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In the middle of the summer, I’m blogging about a jacket. Ups! I’ll try to used in my defence  the fact that I did make it at the beginning of the year when the weather was still jacket appropriate.

Ever since I made my first I AM Artemis Jacket by I AM patterns (French pattern company) (see link here for my post), I knew I’ll be making a lined version of it.

I had the paper version, which does not include  pieces for the lining. However, on their website, the girls from I AM patterns have a free download that gives the instructions on how to modify the pattern to add lining to your jacket. For my version I made a pleat in the lining for ease, which was not entirely necessary due to how boxy the jacket it.

After seeing Emily’s bomber jacket made with this fabric I had to have some of it as well to make something.

Mine came from MinervaCrafts – link here – they still have it in stock (at the time of writing this post) if you fancy using this fun fabric as well. After reading Emily’s post, I became aware that while using it might prove to be a messy affair, which meant cutting the pieces and construction had to happen in one day. Also, once I received my fabric I found out that the fabric has a very lose weave and having just the lining won’t be sufficient. As a solution, I used white cotton to underline the fabric first. I began by pinning the cut pieces in white cotton to the wrong side of my fabric and then basted the layers together, to be used as a single layer in the construction.

I used basting thread to mark the hems as well, which made it easier to hem the jacket later.

Due to the fabric having those patches of fur I felt it was better I cut the back on the fold. To do this I eliminated the centre back seam allowance. I’m so happy with my new sewing machine. Because of the fur patches the layers were very uneven, which normally would give me issues due to the tension needed to be adjusted. But new machine has a sensor and adjusts the tension automatically. Got to love technology, don’t we? The thread did not break, not even once.

For the insertion of the lining I used a technique called ‘bagging the lining’, which pretty much involves using the sewing machine for the whole process. It can be fiddly, and can take a little bit of time, but saves you from doing any hand stitching, especially when you are not too fond of this technique.

I have not yet decided whether to leave my jacket without closures or not. By the nature of the fabric putting buttonholes in it is not a good idea. One option would have been bound buttonholes. But, I should have thought of this before I started the construction. Another option would be to add hand-sewn poppers. What do you think?

There you have it!I made myself a crazy jacket! Not only does it look cute but it’s also cuddly! Come autumn, I’d better get the guts to actually wear it.