Jeans Jacket Makeover

Starting with this plain jeans jacket and two pieces of toning quilting cotton plus a pack of heat set

Swarovsky crystals, I created an embellished jacket.

Fabric 1 has a medium scale overall pattern. I used it for the collar, cuffs and pockets.

Fabric 2 is a larger scale floral fabric that I used for the front yoke and side back panels. I also used

selected motifs from this fabric to make a floral spray on the back yoke.

Step 1, the collar.

I laid fabric 1 over the collar of the jacket while it was laid flat, and cut a piece that was a little larger

all round. I allowed reasonably generous seam allowances, probably about ¾ inch or 2cm.

I anchored the fabric to the collar along the middle.

I folded the seam allowance in along the neck edge of the collar and pinned it in place, then

topstitched it near the edge.

I made sure the fabric would be wide enough to cover the collar when folded (i.e. I took the ‘fold of

the cloth’ into account) then turned in the seam allowances on the outer edges, and pinned them in

place.

The result looked like this.

The front yoke.

I laid the jacket over the corner of my worktable to allow one front yoke to lie flat, and laid fabric 2

over it. I pinned the piece in place along the front edge with the fabric turned under at the edge of

the button band, and roughly over the whole yoke. (I did the same for the 2nd yoke after completing

the first.)

I then turned the whole jacket over so the print fabric was underneath it.

I folded the jacket back at the bottom of the yoke, then the shoulder, then the sleeve, to allow me

to cut the fabric plus a seam allowance.

I then flipped the whole jacket back over, folded under the excess fabric along the edge of the thick

denim seams, and pinned it in place. I was then able to trim the neck edge.

I clipped this edge to enable me to fold it under neatly along the edge of the collar.

Pinning the fabric under at the edge of the thick denim seams means I only had to sew through one

layer of denim plus the quilting fabric turnings.

This is what the jacket looked like at this point.

Pockets

I cut pieces of Fabric 1 large enough to cover the pockets, and pinned them in place with the edges

turned under. I did not take this fabric to the top of the pocket, but folded the top edge to the level

of the button. This edge is hidden by the pocket flap.

This is what the jacket looked like at this point.

Side back panels.

I cut and pinned pieces of Fabric 2 to the side back panels in a similar way to the front yokes, folded

under the edges and pinned them in place, using the corners of my worktable to allow me to work

flat around the armholes.

Back yoke

I decided to make a flower spray at the back yoke using motifs from Fabric 2. I roughly cut several

flower and leaf motifs and pinned them roughly in place to compose a pleasing composition.

I ironed the pieces onto fusible web, protecting my ironing board and iron using see-through

pressing sheets, then trimmed them neatly around the edge.

I removed the backing paper, repositioned them on the back yoke, and pressed them in place.

At this point, I stitched the pieces in place. I topstitched around the edge of the front yokes, the back

panels and the collar.

I stitched the pocket pieces in place by hand.

I used the ‘blanket stitch’ stitch pattern on my sewing machine to sew around the edges of the

applique pieces on the back yoke to give them more durability for laundering the jacket. A zig-zag,

satin stitch or topstitch could be used if you do not have this stitch on your machine, or you could

make a hand embroidered stitch instead.

Cuffs

As the sleeves of the jacket were too long for me, I decided to make a cuff that could be worn at full

length or rolled up.

I cut off the existing cuffs just above the seam, which resulted in sleeves that are the right length for

me.

I folded my remaining Fabric 1 and folded the sleeve flat along the seam with the opening, and

aligned the folded edge WITHOUT the opening to the fold of Fabric 1. I made sure the TOP of Fabric

1 was at the cuff end so it would be the right way up when the cuff is rolled. I trimmed the fabric to

match the sleeve at the cuff end , then along the seam allowing extra fabric for turnings. (You could

use the cut away cuffs to make denim bracelets.)

Keeping the sleeve and fabric aligned, I folded the sleeve back allowing enough for the cuff to be

rolled up and still have fabric inside the sleeve, plus about 1in extra for the turnings at the bottom of

the sleeve, and trimmed the fabric to this length.

I pinned the fabric to the sleeve along the cuff edge, right sides together, then machined it in place.

I turned the fabric back along the stitched edge, then wrapped it around to the inside of the sleeve,

and topstitched this along the edge. This gives a nice bound edge effect. I wrapped the excess fabric

to the back at theopening to give a neat finish.

I pinned the folded back edges to the opening. At the top of the opening, I clipped into the fabric to

the fold. I then opened out the excess fabric and tucked it under the fold of the fabric at the other

edge.

I continued the fold of the upper edge up to the top of the cuff facing and pinned it to the under

layer. At the top of the cuff facing, I pinned under the raw edge and pinned it to the sleeve.

I sewed the opening edges together by hand, catching the clipped edge inside the top of the

opening. I used

I sewed the folded edge to the underneath layer by hand with a slip stitch.

I hemstitched the top of the cuff to the sleeve, so the stitching is hardly visible on the right side.

I sewed a snap at the bottom of the opening.

The jacket now looks like this.

Embellishment

I used heat set Swarovsky crystals to embellish the flowers on Fabric 2.

Finished Garment

The finished garment looks like this.