THE Utility Jacket

Many like to start a new year with a challenge, usually that involves eating healthier, exercise more, be a better person or something along that line. I on the other hand decided to sew a jacket and not just any old simple jacket, but a jacket that involved 27 different pattern pieces printed on 78 pages. Like that wasn’t crazy enough this marvellous jacket isn’t even for me!

Let me introduce you to the Utility Jacket by Wardrobe by me. My husband was the lucky receiver this time. At first when I showed him the pattern he wasn’t all that excited, but now he is very happy with the finished product or at least he is smart enough not to say anything else.

I used fabric called dry oilcloth in navy from Mind The Maker that I bought from Stoffdronning. This fabric is not forgiving, so making a mistake is not an option. If you have to undo your stitches there will be holes in the fabric from the needle. Saying that, I have never sewed anything as slowly and carefully as this jacket and my best friends were my ruler, chalk pencil and wash a way fabric glue.

I marked up all my stitch lines to make sure I kept the seam allowance correct through out the project and used glue instead of pins where I couldn’t use my clips. This fabric doesn’t press well either so I used my fingers and heavy books to press down the seams. On a positive not it doesn’t fray and is not slippery – haha.

I found a zipper at Stoff og Stil that had navy and red zipper tape, you can see a glimps of it here. I added red bar tacks to the pockets and a small piece of red bias tape for fun to one of the pockets.

I love all the details this pattern offers and although it was time consuming and a bit stressful at times I really loved the whole process. Not to mention how much I learned.

He chose the lining fabric himself and I think he did very good. He was also responsible for hammering in all the snaps. That part always makes me extremely nervous and since he is a total perfectionist I trusted him so much more than myself to tackle that.

Now my question to you is this: Are you inspired or intimidated? Haha! I would tell you that if you have some sewing experience and love a good quality sewing time then you should go for it. The instructions really guide you through it. Although this is market a mens pattern it works very well for women also. I might make one for myself – after a few years time that is!

If you made it all the way down to here I’ll give you the link again so you don’t have to scroll all the way to the top, click here to get your copy of the amazing Utility Jacket.

Love

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