Couture Sewing – Making a Channel Style Jacket (1 – Toile)

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I bought myself The Iconic Tweed Jacket , instructor being Lorna Knight on Craftsy platform over a year ago. This is a class to help you make a Channel style jacket (I feel that due to copyright issues they used ‘Iconic’in the title) using couture sewing techniques. The class includes the Vogue 7975 pattern for the jacket.

After watching the entire class, I decided that since this type of jacket has to fit well, that it might be a good idea to make a toile/muslin before making the actual jacket. I cut my pieces in calico with a few changes I tend to make anyway, such as shortening the bodice above the bust and shortening the sleeves. I abandoned this project for almost a year, before making the actual toile to check the fit.

I’ve traced the pattern and added all markings to the calico. Construction of the toile was straight forward. I did not add the facings or the pockets as they were not needed for fitting. Construction took no time at all.

Using orange thread I basted the seam/hem allowances and clipped the neckline, so that when I tried the toile on I had an idea how the finished jacket would look like.

When I tried the toile on for the first time, it showed that the sleeves are still a bit too long for me and the shoulder too wide. Otherwise, the jacked seems ok.

I started playing around with the princes seam on both the front and back. I’ve ended up taking out of about 1 cm each piece at the shoulder. I’ve smoothed the line going down into the bust area (level with the bust line on the back).

I shortened the sleeve on left side only I tried the toile again. It made a difference, even though it was only 1 cm I took of the length.

The left side in the picture is still unaltered. I wanted to see the difference. Looking at the pictures now, the back could use with a bit more to be taken in. However, it is a jacket and I need a bit of room in there in case I wear it with something that has some volume and I still want to fit in it.
Overall I am happy with this toile. It might be a while before I make progress though. I think keep postponing it scared by all that hand sewing that it requires.

This is how far I have got with the fashion fabric. I call it progress! Ha ha! Now I am praying for more good weather and take my sewing outside. In the mean time, I’ll keep dreaming of having a Channel style jacket that I made myself.