One that didn’t make it

By Diva Georgene
I received this sample from a factory in China in an appalling state – the trim was awful, the buttons were awful, it was nothing like what I envisionned when I sent off the development.
So what? you may ask. Only that I spent countless hours renovating it: ripping off everything and reconstructing it bit by bit, from setting on all the trim by hand, adding an organza bias to the hem and cuff to give it a little heft.

Here’s the a view of the cuff before I added the passementerie trim.

All of this was done by hand – impossible to put this knit to the machine and control it.

A trip to Britex netted me an impossibly expensive remnant of Italian silk twill to use as a facing. The knit was too soft to hold up the front, and the factory had not followed my instructions to put in a facing with fusible. Since there was no way to get more of the knit, I could only hope to match the color.

I prayed that this shopworn remnant would look better when I brought it back from the cleaners. The color was spot on when I finally got it back and I was able to find enough ‘good’ bits to cut out a back neck facing and the inside front.

Altogether I feel like I spent a 100 hours, and hundreds of dollars in this make-over. Unfortunately it got the axe, so now it’s in the reject sample pile. Let me just say I have a better insight to the workroom at Chanel now. They do this with Linton Tweeds however. I am not sure whether this would be harder or easier than my ribbon stripe knit. Too bad it’s not my size, I would wear it forever. If you add everything up, it definitely equals couture, although it didn’t start life that way. 4-Pocket Jacket R.I.P.