I’ve had this piece of fabric in my stash that I bought years ago at IKEA with a giant crab print on it. At the time I just liked the print but had no idea what to use it for. Of course with the print being so big it had to be used in a garment with not many seams. But it remained in my closet until I had an idea.
Fast forward to a month ago when the idea finally hit me. A jacket! At first I had this idea of a sleeveless jacket to wear in the summer. I’m wearing a lot of long cardigans and kimono’s lately, but I miss pockets in a lot of them. So I decided to make one myself. With pockets. And like I said, at first without sleeves.
Because of the giant print on the fabric I had to really think about where to place my seams. And as you can see on the picture, I only had 2 crabs worth of fabric. Quit quickly I decided to put the crab on the back, this made the most sense. When I measured the print, and the area without print next to it, it became also clear that the print would exceed the side seams. And since I didn’t want to break up the print with seams I came up with the idea of a side-seamless front and back panel.
Drawing the pattern for the panel was easy. I just flared out the side seams from the armhole to the hem, enough to fit over the hips, and then aligned front and back panel. I did keep a dart in the front going from bust point to armhole and put in a flat pleat at center back to make the entire piece a bit less boxy. Next I drew the yoke and collar and was ready to puzzle the pieces onto the fabric.
Preparing the fabric was not as easy as I tough it would be. The print was not perfectly in the center of the fabric, and also not completely symmetrical. After some trial and error I aligned the front paws of the crab as the the main point of symmetry. The back pleat fitted perfectly between the paws, or did I drew it this way? After all this time I don’t know if this is just dumb luck, or I spot this in the beginning and keep in the back of my mind when drawing a pattern. But knowing myself it’s mostly dumb luck.
I decided on the length of the jacket when putting the pattern onto the fabric. I had a basic idea but wanted to see how to position the print best. This I do a lot. I just just draw a length I feel comfortable with and then put the pattern on the fabric and extent with calk or fold the pattern if I want to make it longer or shorter depending on the pattern. I can measure it out beforehand, but once you put the pattern on the fabric a lot can change.
When I traced the other pattern pieces on the fabric I noticed I had some fabric left. Enough to make sleeves. So why not? Positioning the sleeves was a bit tricky because I wanted to have some of the print still visible and not break it up too much with seams. But you can’t make a sleeve without a seam. In the end I decided on positioning the sleeves on the legs of the crab so it would seam as if the where wrapped around my arms.
Like I said in the beginning, pockets. Pockets pockets pockets. A garment isn’t complete without pockets. I’m used to guys making fun of a girls enthusiasm about dresses with pockets. But if you always wear bottoms with pockets (because sadly society thinks guys can only wear pants and shorts) you just don’t get it. We all want a place to put our hands when we’re nervous, or something more convenient to put your phone other then your bra.
And almost I made a jacket without pockets. Because I had to get rid of the side seams I also lost the most convenient place to put pockets in a jacket. But when I came to finish the stitching and put on the jacket to test I came to the happy conclusion I could put welt pockets between the crabs legs. There was a white space just at the perfect height and just big enough for the welts. Another example of dumb luck.
Number of seams I had to redo: 2
I had a lot of difficulty with my sewing machine, so I started over a lot. I think it’s time for a new one after 12 years. One that doesn’t almost destroys my fabric.
If I recreate this I will: make the cuffs in other way. They don’t sit nicely, but I threw away the scraps of fabric to fast and couldn’t cut new once.