Alternative titles explored by the author:
"The One That Nearly Did Me In"
"Almost Consigned to the Dumpster Fire that is 2020"
"Never Again, Never Forget: The Home Sewn Jean Jacket Story"
I'm being slightly dramatic, since this jacket turned out pretty great in the end, but this was just one of those frustrating projects that goes wrong in a new, special way at each step.
I had started the project way back in February during Sewcialists Denim Month, then made a little bit of progress in early March, trying to get it finished for Tim's late March birthday. But I had to set it down when things got crazy with the pandemic, I was working a ton of overtime, and my brain just couldn't handle this complicated sewing project. I picked it up again last weekend and powered through it, cursing it every step of the way.
Tim had been eyeing my Hampton jean jacket for years; he really wanted one of his own. I liked the look of Simplicity 8845, a Mimi G unisex denim jacket pattern, so I went with that.
The pattern has a video sewalong, which is nice, although the fabric used in the video is hard to tell wrong from right sides and you can't see the topstitching, so it was of limited utility for me. I mostly used the instructions, which were fine/as expected.
I cut a size L, which worked well for Tim, but, FYI, did NOT fit me even though we have similar measurements. It definitely seems designed for more of a masculine fit: wide shoulders, long sleeves, narrow hips.
For fabric, I used some stretch Cone Mills denim from my stash. I can't remember the weight, color or where I got it, but it's been in my stash for years! Heavy-ish weight? Dark blue?
Construction-wise, I skipped welt pockets because I hate them with a fiery passion. I didn't do flat felled seams because I'm lazy. I just serged my seam allowances and topstitched.
I ran into some issues with the chest pockets. I don't know if I was doing something wrong, if it was just a turn-of-cloth issue, or if it's because the upper pocket pieces and pocket flaps were not graded for each size (I suspect it's the latter), but I just couldn't get the pocket flaps to fit and I had some issues with the topstitching of the pocket not extending past the center front panel's topstitching.
I ended up having to widen the pocket flaps, although I was ok with that because they weren't graded for the different sizes and seemed disproportionately small in size L. I also just serged the edges of the pockets rather than folding them under, and that way the topstitching was wide enough to clear the topstitching on the panels.
I ended up having to widen the pocket flaps, although I was ok with that because they weren't graded for the different sizes and seemed disproportionately small in size L. I also just serged the edges of the pockets rather than folding them under, and that way the topstitching was wide enough to clear the topstitching on the panels.
Another issue I faced: I had to ease the bottom of the sleeves into the cuffs and the bottom of the bodice into the hem band. Again, not sure if this is inaccurate sewing on my part, or a pattern issue, but t's not an issue I typically have... you can see in the photo below some slightly waviness at the bottom of the back where it attaches to the hem band:
Anyway, enough whinging... the final jacket looks pretty great, methinks! The denim's still a bit stiff, but I'm sure will break in nicely over time with wear and washing.
Tim really seems to like it and that's what matters. Hopefully I can erase my feelings of ill will towards this project and move on!
