I kickstart the morning by quilting my sleeve pieces and sewing them together, in between waiting my turn for the ironing and sleeve boards to tidy up my seams.
Thankfully someone does indeed have a blunt embroidery needle with a big eye so I can weave that errant orange piece back into place!
It takes the better part of the day to turn two of these (each with three seams):
Into this:
Then fell stitching the 6 sleeve seams and my 4 remaining bodice lining seams together… phew.
The sleeve vents complicated things a little, but look great now complete!
Before the end of the day, I also managed to sew shut my shoulder seams, before fell stitching the lining together:
Considering the progress to date and the fact that there is only one official day left of the class… I’m wondering how close I’ll get to actually completing this! There is still an incredible amount of work to be done. Apparently this jacket takes the Chanel atelier 70 hours to complete – I think my first attempt might be a little closer to 100+ hours, and I’m beginning to understand just how much value is in the $6-7000 price tag of a RTW Chanel jacket (not to even mention the $25-30k price tag for the couture version).
And here we are – I managed to get 2 of the 3 seams in each sleeve to match:
poppykettle 
I love it. I have to start working on mine jacket – I needed a little rest from the dress but I think I am ready now.
Your fabric is fabulous!
Thanks :)
I love that you are sharing this process with the rest of us. I find myself checking for your next report. LOL Have fun!
I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying it as much as I have putting it out there :) Thanks!
It looks so professional already! I am a bit jealous, I want to take that class as well!
Thanks Hanne, it’d definitely been an amazing experience and one I would love to be able to do again! If you can wangle it… do it!
Oh my goodness! This is GORGEOUS!!
Thanks Sallie! :)
So beautiful! I love the mix of colors and textures.
Very interesting, I love the look of the quilted lining.
It’s amazing how the quilting changes the feel of both the lining and the fashion fabric, it’s very much a case of 1 + 1 = 3! Thanks Becki :)
It’s just so lovely! These posts are my nerdy highlights of my day :) so glad you’re enjoying it so much
hehe, so glad to know you’re enjoying it. And just as soon as I wake from the sewing stupor that I’ve fallen into after finishing up last week… I’ll write about the next one – promise!
that is crazy beautiful! i’m so dying to see the finished product.
Thanks Lisa… that makes two of us!!
This jacket is beginning to show it’s beauty. Great work Melanie, you really are giving it your very best.
Thanks Marjorie :)
Wow, it’s really looking great so far! Very impressive. :)
Thanks Sue! :)
It’s beautiful to watch something take shape. It’s going to be a stunning jacket! I only hope mine (I’m having a red hot go at it with the LFJ sew along), turns out nearly as beautiful as yours.
Thanks so much Belinda, I’m sure it will! I’m glad you’re enjoying :)
Your work so far is impeccable, so I can understand how it has taken this long. I was tempted to start one of own but I don’t think I have enough patience!
It’s very definitely a labour of love… I’m sure you can do a RTW version of this if you wanted a quickie approach, but really – nothing quite compares to what I now call ‘slow sewing’. It’s so very worth the effort :)
Enjoying your posts. Great result so far.
Thanks Sigrid!
You are doing so well. Good luck on your final day.
Thanks Vicki! :)
It is great to be able to follow your progress on this jacket! It will be an amazing jacket when finished, I love how the inside is going to look almost just as good as the outside.
Thanks Emmely! I’m so looking forward to having it finished so it can be worn! :)
I’m loving this series! Have a wonderful week this week – I can’t wait to see your jacket IRL one day.
So glad you’re enjoying! I’m sure you will… I’ll be looking for opportunities to wear this ;)
Wow – so much hard work in one garment! It is really starting to take shape
I’ll say. Definitely an intensive labour of love. Thanks Liz!
Dang, girl! This is just so beautiful! The seams are just gorgeous– is that weird to say?
Not even in the slightest. They are entirely lovely! Thanks Sonja! :)
Your sleeves looks amazing. Just one question pops to mind while I’m doing a marathon read of your posts …. was there a particular reason why you chose batiste over silk organsa for your interlining? Knowing that Susan is such a silk organsa fan.
Yes! There is, very much so. Organza is a really quite stiff, bouyant fabric – it doesn’t have much give. It’s great for underlining fabrics that need support, but it significantly changes the ‘hand’ of lighter fabrics. The whole point of the quilting process in a french jacket is to provide the support that the loosely woven boucle needs, whilst still maintaining the cardigan-like feel – it’s very soft and supple. Very much like a jumper/sweater/pullover (whichever you like to call it). The super soft and light batiste provided a little extra support to my (extremely) loosely woven fabric without changing the hand of it. In the same way that you wouldn’t underline a silk charmuese with organza (rather, a crepe de chin would be suitable) because it would counteract the drape and ruin the fluidity of the charmuese, you wouldn’t underline boucle with organza. I hope that makes sense!
actually, melanie, if you check out a real RTW chanel jacket, you’ll see that yours is of infinitely higher quality. they don’t even quilt the linings anymore!!
You know, I keep meaning to go into a Chanel boutique to both fondle and try on their versions to compare. Whats the point if they don’t quilt the lining?? Shame!
i got into a massive row with a chanel boutique sales woman one afternoon for fondling a jacket and then explaining to her how completely NOT couture it was. almost got evicted! :-)
haha!! I would totally have paid to watch that unfold!
where can I get info on the sleeve vent?