12 February, 2015

Revisions 1: red bouclé jacket

The last few times I tried to wear my red bouclé Chanel jacket, I had to abandon the inclination.  I shrunk a little in the last few years, and was simply swimming in it.

So recently I took the time to "revise" it.  I took off the trim, removed the front zip, opened the lining, and then took it in - a lot.  The key alteration was taking in the upper shoulder princess lines above the bust point.  The pattern is drafted for a bust whose fullness seems to begin right at the shoulder - I kid you not. My body has a definite hollow between the clavicle and the bust, so without alterations there was quite a lot of pooching of fabric in that area.  I was happy to wrestle that issue into submission and transfer the change - once and for all - onto the pattern pieces.  I also removed a lot from the waist at each of the seams - front, side, and back, taking in the sides all the way to the hip.

Then I put it all back together.


For comparison, here's a collage of the first look, with the original hooks, before I replaced them with a zip:


Driven by my desire for change, I removed all the armscye trim and moved the secondary little pockets to their conventional Chanel locations.  Without the trim, the shoulder line suddenly seems much wider, doesn't it?

The nice thing about this revision?  not only do I have a jacket that fits me better, but the zipper tape is correctly concealed beneath the lining.  Shames me to admit it, but I was too lazy to open the lining when I replaced the hooks with zipper in the first place.  Much happier now.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, looks great. Those tweaks have made a big difference, especially the zipper, which gives it a great little modern edge.. so chic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks fabulous! I like it much better now that it is more fitted and the trim removed from the shoulders.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks fabulous and now you have made me bit the bullet and take my jacket away with me this weekend so start the slow job of revising my jacket. Thank you for the subtle nudge.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful! Great fit and a modern twist.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really admire you for taking the time to open this up and refit it to your body. Since I've lost a lot of weight lately I just look at some of my more elaborate makes and sigh. I don't know if I have the wherewithal to make extensive alterations. The new jacket is fantastic!

    ReplyDelete