiple sets of pockets. Larger ones on the bottom and a second set of smaller ones just above them. I decided to do just one set and to make them medium sized. Not too big and not too small, just right!

I must confess that I had 3 different design options for the trim. I had the pockets pinned on with the jacket with various trim options for several days on my dress form plus I asked Sarah's opinion during a Skype mentor session with her. Just like previously, I ended up going with the one that just felt the best to me!

Pocket idea A

Pocket idea B

This is the ONLY place where I would change things up in my next jacket. I hate the look of sagging pockets so I decided to line them with the black silk organza. Well, hindsight is 20/20 and i should have underlined them in the silk organza and used the colorful lining fabric as the pocket lining. Again this is splitting hairs and nothing that anyone looking at me wearing the jacket would ever notice. But, I notice it when I look down at myself.

To make the pockets, I used my homemade cardboard pocket template that I have been using for years and cut out 2 fashion fabric and 2 organza lining sections. I did not add any length to the top for a facing. These pockets are lined to the edge. I then placed right sides together and sewed them using a 1/2 SA around all sides leaving a 2 inch opening along the top. I then pressed, trimmed and graded, turned pressed again to favor the fashion fabric to the inside. Slip stitched the opening closed and then applied the trim and buttons by hand. The pockets were then hand sewn to the jacket.

Back/inside of pocket. Can see clipping through the organza.

Pockets completely sewn and ready for application to jacket.

This was it the final creation was done and all I had left to do was sew in my label: Siouxzeegirl Designs.

Final thoughts...
This was one of the most rewarding projects that I have ever worked on and I am eagerly looking forward to my next one. I have 2 lengths of boucle in my fabric collection, one a pink and grey and one a deep red and black, and now that I know that I can do it and do it well I am daydreaming of the design of my next French Jacket!

This French Jacket or French Style Jacket will be worn in the Haute Couture Club of Chicago Fashion show on April 10th and if all goes as planned at the Annual ASG conference Fashion Show in Indianapolis this July along with a group of several others.

Here are some final pictures of my finished jacket. I stiffed the arms for these pictures to better show off the sleeves but I think i may have overdone it!! HeHe!!
There will be photos of me in it soon!!

Links to previous French Jacket posts:
1- French Jacket: Part One- Inspiration
2- French Jacket: Part Two- Choosing a pattern, Muslin fitting and fabricprep
3- French Jacket: Part Three- Quilting and Beginning construction
4- French Jacket: Part Four- Vertical Lining seams,sleeves and front closures
5- French Jacket: Part Five- Inserting the Sleeves and the Jacket Hem

Happy Sewing!

And a parting photo of my Princess Victoria on Easter morning! I'm a lucky grandma :)

French Jacket: Part Five - Inserting the sleeves and the Jacket hem

This post is all about inserting the sleeves and finishing up the jacket hem. These are the last steps before what I consider the fun part!

The steps for this post are:
1. Inserting the sleeves
2. Hand sewing the lining on the sleeves
3. The jacket hem

Step 1: Inserting the sleeves. I'm not going to lie... I was dreading this part for a bit. Up until this stage the sleeves were worked on completely separate from the rest of the jacket and at this stage the sleeves are in a finished state. Very different from how I have ever constructed any other garment! I debated on whether to hand insert the sleeves or machine insert or to do a combination of hand basting and machine sewing. in the end I decided that I would start with machine insertion just like I would do with any other inset sleeve and switch to hand basting/insertion only if i needed it (more like only if I was having problems!) Since I did not have to worry about pattern matching with this fabric it made insertion much less stressful.

I did all the normal steps. Machine stitched 2 rows of gathering stitches between the notches on the sleeve head. Pin basted in the sleeve and pulled up the threads to match. I then unpinned the sleeve and steamed the shape in over a pressing ham. Once everything cooled I pinned the sleeves back in and machine sewed them. They went in like a dream! I had to make sure to carefully match up my tailor's tack on the under sleeve panel to the underarm seam. with those matched everything else just slipped into place. whew! I was worried for naught. The fiddliest part of the entire process was keeping the lining pieces out of the way. I ended up pinning them back on both the armsyce and the sleeve cap. I finished the sleeve insertion with trimming the underarm to a smaller seam allowance to reduce bulk.  

Step 2: Hand sewing the sleeve lining to the jacket lining. Really not gonna lie...this was a major pain in the neck. Being so close to being finished with the project it just seemed to be such a process to get it done correctly and looking nice. Not only were all the edges on the bias but you are also working in the round. I found it easiest to put the jacket on my dressform inside out and do all the pinning right there. Between folding and pinning and ironing multiple times it finally all came together. I found the most important part here was that you want the lining overlap seam to match up and be over the fashion fabric seam. I found the easiest way for me to accomplish this was to smooth the sleeve lining up and fold the jacket lining of the armscye under and lay it over the and then pin and fell stitch. This did require that I make multiple clips in some areas of the lining so that everything would lie smoothly. I'm going to keep an eye on this area over time to see how it all holds up with clipping folding and hand fell stitching.

Clipping of the lining so the sleeve lining lays nicely when hand sewn. 

Trying to figure out best way to finish the sleeve/jacket lining.

With the sleeves completely in I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Step 3: The jacket Hem. after all the hand sewing already done on this jacket the hem seemed to be super easy and relatively fast for me. I used strips of black silk organza to pad the hem. Just like in the jacket hem, these strips went from seamline to sealine and sit underneath the seam allowances to give them (the seam allowances) a cushion to keep from the showing through to the right side. I catch stitched the organza to the seam allowances and then folded up the hem and catched stitched the fashion fabric to the organza. This meant that there is about an inch of organza curled in the hem line and it goes about 1/2 inch above the hemline for the catch stitching. I hope that's not too confusing!!

Once the fashion fabric is catch stitched to the organza I then folded the lining down to be about 1/2 to 5/8 inch from the edge. This left room for the chain. The lining was then fell stitched in place.

At this point I was trying on my garment for the first time in its completed state! The only steps left were the final touches of the trim, pockets and chain! I took a deep breath and slipped my arms in, did up the front closures and did a happy dance. It was like slipping into a beautiful dream that I had made. :)

Next up... The Final touches

French Jacket: Part Four- Vertical lining seams, sleeves and front closures

In the last post we ended with the machine sewing of the vertical jacket seams and the sleeve seams.

My next steps were:
1. Hand sewing the vertical lining seams.
2. Hand finishing the sleeves hem and vents.
3. Hook and eyes- front closures
4. Finishing Neck and Front edges


As you can see there is not a lot of steps here but this takes A LOT of time to complete. I really wish I had kept track of all the hours that it has taken me to complete this step!

After sewing the vertical seams in the fashion fabric I pressed them open over a seam roll with just the tip of my iron and a press cloth. At this point you have to make sure that the seam allowances don't overlap or interfere with any of the quilting lines. I had a couple areas where I actually had to trim back a small portion from the 1 inch seam allowance so I could get the seam allowances to lie flat.

Step 1: To sew the lining seams I used the underlap/overlap method. One seam allowance of the lining was smoothed flat and the adjoining seam allowance was folded under and layered over the flat one, pinned and then hand sewn with fell stitches. I did the best to line up the folded edge of the seam with the seam in the fashion fabric.

I made sure to keep these even across the jacket. For example, when sewing the side seams I let the side back lay flat and folded the side fronts over and then stitched.
The import part about this step is that in the areas at the top and bottom of the seams I made sure to keep the lining free. Meaning that I only fell stitched the linings to each other and made sure not to catch the fashion fabric. While in the main part of the jacket I made sure to catch the fashion fabric in the hand sewing. I pretty much just used the quilting lines as a guide and in the area that I did not want to catch the fashion fabric I slipped a piece of paper under as well as my fingers when I could. This let me feel the needle to make sure not to catch the fashion fabric.

All of this hand sewing really allowed for some good movie watching! 

The same process was done on the sleeves. I used 3 piece sleeves and left the outer seam open so that I could easier finish up the vent and hem while flat. Makes life much easier! However in order to do it this way you really need to be sure of your sleeve length, no going back and easily changing it.

Step 2: I choose to interface my sleeve vent and hem with silk organza. In a great tip that I learned from Sarah Veblen I cut the length of organza into pieces so that they could slip under the seam allowances and keep them from forming ridges on the right side. I catch stitched the organza at each seam allowance and then used this as a base to catch stitch the hem to. This also allows the organza to have a roll in the hem which provides a nice soft support and keeps things nice looking for years.

My pattern has vent area on both sides. I have used this in the past on other fabrics and it gives a nice support at the vent area for the buttons to be sewn to. With this thick fabric I decided to just trim that narrow bump out of the underlap right off. It kept down some of the bulkiness. I mitered the corners of the hem where the vent overlaps to keep it nice looking and again to cut down on the bulk. I wanted to use the fringe only portion of my trim so to accomplish this I sandwiched the trim between the fashion fabric and the lining along the vent only. I use a running stitch to attach the trim to the wrong side of the vent and then folded the lining over and fell stitched it into place. I made the trim as narrow as possible by zig zagging along the edge and then trimming it to about a 1/4 inch. The zig zag helped maintain the stability of the trim and kept it from just disintegrating into pieces!

Step 3: sewing on the front closures. I decided to have this jacket close with center front meeting center front. For this to happen I sewing on large hook and eye closures. These are sewed on before the front edge lining is done. The first part to this is turning under the neckline and the front edge to the finished placement. Because I changed to a soft rounded V Neck this part was slightly fiddly to get it to lay nice and symmetrically. One that was done I had to make sure that the V portion met correctly. Once that was done I was able to work on the closures.

Sewing on the hook and eyes are a bit fiddly and I needed to be very careful in doing it properly. I knew that I wanted the closures to be about every 2 inches. I started with putting the jacket on, adjusting it carefully and the placing a pin at the CF over the fullest part of my breast. Once I had this done I measured down every 2 inches and placed another pin. I also measure up and luckily for me the top of the jacket front was just a slight bit over 2 inches so it all worked out great! Once I had one side marked I sewed on the eye portion all the way down the front. With all 8 eyes sewn on I laid the jacket out very carefully and placed a corresponding pin on the other center front right at the middle of the eye. These are large Hook and Eyes, about a 1/4 inch in size. With the pins marking the center of each eye, I proceeded to sew on each corresponding hook also keeping it centered over the pin head. After each eye was sewn on I carefully laid the jacket back out flat with the sewn hooks and eyes closed and rechecked the remaining pin placements. This turned out to be a very god method for me and the hooks and eyes matched up quite nicely! YAY!! The only thing I will do differently next time is to place the hooks further in on the fold of the fabric. and i'm talking a small amount probably just another 1/16th of an inch. I know... splitting hairs!

Step 4: With the hooks and eyes sewn on the last step of this post was to sew the lining to the neckline and front edges. As with sewing the vertical lining seams this part was not hard just time consuming. I turned under the lining edge and pressed it to be just slightly smaller than the fronts and neckline and then fell stitched it into place. Again making sure not to include the jacket hem area in this step.

Next post will be the final! Finishing the hem and adding the trim!

Happy sewing!

Bargello Art quilt is done!

The Final product! Now I just need to hang it up!

Sorry for the lack of updates... the last week was spent working on the actual quilting part as well as attaching the binding.

The quilting on this piece is pretty basic, I just followed the flow of the pattern and decided to use a variety of colors in metallics to make it interesting. The border I quilted in a very basic double row of lines. My thought was to 'frame' the center portion where all the interest is.

The threads used in the quilting.

The left most was used in the bobbin and the rest were used on the top.

The binding took me a couple nights to do. I first attached it to the front and then wrapped it to the back and hand sewed it on. Probably took about 4 or 5 hours of hand sewing which was done on the couch while watching TV.

Close up of the back with the binding hand sewn in place.

Now all that is left to do is to sign it and hang it. I think I have a perfect spot in the living room and will make sure to take some pictures as soon as it is up!

It was a fun project to do and now I am actually thinking of making another one! First though, I have a bit of 'other' sewing that I want to get done. The arrival of the spring like weather has me itching to make spring tops as well as get out into the garden and get the beds ready!

So many things... so little time!