Stalking The Ghost of Coco Chanel - Part I August 19, 2006

The Divas are probabley getting tired of my interest in Mme. Chanel, but I have to admit ever since I first saw her work as a girl I’ve always loved it, and her designs have always made perfect sense to me.

This cardgian has been in my brain since about 2004, and I finally finished it earlier this summer. I’ve always loved those beaded sweaters from the 1950’s and I’ve seen a few that have linings, an idea I’ve always wanted to emulate. Another fascination has been the soft shape of a traditional Chanel jacket. I’ve always wanted to make a soft jacket-like cardigan, and the simple shape of the Wong-Singh Jones Nirvana cardigan from Hotpatterns is just what I was looking for.

The finished jacket is pretty simple; the exterior is beige sweater knit and black stretch velvet, the interior is beige stretch silk charmeuse, and the inside is trimmed with red Petersham where the lining and interior facings meet. The ties on the original design were replaced with beaded tassels.

In Part II I’ll show you some photos of the interior construction underneath the lining and how the tassels were made, and you can see a review on
Pattern Review,