FREE Knit Jacket 'Pattern'

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When shopping - I 'flit' through women's wear for ideas.  On a recent trip, I sketched this from a simple little draped jacket I saw that my mind immediately pictured created out of one of the 3 lovely rayon/Lycra knit prints currently (March 09) for sale on my website: 

  I noted that the front hung in a pointed drape at the hemline, that the collar grain was across the long piece, that it was a hand width wide, and that the front was quite wide, with a long 'scoop' at the front that the 'collar' attached to.  

Here is my jacket:

Here is the FRONT PATTERN piece I came up with:

  You can see how it swoops across the front and then angles to the front hemline.  The tape measure is there because I needed to know how long that was to draft the collar.

Here is the BACK pattern  (which, honestly), I didn't do at first - I realized I needed to cut the piece out as shown once I started sewing! 

 

WHEN I CREATE THIS JACKET AGAIN - I will also angle the back hemline at center back so that it is a hand width longer than the sides - I think this will be a very sharp silhouette - repeating the front angled hemline that occurs when it is on the body.  However, this jacket is destined for my mother's wardrobe - and she is more and more 'short' these days, so this shorter back will be just fine for her. 

Here is the COLLAR Pattern:     Note that it will end up double this 6" width, and that the length is half of the back neck length plus the center front curve length. 

Here is my CUTTING LAYOUT - which took just 1 5/8 yard (1 3/4 would be more safe) of this 60" fabric that I felt had no nap - thus I could nestle the pieces together.  If your fabric has a direction that is clear - you'd need more fabric, obviously. 

At the right end of this, I got my COLLAR cross-grain on the fabric width (well, almost).  You can see at the bottom right that there wasn't quite enough width available for the length of the pattern piece, so I got the needed additional length from that hunk you see cut out to the left of the collar pattern.  I just pieced it in at the center back....

Be sure to note that this cut COLLAR is twice the width of the Collar pattern - as it is folded and doubled on the jacket.   

Stitching up the jacket was a breeze.  Follow these steps:  Staystitch neckline edges, stabilize and stitch shoulder seams, stitch side seams, stitch sleeve seams, serge all to finish, insert sleeves, serge to finish.  I stabilized the sleeve hem and jacket hemlines with STRETCH FUSIBLE TAPE on the hem allowance - which was just small, so the tape was on the wrong side, and right along the cut edge. Next, I did a twin needle hem on the jacket hem and sleeve hems. 

Time to apply the collar - After piecing in that additional center back neckline piece to the collar, I stitched the RIGHT side of the inside of the Collar to the WRONG side of the jacket front and back neckline.  That seam allowance got pressed into the collar, and then the outer Collar covered it up, with the seam allowance of the outer collar turned under.  I topstitched it all together to finish after stitching a hem across the bottom front ends.  At the seams of the extra piece, I gathered it up to add another dimension to the collar that you can see better in this photo: 

This entire jacket could certainly be made of a woven fabric as well - but I would recommend strongly considering to cut the collar piece on the bias for nicer drape around the neck.

 Wanting to give it a bit of embellishment along this line where the collar attached to the jacket, I twisted together an aqua yarn and a metallic ribbon floss with the Spinster Tool to create a cording.  With clear monofilament thread in the needle, and regular poly thread in the bobbin, and upper tension lowered, I couched this cording down over this seamline with a zig zag stitch 3 long and just wide enough - which was 3.5.  I was careful NOT to stretch this cord as I applied it.  Here is a closeup photo of that embellishment...

  This little embellishment was just the focal point the jacket needed. 

When I make this jacket again, I'm sure I could whip it up in 2 hours or less - easily and you can too!  That quickly, you can make some for gifts - just as this will be a gift for my Mom.  She will love wearing it as she and Daddy go to the dining room for dinner at their retirement home, and nothing is better than giving a gift you made yourself!   

copyright 2009 by Londa J. Rohlfing