“Hello, Spring!” Puffy Jacket

Hello Darlings!

I have to admit that this year I am surprising myself with changes in my outwear wardrobe: first was this faux fur coat, now this bright red puffy jacket with diamond and chain print. Quite a change, considering that until this year I only wore black, navy blue or dark brown jackets in classic designs. I am not sure where this need for wardrobe change is coming from, but I am liking it so far!

As for this jacket, the idea to make it was very spontaneous: I saw this fabric in store (was actually difficult not to see it, ha!) and instantly knew I have to have it. Plus, I recently got an industrial straight stitch sewing machine (more on that later on) and needed a challenging project to test it – is there a better way to do it than picking a puffy jacket without lining and with lots of bias tape for seam finish? It was perfect choice for first machine ride and I couldn’t be happier with speed and precision I got!

Because the fabric print is really “loud”, I had to choose a simple design to tone it down a little bit. Thus, instead of picking a new patterb, I decided to replicate the design of a minimalistic jacket I made last year and loved.

Because the fabric print is very expressive, I had to be very carefull in cutting and matching the print on each side nicely. My advices for working with print fabrics are following:

* Place all details on the good side of the fabric, so that you can see the print well;

* First arrange the biggest details, which will be most visible (in my case, it was front details);

* Make sure the print on same details (for example, as in front part detail) is mirrored correctly;

* Only start cutting when all details are marked, otherwise you might run short on fabric and will not be able to rearrange the layout;

* Buy more fabric than recommended in the pattern if the print is very expressive, so that you have more space to match it.

Here is the result I got matching print and following these advices – not bad, I would say:

Because the “wrong” side of this fabric is very nice as well, I decided not to put additional linning. Instead, I choose bias seam tame finish, which is perfection for jackets without lining. Sure, it’s extra work, but sooo worth it!

Luckily, we had so much sun this weekend (after a long long winter), so I had the opportunity to wear my new jacket outside! So far I am loving it – bright color and lightweight design is perfect for warm spring days!