Here's the inside of my faux-Chanel jacket as it looked last week. I chose not to quilt the lining to the bouclé because I prefer to have a jacket with a little more structure than a classic Chanel jacket has. Instead, I used an Armani jacket technique for underlining that the fabulous Marji introduced me to when I was making my coat this past fall.As Marji explained it to me over the phone, you cut a piece of underlining, about 2-3 inches wide, that is like a facing that goes along the front neck edge and front jacket edge—but you cut this piece on the bias. Then you cut another piece that goes across the top of the front chest to the armscye—but you cut this piece on the grainline. Then you stitch the two pieces together in an overlap seam. Only the bias piece gets stitched when you attach the lining or facing.
What this does is force the bias piece to act as a hinge to the chest piece. This allows for more flexibility and a softer "edge" to the front opening of your jacket. Or something like that. Marji explained it a lot better on the phone, but the mechanics of it make sense when you think about it. Take a look at Marji's photo below for a visual aid:
If anyone can explain this technique in a way that makes more sense, please jump in and leave a comment. Thanks!2/4/09 update--Marji just sent me this clarification, which does a heck of a better job explaining this technique than I did above:
If your chest shield is cut only as the larger piece, then it acts as such a stiff "stay" and your jacket will lack the movement and grace that you want to see. If you cut the whole front shield on the bias then you don't have a stay. By cutting your front piece apart and adding a 1" (plus seam allowance) section that is cut on the bias, you add some "give" to your CF, AND you create a straight-of-grain stay for your neck edge. Now you don't need to add a tape to stay your neck edge--it's in the chest shield.
Take a look at the full chest piece. When you cut the CF on the straight, the neck edge ends up on the bias, which is why, in typical construction, you need to add tape to stabilize. [photo below courtesy of Marji]
14 comments:
Lindsay, I am devouring all of this because I have a piece of silk tweed that I am looking to make into a jacket from the same pattern that you are using. Using that tweed is very scary so I'm going to use the fusing technique that you showed(courtesy of Ann) and I'm going to do this too. So good of you to be doing all of this just before I start! :)
ok, I'm going to send you an email to ad an addendum to the blog post.
But basically, what this technique does is give you a chest shield that supports the front of the jacket, yet doesn't act like "concrete"
The CF support is on the bias, which allows for a bit of movement in the shield. The neck edge is on the straight, I'll draw on the pic and send you a copy to add to the blog post. The fact that this is on the straight of grain along the neck edge stabilizes the neck edge, preventing it from stretching out.
The original inspiration for this came from Louise Cutting, who cut apart an Armani jacket to figure out what they were doing that made for such fabulous jackets.
Hello Lindsay, Are you going to include a facing of fashion fabric or does the lining go right to the edge?Does Armani use a facing and if so wouldnt this counteract the effect of the cross grain interfacing. All so interesting and thankyou so much for sharing with us all.
Very interesting and innovative. I am printing and statshing this post in my TIPS folder
I am looking forward to seeing your jacket. I think it is going to look great!
Wonderful information and post! Thanks. Is this how your coat is structured? I really like the look of that as opposed to the "sweater" option for Chanel.
Girlfriend - you ARE tailoring now! *LOL* Thanks for sharing the technique...and Marji is a fount of information isn't she!
Hi Lindsay-- what fabric did you use for your underlining? And...I was wondering about the facing too. Do you need to add facings or just the lining. Your post was great and opened a whole can of worms for me!
Cindy and Mem, I'll answer your questions in my next post—promise!
That is way over my head but totally fascinating.
Very interesting! Thank you for showing this - it could be used in many jackets of a similar style.
Thankyou for this technique. It will be very useful.
You can read an article about this exact technique in Threads magazine #105 Feb/Mar 2003 - Peeking inside an Armani by Louise Cutting. It will provide some more details too.
Great job on your jacket. It is gorgeous.
This looks like a great technique and I am planning a V7975 jacket soon.
I have a question about the stay- It looks like the stay comes down over the bust point- how did you account for bust shaping?
Thanks in advance.
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