Hack a Sweater Pattern into a Quilted Jacket | Style Revive Season 3, Episode 3
|Sponsored| Quilted jackets are all over the runways this season, and they are a fun project to try your hand at quilting and using up scraps. These jackets can be made by cutting up an existing quilt to upcycle or using a jacket pattern with blocks to create the effect yourself. In this episode of Style Revive, I reimagine my Geodesic Sweatshirt pattern by Blueprints for Sewing and hack it into a jacket.
Watch below to see how I hacked the pattern and planned out my jacket!
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About the Pattern: Geodesic Sweatshirt
The pattern perfectly reflects a quilt by having multiple triangle blocks to create the front and back, so a little cutting and imagination can transform your scraps and cut out pattern into a new jacket with pizazz!
I love this sweatshirt pattern! It has a super comfortable fit and the panels make it fun to combine different colors and fabrics. For the fabric, I used eco-friendly Cloud Fleece in the colors Saffron and Navy with matching ribbing for the bands.
This pattern comes with options for a longer or shorter hemline with pockets, and your size includes one triangle piece you cut multiple times. You can cut every triangle in a different fabric or pick a couple complimentary colors. This design is fabulous for practicing color theory!
In my version I utilized complementary colors which are opposite on the color. This combination provides a high contrast between the colors and they appear brighter and more prominent. A great resource on the color wheel and combinations is the one on Canva. You can pick a color and then choose which combination you want including analogous, triadic and monochromatic.
You can apply color theory to everything you sew, or just use it as a starting place for selecting fabrics to go together.
Making a Blanket Jacket
The triangle blocks in the Geodesic Sweatshirt make it great for experimenting with fabrics and colors, but as soon as I finished my sweatshirt I had an idea to reuse this pattern as a quilted garment.
In the past I have made this style using an existing blanket/duvet, but you could also use a quilt! Then you just cut the blanket in a simple jacket or cardigan pattern.
Quilted Jacket Tutorial
I have never made a quilt before, so it was fun to experiment on a smaller scale. In the episode I finish up the front pieces of the quilted jacket, so all that is left is the back jacket, sleeves and finishings . . .
Stitch the back pieces right sides together and press the allowances.
I like to first stitch the rows together and then attach them matching up the points.
Press the middle seam allowances open.
Quilting the Jacket Fabric
Now it’s time to quilt the jacket back, just like for the front jacket pieces.
I pinned the pieced back piece to fleece and cut out with 1” allowance around.
Drop the feed dogs, attach a free motion foot and get quilting! It was so much fun again to swirl around and create a design. I have also been practicing more and more to free-motion certain patterns and designs.
Once the back is quilted, trim away the fleece allowance.
Finish the side seam allowance separately on both the front and back pieces.
Sewing the Quilted Jacket
Now it’s time to join the pieces together!
Pin the side seams right sides together.
Loving how these pieces are looking together!
Stitch the side seams. On my sweatshirt, I serged the seams together since it was knit fabric, but my jacket is made from woven quilting cotton so I stitched the seams with my regular machine.
Press the allowances open using a medium heat setting.
Before attaching the sleeves, stitch a basting row along the armhole to hold edges together.
Pin and stitch the sleeve cuff to the sleeve.
Finished allowances together and press up.
The sleeve can also be quilted in the same manner as the body pieces, but I wanted to leave the sleeves unquilted for easy layering and the ability to wear in warmer weather.
Pin the sleeve seam right sides together matching up the cuff seam.
Finish the allowances together and press to one side. I always use a pressing sleeve roll to help.
Flip the sleeves to the right side and pin the sleeve seam to the underarm point of the jacket.
Continue to pin the sleeve up to each neckline along the front and back.
Stitch together and finish the allowances together.
Finishing the Quilted Jacket
Now it’s ready for the binding!
Classic quilts are finished in various ways, but binding is always a great choice, so I wanted to bring that finished element to my quilted jacket too.
You can make your own from a matching fabric in the jacket, or like me pick up a solid color in one of the prints and get pre-pressed bias binding. I always have green on hand!
Binding on the bias works great to finish all the curves of the quilted jacket. Work your way around pinning along the hem, front openings, and neckline.
Also use binding to finish the sleeve hems.
Carefully stitch the binding to the jacket edges removing the pins as you go.
At the starting point, slightly overlap the binding to finish and trim the excess.
Jacket finished!
You can also hand sew a hook and eye along the front to slightly close the jacket.
The texture of this jacket is so nice! I actually feel quite confident to make an entire quilt—just another use for all my scrap fabrics.
I love how the colors of my fabric make this quilted jacket a bit summery for those cooler days, and since the sleeves are not fleece lined it isn’t too bulky or warm.
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Happy Sewing!
Meg
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