One of my latest projects has been to reshape the shoulder line on two Chanel jackets for a client. These are not couture but from the Chanel RTW line. Chanel does produce some of the very best RTW clothing and many of the techniques can be incorporated in home sewing. The first jacket was long, almost a coat. I’m not sure who they intended this coat to fit, but the sleeves were inordinately long. There is a white cotton cuff, attached by tiny buttons, which gives the illusion of a tailored shirt underneath. I’m fairly tall with longish arms so imagine how this looks on a petite figure! Also notice how the plaid matching is slightly off from sleeve to jacket body.
The sleeves needed to be shortened by a whopping 5.5 inches. In addition the shoulder was too wide and needed 3/4 of an inch removed and 5 inches of width removed from the body.
The width alterations needed to be done at the side back seam as that was the only seam without pockets or vent. Chanel leaves wonderfully wide seams in both the outer garment and lining. 3/4 inch or 2 cm. seems to be standard. Notice the hand sewn hem. Chanel also finishes each garment piece by individually overlocking so that taking in or letting out seams is a dream.
The sleeves needed to be shortened from the top down, leaving the working sleeve vent intact. My method is to remove the sleeves and open all seams except in the area of the sleeve vent. I certainly didn’t want to redo that detail! Trace off the sleeve patterns without seam allowances.
The completed sleeve pattern needed to be narrowed by 2 inches at the bicep, tapering to 1/2 inch at the hem. I slit the pattern and removed the excess width.
Place the altered pattern down the required length to be removed and recut the sleeve. I thread traced the new seam lines.
Notice that Chanel presses the center 3 inches (1 and 1/2 inches each side of center) open. The remainder of the seam is pressed towards the sleeve. The blue thread is my mark for the amount to narrow the shoulder when the sleeve is reinserted. I use Japanese basting cotton as it has some texture and tends not to pull out during construction.
Here is a second jacket getting similar treatment of narrowing the shoulders.
Notice the little shoulder pad with built in shape for the sleeve head. Here is my pattern for making these. I make my own shoulder pads and find them far superior to purchased ones, not to mention being almost free.
I posted two variations of shoulder pads Chanel uses in RTW on November 18, 2014. One of my readers, olden bears, kindly sent me pdf files for these and I’m inserting the link in case you want those patterns.
This post has been edited to link to a pdf pattern. Click on the above link and the pattern should open in pdf format.
(I’ve scanned the new pattern but don’t have software to convert to pdf. I think if you open the picture and print, scaling to 8.5 x 11 paper it should be close to size. The size isn’t too critical and you can add or subtract according to your shoulder length.)
Here is the pattern for another shoulder pad with a built-in sleeve head.
For each shoulder pad you will need to cut pieces 1 and 2 twice, piece 3 once and 4 once. Piece 4 is optional. Use it if you want an additional layer for more lift in the pad. Butt the edges together and sew. I use a three step zig-zag stitch.
You will have two (or three) dish shaped pieces. If using piece 4, place inside the sewn outer layer sections; Place piece 3 on top and pin the layers together.
Baste through all layers. I just discovered the basting stitch on my Bernina. Maybe I should read the manual. Your machine may have a similar stitch. Loosen the tension so you don’t wind up with a puckered mess like this.
Fit the pad over a tailors ham and steam heavily to set the shape. Let the shoulder pad dry before removing from the ham.
Completed jacket with a beautifully shaped and supported sleeve cap. I was also able to get a better pattern match between jacket body and sleeve.
Lovely, Mary! I’ve missed you. Nice work here as always.
Thank you. Holiday and family took over for awhile. It’s nice to be back.
Thank you! As I have to shorten sleeves on all bought clothes, this is a huge help.CheersHelen
Happy this will be useful to you. If the sleeve has a simple hem, then shortening from the bottom is always easier. This is handy if the sleeve bottom has details not easily reconstructed.
Excellent work! Helen
Thank you.
Actually they are lovely jackets; all the more so since they not fit. Thank you for all the wonderful details you have included here, and for information on how to shorten and reduce a sleeve.
Glad you found it interesting and hopefully useful. Thank you.
Thank for your generosity in sharing your amazing expertise AND the detailed instructions for the shoulder pads. This info is crucial for me: since my right shoulder is lower than my left by a full 1.5 inches, I have to build all my shoulder pads from scratch. So far, not very successfully, so I can’t wait to use your pattern.
I would use the large outer layer only in your higher shoulder and add enough padding layers to compensate for the 1.5 inch difference. You might find the armhole on the side with the lower shoulder needs to be lowered and that sleeve width increased at the underarm to compensate for the increased armseye circumference. Hope I have helped.
Beautiful work as always! And thanks for the pattern of shoulder pads; they will come in handy for some project, some day. 🙂
I hope the shoulder pads work for you. I’ve been using them rather than buying ready made.
Thank you for the shoulder pad patterns! Where do you get the batting you used to make them?
I used cotton quilt batting which is available at almost any fabric shop. Good luck.
I love seeing the interior shots of upscale RTW. Thank you! The jackets are beautiful, and your method of alteration was very informative.
I thought readers would enjoy an inside look. Home sewers can easily duplicate the quality of expensive RTW. Thank you.
What a terrific post! Impeccable work as always. Thank you for the detailed information on your alterations and the shoulder pad pattern.
Thank you. Happy you found it interesting.
Thanx for sharing, Mary. The shoulder pads are just what I need for a jacket shoulder & sleeve cap that hasn’t been cooperating.
I hope it solves the problem. Thank you.
Fascinating. I never would have thought of shortening a sleeve from the top.
It’s actually easier than dealing with duplicating the sleeve vent, which would have been impossible due to fabric being trimmed around the original. Also no messing with the existing buttonholes. Chanel always uses working vents so the buttons aren’t just stitched on. Thank you.
So exciting to read about these alterations. Just in the last few months I’ve started adding shoulder pads to my casual tops using snaps so they are removable for laundering. Amazing what a difference a 1/4″ shoulder pad makes as aging shoulder start to slope down. When I get around to making my Chanel jacket, will LOVE making my own shoulder pads–THANK YOU for the patterns. Can you tell me what material you use to make them? LOVE YOUR BLOG as I’m new to the sewing blogs–where have I been. I know, my nose has been stuck in quilting books, but now back to sewing clothes.
Thank you. I use cotton quilt batting. If you are making a quilted Chanel style jacket cover the pads with the lining fabric and tack them in after finishing the construction. Don’t try and quilt through them. I would love to see your completed jacket.
Thank you. Was thinking more of a traditional Chanel jacket, but you have given wings to a new idea of a quilted style Chanel jacket. Two Chanel jackets, I can do that, but it will be about a year before I get started on them. Appreciate your response.
OMG…I could not stop staring at the screen and wishing and wishing I could be with you to see all this close up!!! What a cool alteration and the result makes the plaid match so well…fabulous! The shoulder pad pattern is a real gift and you made me laugh about reading the manual! Thank you so much, Mary!
I’m wondering how you knew the smaller sleeve would fit into the larger armscye once you narrowed it?
The jacket body was narrowed by taking in the side back seam so the armscye was made smaller by the same amount as the sleeve. One of the photos shows the excess pinned out of the jacket but perhaps it was unclear that that alteration extended into the armscye. I pin-fit the sleeve into the armscye to double check before sewing.
Thank you! And I do love seeing inside well-made garments.
Thank you Mrs. Mole. I’m sure you are drooling at the sight of those immense seam allowances and how neat and tidy the interiors of the garments are. No picking apart tiny overlocked seams that leave you nothing to work with. Some of your fixes have been much, much harder!
Was the fabric a lace over a wool plaid, or were they woven together somehow? It’s really gorgeous.
It was a very interesting fabric. The lace was somehow woven into the plaid print. Soft and beautiful to work with. I would love to find similar yardage.
I found this to be so interesting, so helpful, and full of interesting information! Your client must be thrilled. Thank you for sharing the shoulder shape pattern – it looks like it works like a dream.
I love this shoulder pad and the way it supports the sleeve head. Just enough lift to give the shoulder a nice shape. Thank you.
What a lot of great information, Mary! I loved having a look inside. Next time your client should just hire you to make her one from scratch, though!
That’s in the works. Spent the day in Linton Mills collecting Chanel fabrics. Details coming soon.
That sounds like a lot of fun!
My favorite shoulder pad style for my very narrow shoulders. Thanks so much, Mary.
Glad you like them. I prefer this shape over anything I can buy. You can make them in minutes and customize the thickness. Enjoy and thank you for letting me know.
I would love to receive information on printing your shoulder pad patterns. I have tried printing but cannot seem to get a size that seems appropriate. Love your blog. Breathes new life into my sewing. Rita
How are you trying to print? I just did both patterns and they printed out to the correct size. Be sure you check “fit to page” on your printing options. Please let me know if you can’t get them and I’ll find a way to make it work for you. You can email me privately at MF953 at aol dot com.
What are your thoughts on why the sleeves were so long? Was that not a deliberate design choice by King Karl or one of his associates, a whimsical overly long sleeve, purposely covering the fingers, looking like the tailored shirt cuffs are hiding the hands and fingers? Note the overly long sweater sleeves that we have seen recently. Or did House of Chanel, RTW division, screw this one up?
It probably was intentional like the long sweater sleeves you mentioned. Maybe the jacket was intended to have the sleeves pushed up for wear but the fabric was too heavy for that to be practical. Sometimes what looks interesting on the runway doesn’t translate to everyday wear.
What a transformation, Mary! Thank you for sharing this process and your impeccable work.
Thank you. Ripping apart garments of this quality is an education into quality garment construction.
WOW How kind you are to share all this information. thank you
I’m glad you found some useful information. Thanks for letting me know.
Thank you for the shoulder pad pattern, it was so lovely to find your site when looking for a shoulder pad pattern.
Thanks Anne. If you need it slightly larger or smaller, change your print settings to print at 95, or 110 (or whatever you want) percent.
I recently discover you blog and It’s amazing, and how you explain all the details about the process are inmaculate. I was looking for info about a Chanel jacket/coat re-sizing and this its perfect. I just would like to ask, Its possible to undo a alteration or the jacket will stay the same after the alteration? and the shoulders, its posible to make them wider without losing the form of the jacket/coat?
Glad you found me. You can size the jackets up or down. Making the shoulders wider might not be possible if extra fabric is needed. You could widen the back by letting out the center back and side back seams; then recut shoulders. Good luck.