I am a huge fan of double-knit fabrics, and as previously discussed, those that resemble upholstery fabric. When I saw that Surge Fabrics had brought in bouclé knits in about a dozen colors, I ordered five yards of the blue/black tweed to make a Chanel-inspired suit. The fabrics in this set vary in fiber composition and stretch: the blue/black is one of the stretchiest, with 40% horizontal/ 25% vertical stretch. It is 280 gsm 80% poly/10% cotton/8% rayon/2% spandex. Besides the turquoise blue and black, there are strands of white, lots of bright colors, and even some metallic threads.

I found the fabric a little bit tricky to cut. It has a regular grid, like a plaid, but the way it is knit, it is slightly skewed. This drove me nuts when cutting longer pieces, as I wanted to keep all the lines properly parallel and perpendicular. I mostly succeeded, but I didn’t get the plaid matching to work as well as I would have liked, although it’s not super obvious. I also found that when I cut this fabric with my rotary cutter, it mostly cut just fine, but it would leave a few tiny threads uncut, even with a sharp blade. I had to go back and cut those threads again to avoid snags. I also had to be careful when I pinned it to avoid snags. That said, the bouclé was pretty forgiving when I sewed it. I used black thread in both my sewing machine and serger and even the top-stitching just melts right into the fabric.

I was inspired to make a Chanel-style suite, but there’s actually a lot of variety in Chanel suits. I decided to go with a dress suit with a cropped jacket and flared knee-length skirt. I opted to forgo the heavy embellishments, fringe, or buttons that sometimes (but not always) adorn Chanel suits. That gives it a less obvious Chanel vibe, but that’s more my taste. Of course, I did not omit the pockets on either the dress or jacket (are you surprised?).

I chose my favorite Sinclair Alana knit dress pattern, which I have made five times before. Most recently, I made a short-sleeve version in black cupro (which in hindsight, had too much drape and not enough stretch for this pattern, although it worked out OK nonetheless). I made my usual size 4p, knee length, regular neckline, short sleeves, pockets, and made my usual adjustments, grading in the waist and extending the front and back facings. I used a lightweight, silky athletic knit for the facings this time. The bouclé knit is probably a bit too heavy for the Alana pockets and there is a slight pucker at the base of the pocket bags, but it doesn’t show much. I knew that the bouclé had a lot of body and would flare out nicely with the Alana pattern, and it did not disappoint. This might be my favorite Alana yet.

For the jacket, I went back to my favorite jacket pattern, Boo & Lu Onyx, which I have also made five times before. I made a size 4 with my usual adjustments: round back, small bust, lowered back neck, sleeves shortened by 2 inches. This time I made it three inches longer than the cropped version and I added patch pockets cut on the bias. I have a love/hate relationship with the Onyx pattern. My instructions for this pattern are marked up with a lot of notes and each time I make it I add more. This time I took it slowly and the construction went pretty smoothly as I applied the lessons learned in the past. I serged pretty much every edge, sewed the seams at 3/8-inch, and topstitched almost everything down with my quarter-inch guide foot. I used tricot interfacing (Superpunch Fusi-Knit White HTC1300) to line the facings. I machine basted the facings to the jacket with the interfacing on the bottom to prevent problems with the jacket stretching more than the interfaced-facings. Then I sewed the facing in place, again with the interfacing on the bottom. I used lots of clips, as shown in the pattern instructions, to turn everything under before the final round of top stitching. After putting the whole thing together and stitching in the ditch as recommended, I found the facings still flipped a bit, as seems to always happen when I make this jacket from a knit fabric. But thanks to the very forgiving bouclé knit, I just topstitched a quarter inch from the edge of the facing all the way around (which is practically invisible) and now it cannot flip at all.

I cut 6-inch squares of bouclé on the bias to make two patch pockets. I fused 1/2-inch knit stay tape around the edges and then folded the top and bottom edges 1/2-inch (right sides together) and sewed a 1/2-inch seam along the left and right edges. I flipped the top and bottom back around, top-stitched the top edge, folded everything under, and pinned the pockets in place on the jacket. I then top-stitched the pockets in place. Finally, I sewed on a tiny hook and eye closure to hold the jacket closed without buttons.

I am really happy with how both pieces came out. The suit is washable, comfortable, and fits me perfectly. Sometimes I impress myself!

I’m a little worried about how the bouclé knit will hold up over time, but keeping my fingers crossed as I really do hope I can wear these pieces a lot. I used only three yards of the fabric, and I think I have enough left over to make a matching pair of pants. But that will have to wait.