Denim & Leather "Inside Out" Hobo Jacket

My denim and leather jacket I started two years ago. This challenge made me complete it. I cloned the pattern from an existing denim jacket. The jacket was sewn from of 15cm x 15cm denim, and leather squares, with a front zip closure, and a collar piece comprised of denim inner and leather outer.

Sewing Machine

Leather Glide Presser Foot

Leather Sewing Machine Needles

Fabric Marking Pencil

Cotton (Brown shown, but I used Blue)

Denim/Jean Buttons

Tape Measure

Sewing Ruler

Rotary Cutter

Scissors (Big and Small)

Clips

Prepare machine for sewing leather and denim jacket, with leather glide presser foot and leather needle.

NB: Welt Pocket. Take measurements on denim fabric for the welt pocket, approximately for your full hand to fit in pocket.

Use fabric pencil to mark measurements on the denim. Cut along the inside lines (bold yellow lines in picture).

Fold the cut pieces under, iron flat. Measure the size of the opening.

Cut leather according to measurements + seam allowance.

Fold leather piece in half, and iron with scissors point flat.

Stitch down, close to the fold.

Pin/Clamp inside of pocket out of the way, to sew in welt.

It helps to mark lines with the pencil, to get the position perfect of the welt when sewing.

Do the opposite pocket welt, using the same method.

When welts are complete, put inner pockets back in position, to be sewn down when facing of jacket is sewn.

When sewing the facing, ensure that inner pockets are sandwiched between the front of the jacket, and the facing.

Sew facing with two rows of stitching, top to bottom and/or bottom to top, taking care to hold inner in place.

Take measurements of inside denim collar.

Cut leather according to measurements. No seam allowance is needed on leather collar piece.

Fold denim piece seam allowance in, and clip leather piece to it, taking care to sandwich top piece of the zip between the denim and leather collar pieces and sew down.

Sew leather collar piece into position.

Prepare for sewing cuffs and buttonholes.

Measure end of sleeves for cuffs.

Cut denim and leather pieces according to cuff measurements, and sew pieces together (as in picture 4), ensuring leather piece is on front of cuff.

I found it easier to hand-sew my gathering stitches, at the end of sleeves.

Measure button, and sew buttonholes on both cuffs, on the denim side. Make a slit with seam-ripper or scissors where buttonhole is prepared.

Ease gathered sleeve into cuff. It might be necessary to release some gathers.

Sew cuffs into position on sleeves.

Prepare cuff for buttons. Mark places on cuffs where buttons should go.

If tools are on hand, attach buttons to marked positions on cuffs, ensuring they are in line with buttonholes.

Take measurements of bottom of the jacket for waistband.

Prepare waistband with denim and leather pieces, (one leather strip, and one denim strip of equal sizes), according to measurements taken.

Clip pieces of waistband together, along the bottom edge, leaving spaces between clips.

Sandwich bottom of zip between front-top edge of waistband, as shown in picture 10.

Start sewing, very slowly, at the beginning, ensuring the material and zip are in place.

Ensuring the bottom of the jacket is sandwiched between the top sections of the waistband, start sewing the along the top edge of the waistband. Ensure the bottom edge of waistband is still in place.

Starting about 6cm on zip, sew down the front of the waistband, picot at the bottom of the waistband and sew along bottom edge to the other end. Picot, and sew until 6cm onto zipper edge.