My gorgeous Chanel inspired Vogue 7975 jacket

I have always had a soft spot for Chanel tweed jackets and in fact, one of my high school sewing projects was a collared tweed blazer, so it was only a matter of time before I made another one. When I set out on a tweed shopping trip in Soho, I had every intention of buying a sensible tweed fabric to wear with my work outfits. However, when I laid eyes on this explosion of colour in Misan Textiles, I knew I had to have it. This lovely fabric is produced by Linton Tweed in the UK, so it’s great quality and I’m really hoping it lasts the test of time. It’s also appropriate that the House of Chanel uses Linton tweed and has so since the 1920s.

After spending around £100 on the tweed alone, I committed to doing this properly and making a toile - something my impatient self usually avoids like the plague. I spent quite a lot of time perfecting my toile and made several alterations. I originally cut the size 14, but found the shoulders to be too wide, so they came in by 1cm and I switched to the size 12 sleeve. I reduced the bust curve down to a size 10, and took in the entire length of the curve down the front. While the process was slow, it was absolutely worth it and I now have a really well fitting jacket.

Adjusting my toile

Making the tweed jacket was frankly much easier after having made the toile - I’m pleased to say I didn’t make any mistakes. I also painstakingly pattern matched my pieces to the point of near perfection, but it was another worthwhile sacrifice. The Vogue instructions are quite easy to follow but there are a couple of things I recommend doing differently. I ignored the confusing sleeve insertion technique in the instructions and simply inserted the sleeves the way I’m used to. I think the unusual sleeve insertion technique in the instructions is recommended due to the lining, but I saved stitching down of the lining until last, which meant it didn’t get in the way of turning the jacket inside out.

My first try-on before adjusting the shoulder

I followed the instructions to sew the pocket on in the early steps, however, next time I would sew the pockets on towards the end. After trying it on, I felt that the jacket could have been more cropped but I wasn’t too keen on unpicking my beautiful pockets, not least because the tweed is quite fragile. I would also recommend not cutting your pocket pieces out until you have worked out where you want to place them, as this will make it much easier to pattern match. I cut mine out a few times before settling on the best match I could - the overlap of a seam made it tricky.

The lining and facing

The lining was relatively easy to insert. I used Minerva core range anti static lining in lilac, which is a nice colour match to the tweed, although I would have like something slightly silkier. The one thing I did get a bit confused about was the hand stitching and ended up unpicking it all after finding it was too tight and bunching up the tweed. I recommend leaving the lining slightly loose and allowing for the fold recommended in the instructions.

I’m absolutely obsessed with this jacket and can’t wait to wear it.