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It seems like I’ve been off clothes with holes in them lately, but a perfect storm of inspiration and materials resulted in the above garment. The inspiration jacket is from the Chanel Spring 2001 collection. When I first saw the photos of this jacket on style.com, they did not really catch my attention, but there was an amazing photo of a jacket from this collection in American Vogue in March. The picture ended up on my sewing room wall. Then about a month ago, Michaelsfabrics.com had a sale on their boucles. I think I have mentioned here before that Michael’s Fabrics is probably my favorite source for high-quality basics. So I bought some wool-blend boucle in basic black. I did not have any plans for it, but when it arrived and I brought it up to my sewing room, the Chanel photo on the wall caught my eye, and my next project was planned.
I was so excited about this project that I even did not one but TWO videos on techniques. I don’t do a lot of how-to on this blog, mostly because there are so many others who do a better job of explaining than I do. If you want to learn how to make, say, a welt pocket, you really don’t need me to teach you. However, I used some unusual techniques here, and offer video documentation of two of them. The trim video did not come out so well. A disconcerting amount of the action takes place outside the frame. Sorry about that. The hole-burning video is OK, though. It is similar to a technique that I read about on Pins and Needles.
The pattern for the jacket is a long-oop New Look pattern. I chose it because there are hardly any seams to get in the way of the holes. Literally, there’s a jacket front (one dart), jacket back (one dart) and one-piece sleeve. Not the most tailored look, but tailored was not what I was going for here.
I also made a bright white silk charmeuse blouse to wear under. I wanted a bright white to show through the holes in the jacket. The blouse pattern is from Burdastyle from last year some time. I made it once before. I love the buttons on the blouse. They are nice metal buttons, which can be hard to find in shirt-button-size. I bought them from this Etsy shop. They are amazing quality for the price.
Here’s my burning-holes-in-fabric video:
Here’s my trim-making video:
Jacket back
Blouse back
Blouse cuff detail
Blouse front
The jacket closes with fur hooks and eyes
collar detail
cuff detail
hole in jacket
hole in jacket
The inside view: Hong Kong finish on the seams; twill tape to reinforce the pocket stitching
Rolling in Cloth 
10 Comments
Wow, this looks even better than I imagined it and that was pretty impressive to begin with. 😉 I love it. L.O.V.E. Very cool. How did you apply the twill tape? Stitchwitchery?
Thanks! It’s fusible twill tape.
Downright crazy, Claudine. Beautiful and very you. I am imagining when I will want to cut holes in my fabric and not coming up with many good answers. The trim, now, I will probably use that (in the fulness of time, obviously). Will you ever wear it with anything not white?
Thank you! Yes, definitely crazy, but on one level, it’s a wool cardigan. What could be more useful? About wearing it with something not white, often I surprise myself with things that I end up wearing together.
As usual Claudine, you astound me!
I think the holes are too fashion-advanced for me, but I adore the blouse! Such great details on the cuffs and the pintucking fit.
You always surprise me with what you come up with. I like yours better than the original, if I had seen the Vogue issue I would have passed it over. Thank you for the effort you put into your blog. I truly look forward to seeing what will come out of you’re sewing room next.
You are often inspiring and this is one of those occasions. It’s a fantastic interpretation of the Chanel and it didn’t cost the price of a small car either.
It’s perfect.
Stunning blouse and the jacket is very inspired. Love the look but I’d be too fearful to go with creative cutouts myself.
The mother of all knockoffs, Claudine! I bow down to your sewing and creative skills! 🙂
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