I’m thrilled to share my new jacket with you today! It is made from this stunning Textured Woven Brocade Purple fabric from Minerva. I was gifted this fabric in exchange for a blogpost on their website.

I used Lekala patterns 2296 for this jacket. This was my first time using one of their patterns which are custom drafted for your height and measurements. I found the drafting to be great but the instructions terrible! Good thing this isn’t the first jacket that I’ve made; I managed to figure out how it went together using my own intuition. If you are wanting to make this jacket I recommend refering to the Morris Blazer sew-along. This blazer has a very similar construction to this Lekala jacket.

Special shout out to Jess from ChCh Sews. Jess prints all my PDF patterns including this one which was terribly laid out. She removed a whole bunch of gaps from my file which saved her paper and saved me money – thanks Jess you’re a superstar!

The pattern came together really quickly. It is a great simple shape which is perfect for a fabric where you don’t want to disturb the print too much. I didn’t try to print match the fabric as it doesn’t have an obvious repeat which means you don’t have to buy extra fabric.

The pattern is designed for a knit but this fabric has a lovely soft rippled texture which allowed for enough movement. I decided to leave the jacket unlined as the fabric is a lovely weight without lining and both sides of the fabric are luscious. Sometimes with metallic fabrics the underside of the fabric can have large loops or can be scratchy but it isn’t the case with this jacquard!

All the seams are finished with overlocking and I under-stitched the underside of the collar which helps the collar to sit nicely. I used my favourite microtex sewing machine needles which I use for most fine fabrics.

I have been loving playing with clashing prints and textures lately – it makes for a fun outfit and lifts my mood on grey days. I plan on wearing this jacket both casually and dressed up over dresses, with jeans, pants or skirts. I hope you like my jacket. Hopefully it inspires you to try a bold print or statement fabric to wear as an everyday garment.

Dress for the theatre of your life! That’s why we sew right?!