I am in love with the new pattern release for the Canvas Jacket from Wardrobe By Me Patterns! It is a stylish, versatile chic pattern that I plan to make multiple versions of. The styling of the jacket is a perfect addition to my wardrobe as I absolutely love a “jean jacket” style and popped collar. Add in patch style pockets and topstitching and you know this pattern is a winner.
The pattern directions and illustrations make every step easy to follow and the jacket pieces together one step at a time without any issues. The double yoke design is very similar to how the Men’s Tropical Shirt Pattern goes together. The burrito roll method is such a creative way to create a double yoke. I giggle every time I use it because the roll out reveal is such fun! You can see my make for Mr. Mike using this method here.
I made a size 14 jacket based on the amount of ease in the pattern and it fits perfectly. I made no adjustments to the pattern at all except to lengthen the sleeve by 2 inches, a usual occurrence as I am 6 feet tall. I did not lengthen the bodice of the jacket because I wanted a shorter version and the pattern hits perfectly at my hip.
I love the collar design of this jacket as it is perfect for wearing up. A popped collar is definitely my favourite way to wear a jacket and knowing this, I chose to use some scrap black quilted fabric left over from my Irma vest that you can see here. The thicker quilted fabric gives the collar just that little bit of extra structure for the collar as the black velvet that I used for the jacket has more drape. The pants I am wearing in this outfit are the Soline Culottes. Details about them can be found here.
I really liked the construction of the banded pockets. They go together really nicely, the steps are easy to follow and the design adds nice detail and the opportunity for some fun topstitching. At first, I created the patch pockets in all velvet but I didn’t like the way they hung on the jacket, the velvet simply didn’t have enough structure for a pocket that size and I felt it looked too sloppy. The good news was that I had enough quilted fabric to create the patch pockets and they had more structure and had the polished look that I wanted…. The bad news- when you unpick velvet it leaves marks that are very visible and they don’t go away…. So, I recut a quilted pocket with a velvet band and added just a wee bit of extra width and length so that the crushed velvet unpick line from the initial pocket wouldn’t be visible.
As the pocket construction is so well designed it worked perfectly. Now I have a more structured pocket with quilted detailing that matches the collar and no visible lines from the first set of pockets. It definitely felt like a creative win and the design of the pockets made it an easy fix.
With a quilted collar and pockets now incorporated into the styling of the jacket I thought it would be fun to add quilted cuffs to round out the design effect, so with a quick recut if one cuff for each side I had another subtle detail to add to the overall effect.
Velvet definitely was a harder fabric to work with for this project. I had to make sure that all of the pieces I cut were facing in the same direction in order to keep the knap of the fabric the same. It was difficult to press the seams because steam can damage the velvet but I did find that adding two rows of topstitching a seam width apart really helpedryer to lie flat.
My only struggles with this pattern were due to my fabric choice so it was really nice to be using such a great pattern. I have some pinstriped chambray in my stash and I think it will make a wonderful cropped version of this pattern, another great wardrobe staple. I plan to shorten the length of the bodice by 2-3”. With a shortened design I will add two chest pockets and an inside pocket so the pockets don’t look too crowded. Stay tuned..
After all…. There is Sew Much To Design
Happy Sewing,
Lou Sheffer