Time to finish the denim jacket – and about time you may say!

I have added some stitching to both fronts, along with the front yokes. The stitching on the yokes is quite muted; I had drawn a design – a sort of clamshell, and used a perle thread to stitch, but it does not show up as well as I hoped. I thought that the very pale blue denim of my jacket would work, but the thread colour is too close in tone. I could not bear to take it out and stitch again, so, it stays.

The right and left fronts have narrow panels, breast pockets, and 2 side welt pockets, so I needed to decide how I was to proceed with these.

Again, I just drew some shapes onto one panel of each front, and some lines on the centre front panels, and then stitched them. I used a thread that contrasts better with the pale blue – an orange/bronze variegated floss. The pen marks disappeared easily with the hot iron.

The side panels needed a bit of thought. Some years ago I bought a piece of Japanese fabric (well, printed in Japan) that has a variety of fans as part of the design. I cut two of these out, and finagled with the placement, and then stitched these down using a zigzag stitch with the sewing machine. I have added a fabric fan shape to the back, and I think this links the front and back together quite well.

I have continued the stitching pattern into both chest pockets, it was not as difficult as I initially thought it would be – forgot this photo though.

Some more stitching beside the welt pockets. I did wonder if a fan shape would suit, but I decided not – too fiddly around the thick denim seams, and I could foresee some tricky machine movements. This little drawn motif suits well I think.

I am undecided what to do with the sleeves; I will ponder some more. But I have added some flower shapes cut from some scrap scarf fabric, to the sleeve cuffs. They suit nicely I think.