Quilted Jacket

I'm finally posting my quilted jacket.  I finished up the stitching in May except for a set of buttons.  Turns out adding said buttons was harder than I anticipated.  Third time is a charm!  I found a set I like last weekend and wrapped it up.  Just in time, since I plan to submit it to the local fair.

Hmm... I guess I didn't post much on the process.  This was one of those sweatshirt jackets in which you pull apart a sweatshirt, quilt fabric onto it, then reassemble it.  I found a couple of tutorials, had a rough idea of of fabrics and a design and I took the plunge.

I used an old sweatshirt as a base.  It was worn had some other stitching on it, so wanted to cover both sides.   I lined the jacket with very thin cotton fabric.  This whole thing was an experiment.  If I were to make another one of these, I'd start with a new sweatshirt and skip the lining.

I worked with strips of blue and green fabrics, highlighted with bits of a sun and moon print. 

Everyone loved the colors.  I was afraid the sun/moon fabric would be too much of a contrast, but it blended in quite nicely.

Putting it back together was more straightforward than I feared.  All the edges matched up.  The most difficult thing was working with the thick seams.  I made them as narrow as possible.  Because I didn't want raw edges on the inside, I basically bound the edges rolling them towards the back of the jacket.  

Originally I was going to add pockets, but they just didn't look right on such a short jacket.  I had seen some designs with a wider binding on the bottom, but in the end I bound it with narrow trim all around. 

Buttons were a challenge.  I was going to do a few big ones, but it didn't look right.  Four or five buttons looked better.  I decided on loop closures with buttons on either side. 

At first I passed over the sparkly buttons - they seemed too gaudy.  But I got some feedback at the store and we decided those gaudy buttons were just the right color for the jacket.  I liked the bit of sparkle. 

I love how it looks - the whole composition.  I wish it fit as nice as it looks.  First, the jacket is a bit small on me and the whole thing is stiff (even after washing it).  The shoulders are bulky.  It's very short in the waist.  My petite mother is thrilled with that, though.  Ha!  

Given that this whole project was an experiment, I'd call it a success.  Now I need a quilt jacket for me!  If I attempt it, I'll start with a real pattern and go from there (I've seen several of them out there).  Maybe someday. 

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