Oh my gosh!  I made a denim jacket and best of all I am completely smitten with it!!  Before I keep gushing about my latest creation let’s start with some basics. For this jacket, I used 2.5 yards of Dark Blue Designer Waxed Denim.  I had not sewn with waxed denim previously, so I was curious to how this fabric would sew up and hold up.  Before I started, I did a bit of research on waxed denim. This resulted in my test washing a few swatches of the denim.  I ran it through the washer and dryer with a load of laundry like I would wash the finished garment. In the end, I decided I liked the unwashed swatch the best and decided that I would be dry cleaning this jacket.

The pattern I used is Butterick’s B5616 view B.  This pattern has 3/4 length sleeves, but I wanted long sleeves.  To remedy this I added 5″ in length to the bottom of the sleeve.  This made the sleeves fit my arm length.  You will want to take your personal sleeve length measurement to know how much to add.  Once it was sewn, the sleeves were too wide for my preference.  I end up taking the sleeves in, at the underarm seam, by 4″ at the cuff tapered down to nothing. This made them a bit more fitted, but not so much that I couldn’t still move around or worry about what I am wearing under it.

I love the details in this pattern. I choose to use a simple silver shank button. I wanted something with a clean look to go with the waxed denim.  I am pleased with how these buttons look.   There is also a lot of topstitching in this pattern.  Nearly every seam is topstitched.  While it is time-consuming to topstitch so much, it is well worth it.  The extra details add a lot, even though I topstitched in a coordinating thread color.

I am actually surprised by how much I like this jacket.  I have wanted a denim jacket for awhile, but have never found one that I liked enough because of fit and color.  I was skeptical about making one for the same reason. I really like the dark nearly black shade of this denim.  It makes the jacket a great compliment piece to my colorful jeans.  The only thing that I would wish I had added were pockets to the sideseams.  I kind of want to go back and add them in since that is the only seam not topstitched.

Sarah also blogs about sewing over at her blog Musings of a Seamstress.  You can also follow along her Instagram account @mae_scott_designs.