Project Run & Play Week 2 Entry: Channeling Chanel

Below is my Project Run & Play entry this week.

Stop on over and see what all of the other entries are and don't forget to vote while you are over there!

This post will be up all weekend so I won't be running my usual link party until while I am participating in the competition.

Wish me luck!

Todays' Lesson in Fashion Icons For Tots 101?

Coco Chanel, The Grande Dame of fashion....

Gabrielle or Coco Chanel was not only one of the best designers in fashion history and a true original, but she was also one of the coolest chicks around during her time. Look, there she is smoking a cigarette with the great artist Salvador Dali before he started wearing his giant mustache!

She knew everyone and lived luxuriously in her penthouse out the Ritz hotel in Paris into well into her nineties.

With all of the talk in the fashion world of Karl Lagefeld's new book, The Little Black Jacket, an homage to Ms. Coco Chanel,  I thought I might make my own little black jacket for the toddler set here in Sew Country! I studied the construction of the Chanel jacket and applied some of the methods I learned to this little jacket, which is made from some metallic textured boucle fabric I found in the thrift shop and have had sitting in my stash. It is lined in the same pink fabric as the blouse and quilted together on the inside, with an attached fringe trim on the outside and lined patch pockets. And of course some fancy gold and black buttons to finish it. 

The on trend bow tie blouse is made from cotton sateen and has an attached collar/tie and a knit waistband to avoid it riding up and to make it more comfy. It also has puffed sleeves which I love for little girls, trimmed with black bias trim . I made the pants from some soft and stretchy black denim and tapered them to make them slim fitting. The inset panels are the same boucle fabric as the jacket, there is an elastic waistband, and there are little tabs on the bottoms of the pants to give them a more authentic, equestrian look. I drafted all of the patterns from the outfit with the help of my new pattern book, Metric Pattern Cutting For Children. I also made the beret at the last minute and the ceramic hairclip. The flower was a pin which I pried the pin part off of, then I glued it to one of my flat head bobby pins and I traced a dinner plate to make the beret. Gigi will not keep a clip in her hair or a hat on her head unless I bribe her with lollipops which I did plenty of in this shoot.

She is now ready to attend the Polo match in this ensemble. Santa Barbara here we come!

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