Downtown Jacket of Randomness

When you love a Boden jacket but don't want to pay £160 and can pick your own patches....

I'm playing copy cat again today. This project came about after relentlessly being advertised this utility jacket:

I do love a stripe. I do love a jazzy little applique. I did not love the price tag. (No shade on Boden or buyers of such jacket, but you know us sewists love a challenge don't we.)

Right off the starting blocks I had already seen some really lovely soft stripe denim on Jenny Stitches which was an almost exact match.  

Pattern-wise I did deliberate on this for some time and considered the Helen's Closet Spindrift, Pattern Emporium Smitten and then the one I went for, Pattern Emporium Downtown Jacket. 
 

I picked the Downtown Jacket as the button placket was more of an exact match, together with the patch pockets it was a nice casual vibe. Plus, Pattern Emporium tends to fit out of the packet and I didn't fancy much fitting and faffing.  

The jacket comes in a Regular and Roomy fit - I went regular as I didn't want it to entirely swamp me as it is boxy enough as it is. This was my usual 16/18 in their patterns. 

It was a really satisfying sew - no darts, a back seam and an inside yoke gives a great little detail. I used the cutest puffin fabric for my yoke to match my seaside feel. And of course a The Cosy Club Handmade seagull label. 

I struggled a bit with the collar attachment on this as I am not used to the kind that doesn't overlap the button placket. There is a bit of hand stitching going on in those 90 degree corners to keep in down. This was not the pattern's fault - entirely my own as I hadn't looked at the instructions at all at this point and had got carried away. 

Modifications to the pattern were made - simply that I didn't add the cuffs. When I tried this on without the cuffs for fit, I really liked the bracelet length as it was more 'summery' and light to me. So I just bound the sleeve hems in the same denim. A slightly different take on a bog standard denim jacket. 

The best bit.....

Googly eyes baby!

Picking out patches was probably my favourite part of this and I went wild in the aisles with Petra Bose. I replicated the original Boden jacket placement to some extent but after forgoing some ric rac on the collar chose to put the ol' classic swifts on there. 

Here is a closer look at my patches above. The blackbird is especially cute. I have a blackbird tattoo on my arm aswell so he has a nice companion for when I wear this. I have not yet worn this as it has been too hot and humid but I'm sure it will have its day.   

There we have it - the power of sewing to make something you can't find elsewhere and a new pattern to try out. 

 Wishing everyone well and thank you for stopping by - feel free to comment and come and say hello on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin too xxx