Ideas from Chanel

From a rather prolonged autumnal season, we have moved in to full winter, in all of its Hudson Valley "loveliness".  In short November may have been warmer than usual, but so far December is colder, and we have had three sleet and ice storms in as many days although yesterday we alternated  a bit between rain and ice.  Thrill.  I don’t really mind winter in theory, and I like the snow, but it never lasts here, much to my dismay.  What I truly dislike though is the general dreariness.  Everything is dark and damp and cold. I like light.  So why do I live in a house that does nothing to maximize available light? 

I spent a significant amount of time yesterday trying to take photographs of a jacket I want to share, as much for my own ability to remember, as anything else, but dark house and bad weather lead to poor photographic opportunities.  It took several rounds of photographs before I just gave up.  Since the forecast is for more of the same all week, and the jacket in question needs to be returned to its source, we will have to suffer through not so great photos.

I received this Chanel suit, made of brown wool crepe, from a personal shopper.  The photo does not do it justice, but you can get a glimmer of the seaming from the photo.  Click on the picture to enlarge.

Since photos of the jacket on me showed even fewer details than the flat photo, and did even less for the jacket I have attempted to sketch it:

This is partially a guess, as to the fit of the jacket.  I could not find an photo of this jacket on the Internet, and the belted waist seam on me is about 2 inches above my waist, but since I often have to lengthen jackets by one to two inches, I am assuming this is meant to be a waistline seam.  It would actually look nice cut higher as well.  The seam was not flattering, however, on the place it actually hit my body

One of the things that attracted me to this jacket is the sleeve detail.  Note that the sleeve is three pieces, two of which are cut on with the body.  The third piece consists of a gusset that is aligned with the side panel of the jacket.   There is a center seam running down the shoulder line.  The back piece is cut in one piece with the side back panels.  There are also two center back pieces to the jacket with a center vent.  I could not get a photo that shows any of this detail.

.Here is a slightly expanded view of the front seaming.

Take a look at the buttons.  They are covered in self fabric and then a fine chain is sewn on top, I would use a very fine link chain.  Where the chains cross there is a little "CC" symbol, but I think this would be particularly nice with a bit of simple beading at the cross as well.

Although this photo is not as clear, you can see the waist seam, and the way the waist is finished below the notch collar and under the belt.  The belt and belt loops could be easily removed.  I actually like the really low neckline of this jacket, it makes it perfect for showing off a beautiful top or a blouse, and I think the shaping of the sleeves is also interesting.  The gussets and the shoulder seam allow for room for fitting and give a rather sleek modern line, which is really not apparent in my crude sketch.

This only serves to remind me that it is probably time I invested in a better digital camera, one that allows me to set the shutter speed so that I can maximize what light is available. There was a time, not so long ago, when I believed I would never want more than a simple point-and-shoot camera.  As so often occurs when the word "never" creeps into my vocabulary, I have been proved wrong.  I will start looking after the new year, I know Santa has already arranged for my gift and it will not be a camera.