April MAGAM Chanel-esque Jacket done!

I have finished my April MAGAM Chanel-esque Jacket. Yay! Lots of work and rework went into it. It was really my fault for not doing a muslin first on a sewing pattern that I bought before having kids.

Simplicity 8850 is a pattern I bought more than 10 years ago. I made a wool blend jacket with it. It is actually a generously cut pattern. I chose size 12 because the envelope said that the Bust measurement of the garment will be 41.5". If I had chosen my usual size 14 it will be too roomy at 43.5". The pattern has 2 front darts and 2 darts on each side. I combined the 2 front darts into 1 and eliminated one of the back darts (I have a thick waist). I also did my usual short waist adjustment.

The pattern calls for 1.5 metre of fabric for the jacket. Since I only had a little more than 1 m of the white boucle fabric, I had to cheat. I made 3/4 sleeves instead of full length sleeves. I eliminated the facings as well. I was lucky that I had enough to create 2 pockets. The boucle was unraveling like mad, so I fused a lightweight tricot interfacing for the entire jacket. Unfortunately the fabric seemed to have been stretched a bit out of shape already. It is most evident in the front hem as well as the pockets.

I used  a stash black ric-rac trim that I had barely enough to finish the front opening, the top edge of the pockets and the sleeves. In fact I think I stretched the ric-rac too much for the front opening (to ensure that it covered the whole front) that it warped the front opening line. You can see that the front curves slightly inward in the photo.

I had wanted to do the fancy machine quilting of the fashion fabric and the lining like the other bloggers have done. Unfortunately, the mini sequins and the metallic threads in the fabric kept breaking when I was doing the quilting. So I just did minimum hand quilting for the front opening and the neckline. I also hand sewn the pockets onto the jacket to prevent a machine sewn groove appearing on the pocket.

Lastly, I think I can improve the drape of the jacket by sewing metal chain at the bottom hem of the jacket (like the real Chanel jackets). I will need to go buy some when there is a sale. For now, I'll just wear this jacket without the chain.

The pattern also calls for shoulder pads. Since I already have broad shoulders, I didn't want to put in shoulder pads. But I can see that without shoulder pads, the back shoulder area collapses, forming unslightly drag lines. I tried the jacket with shoulder pads and the back looked a lot better. However in the front I looked like an American football player! I'll wear the jacket a few more times to see if I want to put in shoulder pads afterall.

All in all I'm pleased with this wearable muslin. The next version will certainly be better now that I have learned more about working with boucle as well as this pre-kids sewing pattern.

My review for this pattern is at Pattern Review.