yippee! One denim jacket, finally done!

I am so happy that I've finally finished sewing my denim jacket - it was becoming such an obstacle for me due to my self imposed no more UFOs rule and a major drain of sewing mojo to boot.  It really shouldn't have taken so long to make, it's just that life got in the way and then I procrastinated a fair bit too.  It was totally frustrating sewing this - not that the pattern was difficult, but it was fiddly, but I sure am glad it's done 'cos I've already worn it twice since finishing it last Saturday - success!.

To recap, I made jacket 116 from Burda issue 4/2009 which isn't actually designed for denim but rather 'lightweight jacket fabrics'.  It wasn't a problem sewing this pattern in denim, but it sure takes a lot of physical exertion wrangling a heavy and thick fabric. But it also meant I could leave out the lining and instead just overlock the inner seams and use bias binding on the facing edge, which in theory should have made this quicker to sew.

I fixed the collar issue I had previously by ignoring the notches I had made and instead matching the centre back seams of the jacket and the collar which seemed to work.  I also did sew from the centre back seam outwards to the sides - I usually do this for stretchy fabrics but thought I could get away with it in a firm fabric like denim.  I don't know what I did wrong in the first place, because when I checked the reviews over on pattern review no one else encountered that problem so it was clearly me tracing the pattern notches wrongly.  But there is still a fair distance from the edge of the collar to the edge of the jacket front, which I assume is a design feature:

You can also see there all the topstitching I did, which was the cause of most of my frustration.  My sewing machine did not like stitching over those bulky seam intersections at all, and there were a lot of skipped stitches no matter how slowly I stitched.  And sewing those button holes were a complete nightmare because the plastic buttonhole foot just refused to move the fabric along so I had to a bit of pushing and pulling.  But I think it looks pretty awesome with those hammered on metal buttons, even if it looks like the front is one button short:

Luckily I had read on the pattern reviews that the turned up cuffs were drafted too narrowly to turn up without wrinkles, so I fixed the pattern before I cut them out.  The turned up cuffs make this a 3/4 length sleeve which is a bit daft for winter but it is a look I like so I guess I'll wear with my shirt sleeves hanging out the bottom.

I must admit that when I first put this on I was rather unimpressed with the jacket, mainly because I wanted to wear it open but the front of the jacket naturally sits overlapped.  But when I saw the photos I got over myself because I see it doesn't look too badly worn open either:

And best of all I've finally got something casual but smart to wear with my refashioned skirt.  I bought this skirt a few years ago in an op shop because it's made from a caramel coloured wool jersey and I intended on pressing out the pleats and making something else from it.  But since I've seen several sunray pleated skirts in a similar colour around in the shops instead I lopped 20cm off the bottom to take it from mid calf to knee length, and repressed those pleats to make an 'on trend' skirt:

  

And now I've finally given myself permission to go and use my new overlocker. I have cleaned up my sewing table and set it up so it's about time I powered it up and got sewing.