Until recently, a denim jacket has not featured in my wardrobe, but one is never too old for a style change! I spotted a denim jacket in my local charity shop, it felt like a good quality cotton, and in a nice muted shade of blue. It was a good fit, so that was a bonus, and it came home with me.

I had been adding stitching to my patched jeans for some time, and I wanted to try some stitching or embroidery on a jacket, but without the jacket costing a lot of money. I like the effect of the stitching on my jeans. They are my gardening/diy/decorating jeans really, but they also look rather nice when washed. There are a few different fabric patches used in the photograph of one leg below, and in the other jean leg – no photo. The jeans (in photo) are just washed – the stitched area looks very rouched, but is flat when ironed. So, these jeans have quite a bit of life left in them, and the stitching will add strength to the patches and the cotton fabric.

I drew a grid type pattern on the back panel of my jacket at an angle, and a smaller portion of the pattern on the lower part of the panel. I have stitched both of these in a sashiko style of sewing, but it is not sashiko. I have used coton a broder embroidery thread; the whole thread is used – it is a single strand, and it behaves very well. The shade is a a muted green, and I like it very much

I used a water soluble fabric with a design on to aid me with placement of the grid. There are lots of online sellers offering these designs to make repairs and patching of garments more attractive. I had two pieces with different designs on them, and my simplified change to this one worked well for me. The water soluble material dissolves easily, but needs a couple of rinses to clear properly. It is not as easy to stitch through as some of the blurb portrays it to be. Drawing on the fabric with a heat erasable pen is good, but care is needed with any graph/lines or design, and it is easier to pass the needle through to make several stitches, than it is on the printed design.

I will add more stitching over the next few forum posts, and probably more colour too.

I do like adding stitching as a decorative effect, this photo below is from on a forum post in 2022.

My blanket is now complete too. I have added  a backing of french terry fabric, it is very soft to touch now. The youngest grandchild said it was a bit scratchy, so I decided to add the backing. I did not wish to cover the lovely blanket stitch along the blanket edge; I had to fold under an edge and sew it down using the sewing machine. I think it turned out ok – even the corners – they were more tricky than I imagined.

I used some embroidery floss with a stitch to tie both together. I am hoping that these ties will escape from searching little fingers.