Turquoise Faux Suede Waterproof

Its England and its April. That means rain!

I knew I was going to need this so have been planning for ages and just not quite managing to get round to making this. I thought about loads of lovely and interesting patterns. In the end I needed it fast, so I opted for a self drafted jacket made simply from rectangles.

Easy peasy!

Decide the size - make it bigger than you think else it will be impossible to live in because it has no shaping. Or at least I slightly angle the sleeves. I also make them very long on purpose so I can either fold them over and make a feature of the pink satin lining or if its really cold and rainy I can hold them together similar to having a muff and keep my hands warm and dry. I have raynauds syndrome so lose the feeling and the blood supply to my fingers if my hands get cold so its good to have a way to keep them warm. Its also a dead easy way to add a bit of style to an otherwise basic design. Once upon a teenage this was my coat style of choice. I made loads of these though this is the first waterproof version.

Fabric is upholstery suede. It has a plastic backing hence its waterproof. Probably I think its meant for curtains because it has reasonably good drape. I bought an end of roll of this ages ago and have approvimately 18m for £18 so loads to play with and its just sat in the back bedroom so I should possibly make a few more things from it because despite the plastic backing it turns out quite OK to wear and not at all sweaty - so far at least. In fact less sweaty than proper waterproof fabric. My other half will also stop telling me its in the way if I can find a use for it!

I used a nice pink satin for the lining. To be honest I have no idea why I bought this lining fabric because its not at all my shade of pink but it works wonderfully with this shade of turquoise. Or I think so anyway.

The simple side seam pockets are huge to hold phones and keys with ease. They go right the way almost to the hem.

The hood is squared off similar to my other half's hangmans shirt hood.
You can read about that here:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/two-hoodies-hangmans-hoody-and-striped.html

It gives it a kind of "pixie hood" which I love.



I used one of my open ended zips for the front fastening. I have not top stitched this which means I need to be careful not to catch the lining in the zip but I do not really want to add any extra holes than needed because there is no protective cover panel to stop rain going into my sewing holes. I did not have time to add any extra bits. I think it would probably look more interesting with patch pockets or expanding army style pockets but again its extra sewing needle holes and so less waterproof. And it is waterproof because we had torrential rain this week and I have to walk quite a way from where I park to where I work and I never got wet.

To finish it off I drafted what is quite a long wide tie belt. I seem to be wearing it 50:50 with and without the belt so am undecided about that yet. I have not added belt loops yet though since needed to wear this and ran out of time because this really is an emergency "I need it now" make.

It looks a bit odd here I think because I had the belt inside in the pocket so where its a bit weird looking on the left hand side in the two pictures below ( and above) thats why. The pockets though are big enough to keep my rather large belt should I want to.

I toyed with having side-splits as well but in the end it would have taken longer to make so I just have the front split below the zip - mainly because that is where the zip ends. This fabric would work just as well for something like a bomber jacket or a short jacket but I needed this long to keep me dry in the english spring. And believe me "April Showers" really is correct right now!

Also this is specifically made to cover me and keep me dry for work. I am unlikely to want to wear this at the weekend. Before I can make a play version though, I need to sort out making FBAs on my tops after my disaster jacket and this is actually now getting in the way of things because I am scared to make for example shirts which I actually need and have the fabric for as well as patterns just incase they do not fit, so I have to get my head together and learn to do this next.

Because of it being plastic backed I did not press hence if you look at the picture the bagged out hems area bit puffy. Hopefully over time this will sort of wear in. I am not too worried about this.

It was a risk using this fabric let alone the self drafted design but it has turned out really well and only took a few hours to make. Its a very simple design but I reckon just as wearable as lots of more difficult patterns. I have actually been wearing this to work and getting away with it. Its different but not too OTT and I am working in a corporate officey environment so its great to be able to wear something I actually like. Mostly even if I made them myself I am not into my work clothing. Its just too formal but I have no choice. I think if it was not in this suede fabric though the same design may not be so wearable for work. As it is I do not think anyone realises I made this myself.  It was my January aim to make a work wardobe and I am slowly getting there with handleable clothing for work.

 In case you were wondering I made the trousers here:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/navy-blue-work-trousers-from-burda-7122.html

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Bracken

66: Finishing the UFOs - waterproof jacket

I started this jacket for my partner back in June with the idea we were going to take it on a day trip at the start of July. When it came to our day trip it was very hot and there was no sign of rain which was good because I never finished making this.

The fabric is a ripstop waterproof, probably nylon. I do not remember to be honest. I bought it from Ebay so was relatively cheap.  I think around £5 but cannot remember exactly. I have loads more left for a second jacket.

The jacket is based loosely on a hoody pattern:

 The lining is navy mesh - I will add a picture later since forgot to take but its just a nylon mesh fabric meant for sportswear linings.

I added pocket flaps to keep the rain out and closures with blue velcro:

 The velcro is from Amazon and was £7 for 25m.
I found it very easy to sew the fluffy side but really difficult to sew the gripper bit. The needle just refused to sew at all and my machine said it was too thick fabric so I swapped to a leather needle. It sewed better with this but still kept missing stitches. I eventually got it all sewed on but it was very difficult and frustrating.

 I added a piece under and over the zip to hopefully keep the rain out and added extra fabric around the hood edge to hold a cord.

This made the hood large which apparently is like "Assassins Creed - Almost" according to my other half! He likes it anyway.

 The front has velcro at the bottom which I have to say looks far from professional here:

This is the main problem area because I did ask him if he wanted the pull cord to have eyelets (buttonholes) but he said no so when it is finally finished the cord now needs stoppers since the two ends do not meet up when the bottom velcro is closed. One end of the cord is on the inside and the other outside. Hopefuly that makes sense.

I made a mistake with one pocket shown here. I had to decide which would show least the top or bottom so I have a pucker at the top where it does not quite fit. I sewed the pocket flap ends down so hopefully they keep the water out and my partner's phone, keys etc safe with the velcro fastenings. He has a habit of losing phones in the sea. I know I never take my phone when paddling but he does!

I decided better to live with this pucker rather than unpick since if I unpick there will then be lots of tiny holes and it IS meant to be waterproof. Other half does not seem to even see it despite my pointing it out to him!

To make the sleeves long enough I added wristbands with an adjuster bit based on a  RTW jacket I already own.

 The wrists are closed with velcro since my other half did not want elastic wrists.

This jacket took me well outside my comfort zone and is I think, if I am honest, well above my skill level hence the problem areas such as the pocket flap being puckered. I needed to be quite inventive since the pattern originally has no lining and is meant to be a reasonably fitted hoody rather than a waterproof jacket. I had to invent extra bits to try and make the water remain outside in a downpour. Having said that though it is a good prototype and in interesting experiment. I also had no actual pattern pieces for bits like the front flaps that go under and over the zips, the cuffs, pocket flaps and hood cord channel or the hem band. All sound reasonably easy to add but when I came to do this getting them perfect was very difficult.

 We have yet to see how successful this jacket will be. I will let you know once its been seriously tested. We are off to Cornwall for a few days soon so that should show if it is actually waterproof. I suspect everywhere I had to restitch due to skipped stitches it is going to leak. We also never glued any of the seams so in a heavy downpour I think the water will just come in. We will see. If it turns out reasonably successful I will make a second jacket What I really need is some kind of, preferably mens, waterproof activity jacket but I have not been able to find a pattern anywhere so if anyone reading this knows of one please comment or email me and let me know.

Here are some pictures of close-ups of the lining and zip etc :

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon,

Bracken