Skip to main content

Made by a Fabricista: Boucle Jacket by Diane


Happy New Year Friends!  I'm happy to get my Fabricista year off to a good start with a classic boucle jacket. It's a timeless style, classic fabric and beautiful color!


I started with New Look pattern 6028 view A and chose Fabric Mart's soft green, black and white boucle suiting, similar to the type of fabric used in the pattern photo (the fabric also comes in this pretty pink, yum!)  I used this Maggy London black satin for the lining.  So luxurious!


I didn't make any style changes or alterations to the pattern (don't you love when you get a pattern like that?)  but I changed the lining. The jacket shell pattern and the lining pattern are the same, meaning, when you sew the lining and jacket together, the lining fabric is right up to the outer edge of the jacket.  So if the jacket comes open or lifts up, you would see the lining right at the edge.  I wanted a more traditional lining that included a facing all the way around the neckline and a hem.  It's an easy remedy:


1) I added 1" to the hem of the jacket shell (there was only a 5/8" seam allowance).

2) I cut the jacket front facing out of the shell fabric.

3) I cut a back neck facing out of the shell fabric and attached it to lining.


This boucle is great to work with because it has some natural give, making sewing curves and easing in sleeves a breeze.  I added a sleeve head to the sleeve to give the jacket additional structure.  Here's how I made them (it's so easy you don't need to buy them):

Trace the sleeve head onto lightweight fleece, from dot to dot.

Draw a line from dot to dot.

Fold along the line and cut out the curve

Sew the sleeve head onto the seam allowance of the sleeve, matching raw edges of fleece and sleeve.  Stitch just inside stitching line (4/8").  Press all seams toward the sleeve.


The sleeve on the left has a sleeve head and the one on the right doesn't.  You can see what a big difference this tiny piece of fleece makes.  The one on the left looks much better, it even makes the side of the jacket hang more smoothly.  And this is all before shoulder pads!


And now for the fun part....the trim!  The outer trim on the jacket is simply bias strips of fabric gathered down the center.  I used the gathering foot on my machine, set the tension all the way up, used the longest stitch length and stitched until everything was gathered.  I put the trim on with a straight stitch right over the gathering line.  Super easy....and pretty!



I had some leftover strips so I sewed them into a continuous circle, put a button on top of the raw edges and made a flower.  I'm feeling pretty tricky right now! 




I think now it's time to make this jacket in pink!

Happy New Year! 
Diane

Comments

  1. Beautifully done. The fabric is gorgeous and matches your eyes. How lovely.
    Love how you did the facings and trim.
    Perfect. Can't wait to see the pink one.
    Brava!
    Vancouver Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just beautiful!!!

    Had a blue boucle dress long time ago and loved wearing it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The classic beauty of Chanel with some personal innovative touches....beautifully done.....perfect....anxious to use some of your techniques...Thanks for showing your work

    ReplyDelete
  4. Really beautiful jacket! I never realized what a difference a sleeve head would make- thanks for showing us the difference. I also love your flower!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your jacket is absolutely beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It looks well made. I like the color choice. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Absolutely stunning! The trim and flower are lovely and I agree, the addition of the sleeve head is perfect. I sure must pick up this pattern and fabric if still available.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gorgeous! Can you tell me if the unfinished edges on the trim bother you? Or is there a method for fixing this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like the raw edge look of the trim but I didn't want it to look like it was falling apart. I cut the fabric strips on the bias and that allowed me to have the ruffled look without threads going everywhere. And it wears very well!

      Delete
  9. beautiful jacket and I agree it is very "Chanelesque". Classic, timeless style. I just might have to get this pattern based on your beautiful rendition of it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

Made By A Fabricista: Liberty Snow Day

Hi everyone! While we’ve been blanketed with snow out here in Southeastern PA, I decided to conquer my fear of button holes and make NewLook pattern N6749. I was able to snag a few yards of the Jess + Jean print Liberty of London Tana Lawn for it. It’s always exciting when Fabric Mart is able to get Liberty fabrics in! I always make sure to grab some.  Cutting into a beautiful piece of tana lawn is scary every time. The fabric is such good quality, I’m afraid to mess it up! I had to be extra careful as this is also the first directional pattern I’ve worked with. But one of my assistants made sure all of my pieces were laid correctly. Something I wanted to try out with this dress was finishing the inside seams using the overlock stitch on my domestic machine. Normally I would french seam, but it was nice to not have to worry about cutting seam allowance in half, sewing, trimming, flipping, and sewing again. Next time I would cut the seam allowance back before overlocking, but I thin...

Made By A Fabricista: Embracing Winter in Wool Boucle

As winter drags on, the cold weather is such a bummer to me and feeling uncomfortable and cold so often is rough. Meanwhile, I listened to a podcast all about how people in very northern countries deal better with the onset of dark, freezing winter with a radically different mindset of embracing the inevitable season by reframing the chill as refreshing and the opportunity to spend most time indoors as cozy. I can do that!  I found a gorgeous, quintessential wool boucle suiting in black and white to make myself a luxurious outer layer while I’m outside attempting to embrace the sting of dry winter air… It’s kind of working. So classic, so chic! Wearing boucle is always an uptown move and I certainly do feel sophisticated in it. This black and white houndstooth combination feels especially Old Hollywood, and what a treat to make something with this!  I sewed the Daphne Jacket from Vivian Shao Chen. There are no closures, and the shape is boxy and very easy to wear over multipl...

Made By A Fabricista: Sewing + Running

It’s not every day that I get to mix two of my favorite hobbies. Especially when one hobby is sewing and the other is running. You can’t sew and run at the same time, but, you can go running in something that you sewed! With this realization, I embarked on my first hobby-merging adventure.  We’ve had some frigid temperatures in Pennsylvania this winter. Since I’m an outside, stroller-pushing runner, I bundle up my son and myself before I hit the road. The temperature feels 20 degrees warmer for outside runners than the outside air. For the children being pushed in the stroller though, it feels about 20 degrees colder.  With these differences in temperature for each of us, layering is the only thing that ensures that we both stay perfectly warm. My running wardrobe has been lacking a warm top layer. My son’s wardrobe would also benefit from having another warm layer, so I knew pullovers were what I should make.  Inspired by a name-brand ¼ button-down fleece pullover I saw,...