Chanel Jacket tutorial 1 - cutting out and quilting

There are two ways cut out a Chanel style jacket, the first is to roughly trace your pattern pieces onto the lining fabric, quilt the lining and fabric pieces together and then cut out. If you want to try this method it is explained very well (with illustrations) in her book Couture Sewing Techniques.

The second, (which I used and which Susan Khalje recommends) is just like cutting anything else out, except you leave huge seam allowances (5cm+). Couture garments generally have big seam allowances to allow for fitting, but there is another reason why your jacket will need such big seam allowances - the bouclé frays like fraying is going out of fashion. I was going to take a picture of the state of my carpet after making the jacket, but frankly I was a little ashamed!
As well as the large seam allowances, the other difference to home sewing is that you will thread trace the seamlines so they can be seen from the right and wrong sides. This is much more accurate than using the seam allowance as a guide (especially with such a large and fraying seam allowance) and is a good habit to get into.

Here are the pattern pieces laid out on the fashion fabric

And here is a close up of the thread tracing

It's a little hard to see. All you need to do is trace around the pattern pieces with a contrast thread and a long running stitch. I cut out the pieces from a single layer of fabric, if you were using a double layer you would have to use tailors tacks.
I didn't thread trace the lining, I just cut around the cut fashion fabric pieces. The important thing about the lining is that it's on the same grain as the fashion fabric.

Once the two layers are cut out, the next stage is to quilt them together.
I admit, I didn't really believe that Chanel jackets were machine quilted until I was at the Victoria and Albert museum, at the Grace Kelly exhibition (The V&A doesn't currently have a Chanel jacket in the permanent collection), with my nose pressed up against the glass of a display case looking at a Chanel coat. It is subtle, almost invisible, but it is there.
Why quilt? Let me answer that with a picture of a jacket I made many years ago.

See how the sleeve has fallen and bunched up near the cuff? That is because the fashion fabric (which is a wool bouclé, if I recall) has a lot more give than the polyester lining. In the picture it is exacerbated by the sleeve being cut on the bias, but even on the straight the fabric would droop and pool at the cuffs and hems. Quilting anchors the bouclé to the lining, giving it strength and stability.

I helped myself with my fabric choice - the busy vertical pattern hides the quilting really well, I can honestly say it is invisible even when I've gone a bit wonky. If you have chosen a fabric with a horizontal pattern, quilt horizontally. If you have checks, quilt in squares around the checks. There might be some fabric patterns that need hand quilting. If it's your first time, unless you have a deep seated love for hand quilting it's best to go for something with lots of straight lines to his the quilting in. Needless to say, matching thread is a must. Again, my fabric made my life easier by being predominantly black.

Step one is to pin your fashion fabric and lining together, it did it along the lines I wanted to quilt on. The lines don't have to be equidistant (your fashion fabric might dictate they can't be, mine weren't although they probably could have been). The lines should stop at least 2.5 cm away from the seamlines.

Step one-and-a-half is if you don't have a walking foot, baste close to (but not on) the sewing lines. I do have a walking foot, so I skipped this step.

Step two is to carefully machine quilt the fashion fabric to the lining. Do this right side up so you can see what you are doing and make it as inconspicuous as possible. If you have a slow setting on your machine use it. Do not begin or end the quilting lines with backstitches as this will show. Instead, when you are done pull the two threads at each end of each quilting line to in between the fashion fabric and the lining and tie them off securely (this is tedious but worth it).

When you are done you should have a pattern piece with quilting that is invisible from the right side

and neat on the lining side.

Next week I'll talk about putting the pieces together and constructing the jacket.