I cut out as many pieces of the jean jacket that I could get from that fabric,
leaving the sleeves and side panels to be knit. Then I started sewing. Got it
to this point to make sure that I liked it before really getting to the down
and dirty. Figured if it wasn’t working for me, I could abort and never tell
anyone. :-)Notice the pattern pieces for the sleeves and side panels that I didn’t have enough fabric for. I plan to knit them in a solid colour. I drew them on my knit contour/shaping device, in half-scale but simplified slightly. For the front side panel and the back-side panel, instead of two pieces, I joined them to eliminate the side seam so there would be one underarm panel on each side of the jacket. The sleeves are two-piece as well, but I made it into one, keeping the cuff opening at the back side to simulate what happens in sewn jackets. I do have camo fabric cuffs to sew on.
When I
started sewing, for some reason I did all the top-stitching with black,
thinking that the knitted pieces would be black but once I got the collar on
and was able to ‘put it on’, I changed my mind to brown being the contrast. With
all the pieces sewn together, it looked a bit different. Because the fabric is
not symmetrical, I kept picking the brown-er pieces for the outsides. 
In choosing the yarn, I wanted to emulate the thickness of fabric – it isn’t a twill bottom weight but it is a sturdy, woven fabric so I was leaning to a mercerised cotton because, WCD (wool crepe deluxe), the correct weight, might be too stretchy in stockinette?? Oh, who am I kidding? I might need the stretch!
Suddenly gung-ho to knit, I almost began knitting one of the underarm panels – it is more important structurally than the sleeve! Realized I hadn’t planned out the hem! Took another break to think it all through more carefully…
2 comments:
Love the project! I did a similar thing about 30 years ago on a little boys jacket. I quilted the fronts and knit the back and sleeves. The boys mom was embarrassed when they came to visit about a year later because it was so ragged looking, but I was thrilled, it meant he'd worn it constantly!
when I was a kid my Mom made me a green plaid jacket with dark greed rib-knit sides and sleeves - it was my favorite! You brought back sweet memories!
Post a Comment