The last time Katherine, Sewblooms, Megan, Meggipeg and I caught up, Katherine suggested we make the jacket from the book “Sewing With Scraps” – see Liz Haywoods review here. Katherine had borrowed hers from the library, but when I saw the book I realised that I had one in my bookcase, which I think came as a gift from a friend.

The jacket is the Workwear Jacket and it is designed to be made from scraps – as per the book title! There are several designs in the book which are derived from this one, and the jacket can be made with or without cuffs. I chose without cuffs.

The patterns can be downloaded from the web, and there are basically three, which form the basis of everything in the book.

Being the unimaginative sort, my mind went straight to all the denim jeans I have sitting in my stash, so I began going through the pieces that were already unpicked, or in scrap form.

I began piecing, and had an idea percolating in my mind as to how to I could make my jacket a little more interesting.

This is my pieced jacket. I wasn’t sure of the size, but Katherine said she was doing the 2xL, but my measurements put me at a Medium, so that’s what I went with.

Here I am checking the size. The sleeves look really long and the jacket feels a bit big. At least it’s not too small.

I tried to be consistent with my placement of the denim colours, so that there would be some symmetry.

Before I began the jacket I had been playing with painting fabric with acrylic paints, and I had painted two pieces of denim to test the process. This gave me a spark of an idea.

I sewed the two pockets I had previously painted onto the jacket, and an unpainted breast pocket. and used masking tape to create a resist. You can see the three pockets sewn on in the photo below.

I dug out my paints and got organised. Most of the paints came from the Fibres West garage sale. I used a fabric fixative in a 1:1 ratio. The blue protection sheet was given to me, and it’s some sort of medical examination bed liner, much better quality than the usual paper ones. It’s double sided and nothing goes through.

When I started I thought I’d just follow the design I’d done on the pocket. I quite liked the tartan effect – like no tartan you’ve ever seen!

I wanted it to look a bit rustic, so I wasn’t too fussy about filling in all the gaps.

The two fronts were completed and the pockets kind of meld in. I used my late MiL’s hairdryer to quickly dry the paint so I could move the pieces around. I keep this hairdryer in my sewing room as it’s so handy for all sorts of things.

I had pieced the jacket together but not sewn the side seams, which meant I could lay it flat to pattern match the resist stripes. It worked really well.

I did have a mini disaster as I suddenly began painting in the wrong direction! I discovered it quite quickly and then had to repaint the fabric, trying to colour match the original denim. Of course it was at this point that I had decided to add some red into the mix, which was difficult to cover up. I was quite pleased with the outcome and would have to go looking for this section now.

Here is the finished jacket. I had left the bottom band as I wasn’t sure how I was going to treat it. When I put the jacket together I decided I liked it, so it’s the original denim waistband. I was also going to paint the collar, but again, I liked it in it’s original form. The collar was a bit stained, which hadn’t bothered me when I thought I was going to paint it, but I wasn’t happy, so I unpicked it and turned it over.

I chose not to have cuffs as I felt it would all be too busy, and I’m quite lazy! I used a piece of striped fabric for the facings, and vintage grey buttons, which I’m really pleased with. I think they line up when I’m wearing the jacket!

I really like seeing the different colour denims showing through and was pleased with my original decision to be vaguely symmetrical.

When acrylic paints are used they have to be heat pressed for 3-5 minutes. That is a very long time and I did two sections before I was over it. I took the jacket to my son’s home as he has my mother’s clothes dryer from the 1970s, and I tossed it in there for five minutes. I might give it another go at some point, but I didn’t want the paint to melt, so was being conservative!

The jacket was pretty stiff on the first wearing, but it’s softening up beautifully now. The size is perfect. The sleeves aren’t too long at all, and I can roll them up a little way and still have the paint showing. I haven’t done this yet, but I’m sure I will in the spring.

I’ve worn it a few times, including with my newly dyed Stokx Flirt Skirt! I should mention here that the jacket is supposed to be longer than I made mine. For some reason I wanted my jacket to be a bit cropped, but I need to be careful with what I wear under it. In this photo I can see the bottom of my heavy blue cabled jumper, which I don’t like seeing. It’s mostly because I had the camera low, but I am quite careful what I wear under it.

Also you can see how the skirt has attached itself to my leg. I know that hairspray works to stop this, but I am not into buying sprays.

I wore the jacket quite a lot on my daily walks, and it’s surprisingly warm.

As it softens up, it is getting more and more comfortable. It also goes with my Liz Haywood zero waste warm hat, made from some felted cashmere.

Ok, I took too many photos on this day, but it may have been the first time I wore the jacket!

Just some back views. The jacket is nice enough to wear out for lunch.

and it looks cute set amongst a coordinating flower bush.

The painting technique is one that I will definitely use again, and even my youngest son has told me that he doesn’t mind the jacket. I am really pleased with it, and have been asked several times about it. I wore it to Miss G’s fifth birthday party, where it was widely discussed.

The last thing to report on is the catchup and showing off of our makes. Katherine and I both made the Workwear Jacket, but Megan bailed as she didn’t have the book, and therefore the instructions. Instead she made a gorgeous shirt from two discarded men’s shirts. The details are amazing. Katherine’s jacket is properly patchworked and is really stunning. Of course we had to try on each other’s jackets, and I thought it might amuse you to see all the photos. Sorry, there are a lot!

I am extremely grateful to Katherine. I have now made the Comfort Pants from the book, which have been donated to RePatched, see previous post., and I’m planning on making the tee shirt at some point.