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  • Writer's pictureCora

Patchwork denim leftovers

I meant to write a blog post about my patchwork denim Kochi Jacket a year ago when I made it... Having made another scrap-busting denim project this year, the Artist's Smock by Sew Different, it seemed a good time to write about them both.




2018 Project: Kochi Jacket, Papercut Patterns


Half #sewingleftovers and half #refashioners, my patchwork denim jacket is still one of my favourite makes a year on. It is made from three denim sources; an asos pinafore that no longer fitted me, second hand trousers from Depop that never fitted me, and fabric leftovers from my NL 6459s.


It took quite a while to unpick all the seams from the pinafore and trousers, I then ironed them out and laid all pieces on the floor to see if I would have enough fabric. I didn't take any detailed notes I'm afraid, so from memory I just made it up as I went along, which is why there are parts of the sleeves that are a geometrical mishmash of shapes. I think I sewed different pieces of fabric together to then be able to lay the pattern down and cut it out. Overall, it wasn't too tricky as the Kochi has such simple shapes.

Mishmash

Bib pockets

I used the pinafore's front and back bibs as the pockets; just folding them so that they were the same size. I really enjoyed being able to repurpose some of the original details like this; using the top hem of the bibs for my pocket hem. I added two belt loops to the back, and made two ties. One is ultra long made from the trouser's waistband and is all wrinkly looking because of the denim being folded for so long, the other is shorter made from the arm straps of the pinafore plus some of my fabric scraps.





 

2019 Project: Artist's Smock, Sew Different



Compared to my Kochi, this smock went through quite a lengthy evolution! I made this over ten days. I had no garments to refashion this time, just denim scraps to use- blue stretch denim, and a blue non-stretch. I also incorporated some leftovers of a camel melton I had from making my Sapporo coat to make up some extra space that I didn't have enough denim to fill.


The blue-non stretch fabric was leftover from my Peppermint Jumpsuit (originally purchased 2m), and the blue stretch had been from 2m out of which I made a York Pinafore and pair of slimmed Butterick 3460s.


Cutting out


This project involved a slightly more sophisticated way of cutting out my scraps into pattern pieces. Having laid it out, there wasn't that much fabric and so much of it was cut into that I was going to have to be creative. I wasn't able to cut any pattern pieces on the fold, so both front and back were immediately cut in two. I decided that I would make the back piece more patchworky, and preserve the whole pattern pieces for the front. I did this with the sleeves too; one half of each sleeve was a whole piece of fabric, the other was assembled from bits.


I laid all the pattern pieces down that I could fit in whole and drew around them using chalk:

I then needed to get to work drawing on the patchwork pieces to make up the other half of the pattern pieces.


I did this by placing a pattern piece down, and folding a line where I couldn't fit anymore on the fabric, making sure to have enough space for a SA. I then drew over this line in chalk on the pattern piece so I knew where to start drawing from next time.


Once I had finished the whole of one side, I turned each pattern piece over to do the other side.


My pink lines show the size of each patchwork of fabric

I labelled each section of the pattern piece - B (for back) then numerals, and wrote this on the corresponding fabric piece so that I didn't get mixed up when assembling. I put a tick in each section of the paper pattern after it had been drawn onto the fabric to keep track.


As I was cutting pieces in 2 separate pieces, SA is needed on the fold line as well as at any cut lines I make with my pink chalk

All my pieces cut out and laid together:

Collar, pockets, Back piece 1

Sleeves. I decided to swap each half around and give one patchwork half a complete half

Back 2 and Front pieces

Construction


The first step of construction was just to sew all these patchwork pieces together into whole pieces.

I encountered some problems along the way. Because of being a bit rough and ready with my tracing technique, the patchwork pieces were smaller or slightly bigger sometimes than the 'control' pieces (the complete pieces). Before sewing each half together to make the full front, back or sleeves I checked that each half patchwork piece was the same size its whole other half.

When one piece was smaller, I found some scraps to add in

Once they were all sewn up they looked like this:

Back right side and wrong side and one sleeve right and wrong side

Sleeve 2 right and wrong side. The three similar rectangle panels on the left are the section I took out from my Peppermint Jumpsuit when I reduced the length of the body

I then constructed the smock with french seams. On a side note, the underarm is unusually easy to french seam, despite the heavy denim, because it actually makes a straight line when you lay it flat! See below:


Once constructed, I laid it on my sofa and it basically took up the whole thing. I had a sneaking suspicion that it might be too big...

I will let my Instagram story articulate my following thoughts:



The daylight photos show the true shape and fit:

Closing my eyes in shame

To be fair I did make it in a size 20-22, which is not my usual chosen size because I wanted it to be oversized. Thank you for everyone's vote, but there was no way I could keep it as it was- the fit looked ridiculous on me!


Construction number 2


I tried a few modifications before I just decided to take it apart and make some drastic changes. This is usually the sequence of events when something goes wrong when I sew, I don't want to change it that much as I've just put in the effort, then a few hours later I realise I want to have something I love and wear a lot and I'm quite happy to rip it apart and start again (not literally, but redo-ing enough of it to feel like it's back to square 1, especially when you undo french seams!).


1/ Taking in front and back seams


@cookkat62 suggested that I take in the front seam (thanks!), I did this, but the fit issues persisted.



I undid the neck band, the pockets, the front SA and the back too. I tried it on like an open jacket and pinned it to where I thought was a good width. I measured this crossover to work out how much to increase the front seam by. I took out some of the back seam too, but not as much.


The reason why the folds were happening was that there was too much fabric under the arms and also the french seams meant it couldn't sit flat on my shoulder.


Uncovering more problems:



Despite not having solved the fit, I decided to create a side split... I will show my little tutorial seeing as I made one from a french seamed side seam which I had never done before. Then I started to finish my hems with bias binding.






2/ Mid-binding, I decided to go back to square one, and took the unpicker to it.


I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, but I had tried it on and was still having the same issues with the folds at the front. I took one dart out, and then the other, then just decided to rip the seams apart. I could then see that my darts somehow weren't symmetrical, which may have been contributing to issues:


3/ Slice up front piece

I decided to cut the top across the front piece along the pink line, under the armpits, in an effort to try and rid myself of the extra fabric and breath some new life into it. I took out quite a chunk, you can see the difference at the side seams. I then attached what was left of the front to the bodice.


I really like an uneven split hem so was pleased about the new form this was taking. I tried it on with newly pinned side seams to see what the fit was like before going ahead with sewing them.



4/ Redo all french seams to normal seams (and make smock smaller in the process)


Pleased with the look of the fit, I redid all my seams normally (no french this time) and hemmed the body and sleeves and re did the side split.

New shoulder seam here, about to redo the side seams

Re-doing my split hem



5/ To pockets or not to pockets?


Having sorted the hem and my new side split, my last finishing touch was to decide whether I wanted pockets or not.



I decided to go with no pockets, but I've kept them intact in case I want to add them one day, or in case they come in handy with other projects (these are some I made earlier...).


 

Reflections


This top has had a few outings, I took it with me for a very short break to France to see my family at Easter and it was great for travelling with. It's a great layer for warmer, in-betweeny weather (which has been the UK for several months now) the denim is fairly cooling but is actually quite thick so keeps you warm too. Although, I kind of wished I had a pocket for putting my passport in....!


I love this smock, it's very different from the original, so I would like to actually make another version that looks like an Artist's smock another time. I took the long way round, but I am very happy with the result in the end. It reminds me that I'm still making the wrong decisions when it comes to sizing and fit; recently I've been making things too big for me (Peppermint jumpsuit, I am Jain, a pair of fleece M&M 101s, York Pinafore- should have shortened the bodice, Persephone Pants- don't quite fit properly with drag lines I need to sort out for my proper pair) but I've also made things too small too (grey wool Winslow Culottes, blue denim Buttericks I had to deepen the crotch, my Peppermint jumpsuit (again) once I re-did the crotch).


I'm going to have to look at the finished garment measurements, I don't usually do this because I assume that if I'm choosing my right body measurements then the pattern knows best which measurement goes with which finished size; i.e how oversized the fit is or not. I find it difficult to read finished measurements and for them to have much meaning to me when you can't see them in real fabric.


France with my mum and grandmother, don't judge my double denim!

Beautiful Iford Manor with David


 

Patterns: Kochi Jacket from Papercut and Artist's Smock from Sew Different.

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