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