top of page
Writer's pictureSharon Prigan

That Designer Student

She had another idea 2 weeks ago. Its my own fault, I introduced her to charity stores and now she can't purchase new clothing anymore. Its as though all those ideas that have been bubbling inside of her for years are coming out now, and she has where, and how, to channel them.


She purchased a lined button down classic men's jacket. Removed the sleeves and decided to make 4 pockets using fabric from them. She found a cotton ribbon strip with a red thread running through, so she decided to use red thread to complement that.


Sleeves
Sleeves


She wanted the ribbon to sit on the top edge of the pocket. She has very specific ideas. I advise technically, and then watch her doing it. She measured a seam allowance from the top down and then attached the cotton strip.


Attaching the ribbon
Attaching the ribbon


After that she sewed the top section of the pocket to the lining very carefully so as not to catch the decorative strip in the seam. I always make pockets with linings. The finish is neater and one doesn't have to use a template or fiddle with a lot of pins to get clean straight edges.


Joiing pocket and lining
Joining pocket and lining


Nice and neat.


Ribbon at the top
Ribbon at the top


Many pins to hold the pocket and lining together


Pinning pieces
Pinning pieces


Leaving a "window" for flipping at the bottom.


Pockets to be flipped
Pockets to be flipped


After turning inside out, 4 pockets with a decorative strip on top. They still have to be ironed before being attached to the jacket.


4 pockets
4 pockets


Positioning the 4 pockets


POsitioning the pockets
Positioning the pockets


After stitching them down this is what the jacket looked like. Now for the sleeves.


Trying on the jacket
Trying on the jacket


I always share upcycled fabrics from the week with students, and at the beginning of the lesson she had chosen 2 legs from a pair of cargo pants which I had suggested that she use to create a tote bag.


I keep doing that, envisioning the end product for her and she keeps surprising me. She took out the legs and said, no bag this time, they are going to become the sleeves.



Sleeves from cargo pants
Sleeves from cargo pants


We had to maneuver the pieces around a bit in order to be able to draft 2 sleeves from them, sized according to the armholes of the jacket, but we managed.



Sleeves with pockets
Sleeves with pockets


Pinning the sleeve in place to get a comfortable positioning of the pockets


Setting in the sleeve
Setting in the sleeve


And then I found a t shirt from the remnants pile which she could use to make cuffs. She wanted something comfortable and did not want to make the sleeves any narrower or do the fiddly work of constructing a buttoned shirt cuff, so a piece of t shirt fabric ws the perfect solution.


t shirt cuffs
t shirt cuffs


Her finished, avant garde one of a kind original jacket.


Her original jacket
Her original jacket


I wonder what she will come up with next week.

1,247 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page