Tuesday 6 May 2014

Floral Denim Jean Jacket

I fell in love with this gorgeous floral stretch denim the minute I set eyes on it on the Lincraft Website. I already had the perfect pattern...Style Arc's Stacie Jean Jacket in the pattern stash.

Gorgeous Floral Stretch Denim from Lincraft.
I have already made this jacket in a plain denim blogged about here. The only changes I made to this jacket were to lengthen the sleeves.

I agonised over laying out the pattern on the fabric. I ended up tracing extra copies of all the pattern pieces so that I could cut the jacket out on a single layer and better visualise how the pattern was going to look once all the panels were joined.

Laying out the pattern on a single layer of fabric.
I think I spent more time laying out the pattern than it took to sew up the jacket.

Front open
Back open

The size 12 was a perfect fit and after lengthening the sleeves by 5cm they are the perfect length too.

Front buttoned up

Back buttoned up
I did the top stitching with a green thread that matched the greens in the floral pattern. This time I just used a single needle to top stitch (on the last jacket I used a twin needle) and slightly lengthened the stitch.

Top stitching detail on pocket flap
I was a little disappointed with how the top stitching turned out along the seams. I was using the width of my presser foot as a guide. This was just a couple of millimetres too wide and the stitches didn't always catch the seam allowance underneath. This made the top stitching look a little wonky in places. The weave of this fabric is quite loose and it made unpicking very difficult. The stitches just sank right into the fabric and I was worried that I would cut a hole in it. After unpicking two whole rows of top stitching down the centre fronts (that took forever), I thought I had better leave "well enough" alone.

Collar and front facing.
The first time I made this jacket, I had trouble with attaching the collar. It only seemed long enough to reach from the inside edge of the facing on each side. This time I staystitched the neck edge to avoid any stretching out of the fabric and I was able to attach the collar at the centre point of each front facing, which is how it should be, I think.

Button, buttonholes and front panel pattern matching (woops, see the mistake)
After all my exhaustive efforts with the cutting out of the jacket, I have made a very silly mistake. The pattern matches beautifully across the front centre panels now, but what happens when the jacket is buttoned up?   #%*$

Love the fold back cuff.
Overall, I really pleased with my new jacket. It's fairly light weight so I may have to wait for next spring to wear it.



Happy Sewing

26 comments:

  1. I thought your last Stacie jacket was great. This one is just as nice.

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    1. Thanks Paola. As you can see, I am pretty happy with it.

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  2. Beautiful jacket Jean. The fabric is just gorgeous. Everyone will notice the fabric, not the unmatched front so please don't stress.

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    1. Thank you Meigan for your kind comment. At least I have learned something from my mistake.

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  3. Beautiful, it's lovely in this fabric

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    1. Thanks Sigrid. I am so in love with this fabric too.

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  4. Beautiful jacket!! I've also taken to cutting out patterns on a single layer of fabric. I trust my cutting so much more that way. No one will ever notice the topstitching - I think it looks great! And the fit is spot-on!

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    1. Thanks Carrie. I really love the fit of this jacket too.

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  5. Very pretty and fantastic pattern matching. No one but you will notice it's a bit off when the jacket is buttoned. You've done a lovely, professional job on this.

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    1. Thanks so much Megan. Your jacket making of late, has been inspirational.

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    1. Thanks Donna. The floral denim really makes it special.

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  7. I can see why you bought that fabric, it is lovely. The resulting jacket fits beautifully.

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    1. Thanks Andrea. I had to have that fabric the minute I saw it and I'm so glad I used the Style Arc Stacie Jean Jacket pattern as it does have a lovely shape.

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  8. Great jacket. It suits you very well. I hope you enjoy wearing it.

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    1. Thanks onedabbles. I'm sure I will enjoy wearing it.

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  9. Oh Wow!! I love your jacket! The print is beautiful an so well distributed! It looks really good on you. A jean jacket is my very favorite thing to make! I usually edge stitch and also top stitch which takes care of the seam allowances being sewn down. It's a lot of work but so worth it.

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    1. Thank you so much Diana. Everything you make always looks so professional.

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  10. Really pretty! I'm so impressed with your sewing (and fitting) skills:)

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  11. Thanks Angela. I think all the credit goes to the gorgeous fabric and the great Style Arc pattern. The only fitting changes I made to the pattern were to lengthen the sleeves, but I do appreciate your lovely comment.

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  12. That's so lovely! A friend of mine is looking for a short, cropped jeans jacket - would this pattern be easy to cut down do you think?

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    1. Thanks Ruth. I think it would be easy to crop. Just cut off at desired length and adjust the length of the bottom band to suit. The panels are all quite shaped and that is what gives it that nice fitted look.

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  13. That is a GORGEOUS jacket. The extra work in the layout was so worth it. I love how the yellow is balanced on one sleeve and opposite front. Great job.

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    1. Thanks Kelly. I was pretty pleased with how balanced the print turned out.

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  14. I am curious, though 3 years later, how you finished off the inner seams. I don't have a serger, and I'd rather live my life without one, as I'm getting older every day! Anyway, I cut out the pattern in a blue denim. From your blog it sounds like you used regular seams, and tried to top-stitch them in place. Did you zig-zag the edges? Or do you have a serger? I guess I can zig-zag everything, like I usually do. I am toying with using flat-felled seams but it looks like the seam allowance might not be wide enough.

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    1. Hi Tina-Bo. I did finish the raw edges with my overlocker, before top stitching. Flat felling would give a lovely neat finish. You could simply add a little extra to the seam allowances before cutting out to enable you to sew flat felled seams.

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