The Cheater’s Quilted Jacket
This is probably the most scrumptious project I have made yet! That’s right, I said scrumptious. I can call it as I feel it. And let me tell you this feels ultra cozy. I’ve had this project in mind for quite a while now and once we received our stocking of Merchant and Mills Jacquard it was time to put this project in motion…
This project was about checking a ton of things off my sewing bucket list for me. A quilted jacket being the first thing I can think of. And the popularity of quilted jackets over the past year just made my heart sing even more! To me, they just give a vibe of coziness and comfort that reminds me of being in the woods by a bonfire, slipped in nature and of slow moments of just breathing and taking it all in. It feels like something you’d pull off a hook both for comfort and for practicality.
When selecting a pattern to work with, I knew that to get the vibe I wanted I needed to use something that would be easy to slip on and off, nothing fussy, but simple in style. I’ve wanted to make the Unfolding Jacket by Wiksten for SUCH a long time, that’s now only available in the Lines issue of Making. I’ve had this on my list since I started sewing, since it was right around that time that it was released, but at the time I felt a pressure that when I wanted to sew for myself that things needed to be ‘just right‘ and that I ‘needed more experience‘ to be able to tackle a project for me. This was part of my sewing journey and I’m glad that I’ve pushed that mentality aside. Without tackling projects, you can’t learn from your mistakes and eventually get better.
Let’s talk about the actual pattern for a hot minute! So the Unfolding Jacket is an oversized coat that has zero closures on the front and drop shoulder sleeves. The pattern also has quite a bit of positive ease (hence the oversized description). Mix all these things together though and this gives you a beautiful laidback jacket perfect for throwing on as you walk out the door. It also includes a wide collar and two large pockets on the front. This pattern is actually really easy to sew! But I couldn’t seem to find a sizing chart (only finished measurements) in the zine so I found that a touch confusing. I wound up going to see what Wiksten’s sizing runs like on their other patterns to try to figure out which size I wanted to go with. I opted for a Large here since that’s where my measurements put me in their other patterns, but I’d like to try a Medium next time to see how it would fit if it was a bit slimmer/more fitting. Otherwise, construction wise, the only change I would actually make to the jacket is to use my main fabric for both sides of the collar, rather then a main and lining fabric combo.
And finally the last thing I wanted to check off my sewing bucket list was sewing up this Merchant and Mills Cotton Jacquard. Shockingly, I had yet to have sewn with this lovely fabric in my sewing journey. I have eyed it up SO often, but once again, this feeling of ‘not quite being ready for it‘ was in my head. And I’m once again, so happy that I’ve come to a point in my journey (and life) where I’m pushing these negative vibes out. I had a really hard time picking which colour I wanted to sew up. Because I love ALL the colours. But ultimately, for the vibe I wanted to go with, I opted for Rushes. This soft sage green colourway is subtle but has a lovely earthy tone to it as well.
The beauty of this fabric is how it’s put together. It has two cotton layers (the underside being a gauzy layer and the top being a thicker layer) that sandwich together thick strands of yarn, which gives this a quilted feel, without you needing to actually quilt anything! It’s pretty easy to sew with this fabric! It does tend to ‘stretch’ a bit as you run it through your sewing machine, since it’s got some looser weave in there. But if you take your time with this and pin and adjust as you go you won’t have an issue!
I’m going to be honest here, I really want to sew Laine next! But I’m not sure yet what I want to make with it quite yet.
For the interior, I used something from my stash. I’m determined to get through more of my fabric stash now that I’ve sorted it out. I spent some time and cleaned out about stash a few months back and got rid of about 3 or 4 bags full of fabrics I knew I wouldn’t use (things that had been cut into, or they didn’t speak to me anymore, etc). I found this lightweight twill (if I remember correctly) that I purchased from Blackbird Fabrics way back when it was still a relatively new shop! I knew I loved this fabric, but on me personally I had no idea what I would wear it as, since it was out of my typical fabric choice. I feel like it’s SO fitting for the lining of this jacket though. It works brilliantly with the colour of Rushes and I’m glad I was able to do some stash busting at the same time.
As with most of my sewing projects these days, I included a little finishing touch with a sewing label. While I was working on this project, I made sure to not just take my time, but I was trying to enjoy the steps by taking it slow. I’ve been reading and listening and just feeling slow fashion more and more. And as I was putting this jacket together, it felt like the perfect opportunity to just enjoy the process, especially after waiting so long to check this one off my ‘sewing bucket list’. So when it came to selecting the label, I wanted something that reflected this head space, and so I put in a Mindfully Made Luxe Label. It was the perfect thing to wrap this up.
