Skip to main content

Made By A Fabricista: Chanel Inspired Boucle Jacket

I've always admired the iconic look of a Chanel Boucle Suit Jacket. The Chanel Jacket style is versatile and classic. Over its rich 100-year life span, the jacket has appeared with collars, zippers, buttons, pockets, trim, fringe, and many other variations. It is worn by everyone from movie stars, royalty, first ladies, and just everyday women. Why? Because the luxurious silhouette, boucle fabric, and tailored fit look great on everyone!

Having admired the Chanel Boucle Suit Jacket for most of my life, I set out to acquire one. After a few Google searches for Chanel jackets and a glaringly steep $6,000 price tag (believe it or not, that was for pre-owned Chanel.) I knew the only way I'd ever wear a jacket like that is if I made one. Enter in $50 of fabric from Fabric Mart, $30 in notions, a $10 sewing pattern, and my Chanel dreams could become a reality. 

I started my Chanel look-a-like jacket by researching sewing patterns that would help me capture that iconic look. I wanted to make a Chanel-inspired jacket that looked similar to a black collarless suit jacket that Jackie Kennedy wore in 1970. When I found the Burda pattern B6465, view A was the exact silhouette I wanted to sew! 

Now that I had picked my pattern, I popped over to the Fabric Mart site and found a beautifully stunning light grey, silver, and black boucle fabric! For the lining, I wanted a fun pop of color so I selected a hot pink double-faced satin fabric. I also picked up some raven iron-on woven interfacing and pulled out a pair of shoulder pads from my stash of past Fabric Mart purchases. In addition to my fabric choices, I wanted to add nice details to the jacket, so I picked up some 1/2 inch wide black gimp braid trim and fancy buttons. 

When it came time to make the jacket, I followed the pattern closely. I added gimp braid trim on the outside of the pocket for added embellishment. I also decided to add a button to the pocket trim. The pattern recommends creating a fringe for the outside edge of the jacket, but I decided early on that I didn't want a fringed jacket, instead, I wanted a trimmed jacket with the gimp braid. 

So, before sewing the lining into the jacket, I topstitched the gimp braid trim about 1 in from the raw edges of the fabric. With a seam allowance of 5/8 inch, I knew that this would leave 3/8 of an inch between the turned edge of the fabric and the trim. This allowed a small amount of the main fabric to show around the outside of the jacket, which is the look that I wanted. I then ignored all of the steps of the pattern regarding creating jacket fringe. 

I debated closing my jacket with traditional buttons and buttonholes as I had purchased beautiful silver and black buttons. When I tried on my jacket, I didn't love how it would fit with traditional buttons and buttonholes. After a long debate, I finally settled on closing the jacket secretly with 5 hooks and eyes. This would allow both outside edges of the gimp braid trim to show with the jacket closed, while also maintaining the sleek silhouette I was after. 

I'm so glad that I decided to close my jacket with the hooks and eyes! The finished jacket is exactly what I had envisioned for this look-alike Chanel beauty! It's times like these that I'm extra thankful for the gift of sewing and that I can make cool things by hand for less! For only $90 I get to proudly wear a Chanel-inspired jacket that I made by hand using beautiful Fabric Mart Fabrics! 


SHAINA   @shaina_sews 


Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: BOUCLE, COATING, SATIN & INTERFACING.

Comments

  1. WOW! Sure is lovely work I love the color that you used. Will have to make one. I don't own any nice jackets like that. Thank for posting this. 😉😳

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, I am in LOVE with that jacket! And those shoes... where did you get them????? Must haves! Even though I own WAY too many jackets (and black and white ones at that!), I feel I need something like this in my closet. Jealous!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Why I Love Sewing Woven Fabrics Over Knits

Sewing is a creative hobby that allows me to express my unique style while adding a personal touch to my wardrobe. When it comes to choosing between wovens and knits I will mostly always choose woven. There are a lot of reasons I choose wovens as my go-to choice. The project I chose for this Fabric Mart make is from Friday Pattern Company’s Patina Blouse .  I used a gorgeous lightweight rayon .  It’s delicate hand is the perfect blouse weight and it drapes beautifully with this pattern. In this blog post, l'll explore the advantages of sewing woven blouses over knit shirts, highlighting the creativity, versatility, and satisfaction that come with this choice.  The Joy of Creativity Sewing a woven blouse offers a chance for my creativity to flourish. Woven fabrics come in a wide array of colors, patterns, and textures, allowing me to unleash my artistic potential. With knits, the stretch and drape of the fabric often limit my design options. In contrast, woven fabrics give me the fr

Fabricista Guest Post: Perfectly Imperfect

Hey Sewing Friends!! I’m super excited to be a guest Fabricista. I’ve been a fan of Fabric Mart since I began sewing again in 2020. Let me begin with an introduction. I’m Eras, and my Instagram account is sewing_andmore. During the day, I work as a Nurse Practitioner, and I  first learned to sew in my local 4-H club when I was in middle school.  At that time, I had an amazing sewing instructor, Mrs. McKinney, who was extremely patient and was by my side for every step. However, in 2020, the stress of being a Nurse Practitioner during the pandemic made me turn to sewing for my mental health. I started out sewing and creating masks, and I immediately saw a change in my mood. I’m so glad I dusted off my old sewing machine, and I haven’t stopped! After seeing the rush of adrenaline and satisfaction sewing provided, I started making clothes. When I no longer needed fat-quarters, I started looking for online fabric stores. It was during this time that I discovered Fabric Mart and their great

Made By A Fabricista: Skipping Winter - Tailored Outfits in Twill & Shirting for Spring

Hi Fabric Mart fans! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving! This month, while perusing the Fabric Mart collection, I was drawn to cotton twill fabrics. My son, who's growing like a weed, is always in need of new pants! I could easily have made him multiple pairs of pants, however I was also drawn to a bright blue stretch twill for me. I just can't resist a bold color on a jacket, and this blue was calling my name! I hope you love these outfits as much as I do! Since I planned to make pants for my son, I knew I'd need to make a button-down shirt as well. Fabric Mart had a range of fabulous cotton shirtings and it was hard to land on just one, but I eventually picked this royal blue gingham which pairs perfectly with the tan twill pants. When it comes to woven patterns for boys, I can never go past Oliver+S. I've made their dress shirts so many times now - the finishes are always lovely, and always so worth the time and effort. I used the Buttoned-Up Button-Down Shi