Jacket and dress III (Jacket pattern)

After deciding I need a bit more time to think over the dress - thanks for your tips, btw! -, I got going on the jacket. I decided on BWOF 2005-01, pattern no. 105.

The pattern is for a leather garment, but the (vaguely) Chanel style jacket will be made according to various Chanel-style instructions (and a few personal shortcuts) anyway, so it doesn't matter. It may have a few too many seams for the work-intensive style, the back also having four panels. But I didn't quite get my head around how to do darts on the quilted parts, so panels may be better.

I traced and cut the paper pattern in size 36, which is a bit smaller than normal, after flat-pattern-measuring according to my bust measurement, plus what is presumed to be appropriate for a fitted jacket. I want this to be really fitted to be worn cardigan-style over close-fitting tops (or the dress). In the end, I will baste-fit after quilting the parts. I really hope the quilting will work on my ancient, never-messed-with-the-tension, no-walking-foot sewing machine. Also, I hope the quilting won't eat too much width of the fabric since I wasn't able to sqeeze the recommended 4-in-seam allowances out of my fabric piece.

I still have no idea where I will get the trim. My trusty department store really has no selection beyond black, white and shiny satin. Grosgrain in the lining's color, a light green, might be nice. I don't think I'll go overboard on the Chanel-isms, such as braided trim or gold buttons, but keep it a little more subdued.

The trimming question brings me to a small Burda rant. In the May issue they plugged the website of supposedly one of Germany's biggest makers of trimmings. When going there, the website is not much more than an advertisement of their real-life store (which is not near me). Just like the online fabric store that hasn't been able to fully process my order for, oh, eight weeks or so, and will only tell me the state of things when I contact them (my customer profile shows the order "has been delivered" - right), allegedly due to lack of staff, but keeps big advertisements in Burda. I'm pretty happy with the way Burda is going, with more information on suppliers and such included, but some of that had better be useful!

As it is, I may have to make the round of fabric stores in Cologne and hope that some have a better trim selection. I'm half afraid I'll come back with more fabric, but no trim!