A Reclaimed Jacket
or

How a UFO Lived to See the Light of Day

One of my simple pleasures in life is watching my DD paw through my fabric collection in search of just the right treasure for me to sew up for her. An even better pleasure is when she chooses to sew something up herself. She is just learning to sew, and decided to learn to use the serger.

So while she was home at Christmastime, she unearthed from my UFO box 3 huge fabric pieces that I had cut out a couple of years ago for a lounge jacket. It was an oversized Oscar de la Renta design that I thought would be funny to wear around the house on cold evenings over my pajamas.

Let me say this right now. This fabric is weird. Maybe that's why it ended up in the UFO box--perhaps I knew in my heart of hearts that even I wouldn't wear it, even at home. (grin) The fabric is two-sided: grey fleece on one side and a wicking-type of neon pink knit on the other.

What I had thought of as a whimsical pairing of quirky outerwear fabric with a designer jacket must have gone awry. I can't remember. In fact, I had totally forgotten about it until I heard my DD's ooohs as she pulled it out of the box.

Right away she dug out a jacket pattern that I had used dozens of times before for her for hoodies when she was in undergrad school. I even made hoodies from that pattern for her college roommate.

We began placing the pattern on the thankfully oversized pieces and found we had plenty. Once the pieces were cut out, my DD set about serging them together. The sleeves, pockets, and side seams went together like a dream. Her confidence was building. Then BLAMMO! the poltergeist in the serger ate into the collar fabric as she was serging it onto the neckline. She was crushed. She was hoping to take the completed jacket back with her to school. But that big gouge scared her. Plus she was leaving the next morning.

So she left her wounded project with me. I unpicked all of the neckline serging and cut a new collar. Of course the neckline had to be lowered a bit because of the sizeable bite that had been made in it. The collar piece was one we had drafted together because she wanted a standup collar instead of the hood shown on the pattern.

After serging the new collar onto the neckline and touching up some serger misfires on some of the seams my DD had completed, I put in the sleeve and jacket hems and inserted the most beautiful grey rhinestone zipper along the front opening.

It soon was packaged up and sent along to my DD who loves it to bits.

Jacket Photos:











Pattern Used:
Butterick 3922, out of print
Pattern photos:

Materials:
Fabrics:
Two sided wicking fleece fabric from Cloth Encounters, Ann Arbor, MI

Thread:
MaxiLock 100% polyester thread in serger

Machine Needles:
Schmetz Size 80 Microfiber

Machines:
Bernina 1630 computerized sewing machine
Elna Pro 905 DCX computerized serger

Topstitching:
Elongated straight stitch at 3.5mm with normal tension.

Things we did with this project (that weren't in the pattern instructions):
1. Drafted a different collar

2. Inserted a rhinestone zipper

Things we learned, or were reminded of in this project:

I was reminded of the keen disappointment I felt as a new sewist when a project didn't go together as quickly as I thought it would. Slow and careful sewing came with experience. My DD will learn that as she continues to sew.

And she will learn that in most cases, there is a fix for a sewing boo-boo. It just takes time, patience, good eyesight, and a steady hand.

Things we would do differently, were we to make this jacket again:

Not a thing. It's just so darn cute.