The snuggliest moto jacket that ever was

Sometimes you start a project thinking... it might be a little challenging, but it’s just gonna be another project. Then you cross your fingers and hope for the best and generally things just come together, easy peasy and you move on. ....And sooooometimes, you work on a project and at the end of it, you feel like you’re literally a whole new maker. You grew three inches taller and leveled up. That was this kind of project for me... 

When I originally ordered this Robert Kaufman, mammoth flannel I thought it I was going to make it into a standard button down flannel shirt. A bit of a nod to 90’s grunge fashion. But when it arrived it had a nicer heft to it than I remembered my own thin flannel shirts having in the 90’s. I don’t know if that’s because I wore cheap shirts or if I was mis remembering or what but, that perceived tactile difference had me rethinking. 

So I did what I do with many fabrics. I prewashed it. Folded it up nicely and put it some where visible while I continued to work on a different project. I let it ruminate and every time I looked over at it and touched it and tried to pick out a shirt pattern for it, it kept telling me that it needed to be something more than just a shirt. Pajamas?? I didn’t have enough yardage.... the Wiksten jacket? Maybe... but was that too predictable? Plus I already have one and already had other yardage marked for a second.... A cardigan? Mmmm, I have enough cardigans at the moment. 

And then while sifting through my patterns the kind of pattern I least wanted to make with a plaid fabric jumped out at me... McCalls 8121. The kind of pattern I buy because it looks amazing but rarely make because there are so many pieces and I chicken out (no offense to 🐥 ). Weeeell, as you might have guessed once I pictured the outcome in my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about it... and then of course I found the perfect zipper for it in my stash and the perfect lining fabric... and then the perfect top stitching thread (though I ended up having to buy a bunch more) it was like the universe was telling me, ‘common you got this’. So I consulted my husband, I showed him a button down shirt pattern, the Wiksten jacket pattern and M8121 and I may have let it slip that I was most attracted to the M8121. Then he very decisively said, well then do M8121, and when I told him I was concerned about pattern matching the plaid across all the seams, he said “well, isn’t that how you get better.” 😒 I mean I couldn’t really argue with that. So I made a muslin.

Yes, you heard me correctly. I made a muslin. Like a real muslin out of muslin fabric. Not even like I made the lining to quick check the fit. I even put my actual zipper in it so I had to pick it out later.... and the muslin came together without a hitch- I mean it was bare bones, just the torso outer layer, no sleeves. When I tell you I was putsing around looking for excuses to not push myself, I mean it. But all signs were pointing to just go for it, so eventually I stopped fighting it and just succumbed to the project.

Ok so before I jump into this making of, let me tell you a little bit more about the fabric. You already know it’s Robert Kaufman Mammoth flannel, and that it’s slightly thicker than 90s flannel shirt weight. But it also has the softest hand and the nicest little squish to it. I washed it on hot and put it in the dryer as per normal, and it weathered just fine. As you can see it’s in two of my favorite colors, mustard and grey, and I would note that the vertical and horizontal grey lines are slightly different widths. I actually cut my entire jacket (well the pieces that are not obviously on the bias) on the cross grain because I wanted the thicker stripes running vertical. Though I knew it would make an excellent jacket, I did think it would still need a little bit of stabilization as most fabrics do before they are turned into outerwear, so I decided to top stitch batting to underside of all the outer pattern pieces, except the back vent facings, which I interfaced- though probably could have just treated the same. The top stitching I used to attach the batting to each piece ran down either side of every mustard stripe vertically, just using the width of my walking foot as a guide. I love how it matches the mustard color almost perfectly but adds texture. Part of me thinks it might have been even better if I had chosen to do it on the grey stripes instead, who knows.

Ok, now let’s talk about the real nitty gritty of this make. The pattern matching. It was the part I was dreading the most, but of course it was also kind of a fun puzzle to solve and - I think- is the real showstopper of this jacket. As with most things, the more time you put in up front, the most easily the rest of it goes together. I numbered my muslin with the order that I was going to cut out the pieces, trying to see how many I could match, and then whatever was leftover was going to be on the bias. I started at center front. The front right was number one. Then the right extension was 2, left front was three then the two front waist bands were four and five. I won’t go through all of them, but in the end, I ended up cutting, the side panels, back bottom band (which I mirrored with a center seam), inside back vents and shoulders on the bias. They were all by necessity, but I also love the contrast.

Technique wise it was time consuming but not really difficult. I just marked the seam allowances on all my pattern pieces and then made sure to fold them back, and match them to the adjacent pattern pieces with their seam allowances folded back when deciding the placement for cutting. Then of course before finally cutting I would fold the seam allowances back down. That’s it’s, that’s the special sauce, and then when I went to sew them I just sat back and watched the magic unfold. :)

Though the pattern did have a lot of pieces, it wasn’t hard to put together at all, and I didn’t
find any glaring errors in the drafting. I did make one small change to the pattern which was to replace the welt pockets with inseam pockets. I was willing to take on the challenge of the jacket but I wasn’t quite in the mood for welt pockets. Plus, they didn’t scream moto jacket to me either. The other change I made was to skip the the sleeve zippers. I didn’t have any suitable ones in my stash and I didn’t feel like buying any when I didn’t think they served a functional or necessary purpose. That was a really easy change. Where the pattern notches in to allow for the space the zippers would take, I just continued the line straight down to the hem on both the outer and lining pieces.

Surprisingly this whole jacket came together in a couple of weekends and that was even after giving it the royal treatment. That being, for one, the muslin. I’m personally still shocked I did that, I also marked all circles with Taylor’s tacks, thread traced a bunch of my seam allowances for ease of sewing and of course top stitched on all the batting. Also because I added the batting I then had to cut it away from all of my seam allowances after sewing, and I decided to catch stitch all my seam allowances down as well. I know many of you are probably not into hand sewing, but I actually find it quite calming and enjoyable at times. It’s like cooking. I like doing it when it’s on my terms. :) generally speaking flannel is the kind of fabric that likes to stick to itself, so I didn’t want the seam allowances to bunch up on the inside. I though about adding sleeve heads and shoulder pads as well, but in the end decided that I didn’t need to because the batting already provided enough body.

The lining I chose was a fun quilting cotton I had in my stash and I think it compliments the colors of the flannel really well but the sleeves I made sure to line with something slippery. I’ve made that mistake before, and these sleeves are nice and slim, so I’m glad I remembered to do that. This jacket is gloriously easy to slip into!

I didn’t make any fit adjustments and I think it came out perfect! There was a little bit of ease in the muslin, but all the batting just sucked it up, and it feels perfect (I generally like my clothes to be fairly fitted). All In all I really sunk my teeth into this project and in the end I’m feeling so accomplished and am sooo in love with my new jacket.

Kten