Sew Along: Track Jacket Complete!

I finished my jacket! I kept working until I was finished, there was no stopping! I am really happy with the way it turned out. You know what I love most about it? The top-stitching! Almost every single seam on this jacket is top-stitched, which I love and hate. I love it because it creates a really finished look. I hate it because if the jacket does not fit correctly, then you have to take not only the seam apart, but the top-stitching. Thankfully I only had to do that at the shoulder seams because it was a little bulkier than I preferred. I also really liked the princess seams. Not only is it a casual jacket, but it is a little more flattering than your average fleece jacket or hoodie.

So how did I finish it? After sewing the side seams onto the front pieces, I put together the sleeve pieces. The jacket has dolman sleeve look. The sleeve is made from four different pieces, which are top-stitched. 

I sewed the front shoulder to the top of the sleeve, then the back shoulder to the other side of the sleeve. This will allow you to sew the jacket together at the side seams. I ended up using about a 1" seam allowance because it was a little bigger than I wanted. I tapered the seam allowance at the hip and just before the cuff of the sleeve. 

The sleeve is the middle piece in this photo. 

After the side seams were sewn, I attached the waistband, collar and sewed the zipper in. That's it! Like I mentioned in my first post, I think this jacket could take an afternoon to sew up. It was so easy. It might have been easy because it is not something that is form fitting, but it feels like it should be harder than it was. 

I would definitely recommend this pattern to anyone. The fabric itself went together really well. One suggestion I have would be to not stretch the fabric too much. It will stretch a little bit while sewing, but don't pull at it. You may get a puckered look when you top-stitch over your seams. The pattern was easy for me to understand, but I'm not sure if it would be good for a beginner. I felt like you should know something about garment construction because of the terms they used and having to flip back and forth between the written instructions and visual instructions on separate papers. 

Want to make a jacket just like this? Head on over to our website to pick out your favorite color of fleece knit! 

Sew Along: Track Jacket - Sewing a Welt Pocket

Progress on my track jacket has been going really well. I'm thinking this project could take an afternoon to whip up, but because I'm sewing for an hour here, an hour there, it's taking a little longer. I was interested in seeing how the pockets on this jacket were sewn. This is the first time I've done a welt pocket, so I thought I would share it with you.

The pattern piece that you are going to sew the pocket to is the front piece. It looks like this:

Taking the welt pattern piece, fold the welt in half lengthwise, zig-zag along raw edge. I found that the fleece knit stretch pretty good when doing this. I would recommend to not stretch it so that it does not pull at the front piece after sewing.

Stay-stitch around the pocket opening. Pin the welt to the pocket opening, right sides together. Sew along the long edge, making sure to sew next to your zig-zag stitch. You don't want the zig zag to show on your finished pocket!

Pin ends of the welt to the short sides of the opening. I had to think about this one for a minute, but once you play around with the fabric, the light bulb will go off!

This is what the pocket looks like after the welt is stitched in. (Without top-stitching.)

Top-stitch around the pocket. (This picture actually shows after the front has been sewn to the side front piece. This step will come later.)

Now that the pocket welt is complete, it's time to sew the pocket lining on. The pattern suggests that you cut the lining out of the same fabric as the rest of the pattern. I was afraid it would create too much bulk in the front, so I selected a rayon knit for the lining. (After selecting it, I think I would have gone with something a little heavier, like a ponte knit. The rayon knit stretches a lot and seems like it might stretch out if I put too much stuff in the pockets.) Pin the right side of the pocket lining to the wrong side of the front piece. Stitch around the entire pocket, keeping the welt section open. 

The welt section is on the left of this picture. 

Finally, you can pin the side front to the front, making sure to catch only the pocket lining at the welt. There you have it---a completed welt pocket!

After you sew the side front, top stitch along the seam. Almost every single seam in this pattern gets top-stitched! (I love ready-to-wear touches!) I'm hoping I can finish the jacket tonight! Wish me luck!

Sew Along: Track Jacket

A few weeks ago, one of our suppliers came in with some fleece samples. I have to admit, fleece does not excite me but when I saw this fleece-backed knit, I fell. in. love. I never thought I would fall in love with fleece, of all things, but this was such nice quality and I loved the knit/fleece combo. I was so excited about starting this project that I went home that night and I searched through my pattern stash and many pattern websites until I found the perfect pattern for this fleece. I came across Jalie Pattern #2795, a zip-front jacket and hoodie. I loved the ready-to-wear look of the pattern. I find that jackets like this tend to be really oversized by other pattern companies, and I did not want that. Since this was my first Jalie Pattern, I glanced through Pattern Review to see if anyone else used it. It got good reviews and everyone seemed to looked great in their jacket! I didn't have any local sources for purchasing the pattern, so I ordered it from an eBay store.

Since Jalie Patterns is new to me, I thought it probably is for others as well! I'm going to do a mini Sew-Along featuring some information about Jalie Patterns and my process in working with this pattern and the fabric itself.

When the fabric arrived, I cut about 2 1/2 yards off the roll, just like the pattern called for. I selected UUC0419 - Purple Fleece Knit. This type of fleece knit comes in other colors, you can check them out here.

When I opened up the pattern, I was surprised to see that every single size came in one pattern. This pattern is for girls through women's sizes, so there were tiny pattern pieces! It was hard to imagine something so small! (I don't have kids yet, and have not made anything for children before!) 

I cut out size 12, so I cut on the Y line. The directions are also printed on the same page as the pattern paper, so I cut those out and hung them on my pattern clips. In a Jalie Pattern, the written directions are separate from the visual directions. The written directions refer you to which picture to follow. Jalie Patterns also want you to use a 1/4" seam allowance, which is included in the pattern measurements.

I bought this hanger at Ikea. It is perfect to hang pattern directions and pattern pieces!

Now comes laying out the pattern on the fabric! I was surprised to see how they wanted you to lay out your pattern pieces. They actually had you laying them out right next to the pattern piece you would be sewing them to. I actually really liked that. You would do something like this when using fabric with a plaid, stripe, etc. But because this fleece is basically solid, there was not a need to do this. I did it anyway, it was nice to be able to visualize which pattern pieces go together.

Stay tuned, I'm on to cutting out the pattern pieces, then on to sewing! Until next time...happy sewing!