Ready-to-wear jean jackets have never fit me right. Being on the pair shaped side, they are often too big in the bust and too small at the waist and then don’t button up very well. I had been wanting a well-fitted jean jacket for a long time and last fall, a friend of mine—who was just getting into sewing garments—was planning to sew the Seamwork Audrey (I know, ambitious project, right?). She asked me if I would like to do a little sew along with her via Zoom. I still had some of the free denim in my stash that I had scored when I worked at the photo studio that would be perfect. The encouragement of a friend is sometimes all I need. We met every week or so via Zoom and followed along with the Sew a Denim Jacket class that goes with this pattern.
Here are a couple pics of both our finished jackets:
It was fun to sew this with my friend Cara (via Zoom in the middle of a pandemic), but it was ALSO really cool to see how different a pattern can look when sewn with different fabrics and threads. I love the way Cara used a Pendelton-esque fabric for the yoke of her jacket and turquoise thread for the topstitching.
I recently took pics of just me (without a hoodie on), so I could really show the details.
Details
Pattern
Fabric
Free non-stretch denim from when I worked in an e-commerce photo studio. It was originally purchased by the studio to be used as a background for a product shoot, now it’s a jacket!
The buttons are from Blackbird Fabrics.
Size traced and sewn
Graded from a size 12 at the bust to a size 14 at the hip
Pattern adjustments
I actually made quite a few mods to this jacket.
- Brought in shoulders 1″
- Lengthened sleeves 1 1/2″
- Widened welt pockets 1/2″
- Added shaping by bringing in the sides about an 1″ at the waist
You can see from the photo below how I widened the welt pockets and brought in the sides. The red markings are my adjustments.
This jean jacket pattern is pretty boxy to begin with and still is even after a bit of waist shaping. I am glad I brought it in a touch and probably could have even more!
I didn’t lengthen this pattern at all, which I usually do since I am tall (5’10”), but I really wanted a jean jacket to wear with dresses, so I felt like the length was in a nice place to be able to wear it with a variety of things. Cara’s jacket is lengthened for reference. Since I wasn’t adding length, I felt like the eight buttons in the pattern image looked a bit excessive and opted for six buttons on the front instead.
Construction notes
The Seamwork Audrey and the Hampton Jean Jacket are very similar patterns, so while I mostly followed Seamwork’s Sew a Denim Jacket class videos to construct this jacket, I did refer to the Hampton Jean Jacket Sewalong in some places. I liked the way the collar was constructed on the Hampton Jean Jacket better, so I followed their tutorial instead. I also referred to the Hampton Jean Jacket sewalong to add functional front pockets. A pocket lining is needed to do that, so I just ended up using my tried and true Negroni pocket variation as a base and that worked pretty well!
Fit
So after all of those adjustments, how do I feel about the fit? Buttoned, this jacket fits pretty well around the waist, but I probably could have take a couple of inches out of the back. The only other thing I would change next time would be to move the welt pockets forward a touch. They just feel a bit too far back when I go to put my hands in them. Other than that this jacket is pretty perfect. Compared to the ready-to-wear jean jackets I have owned in the past, this is a huge improvement!
The Seamwork Audrey is a great addition to my wardrobe and I am very excited that it’s finally the right season to wear this jacket. It’s going to get a lot of wear this spring and summer!