Looks Like a Leather Jacket

It looks like a leather jacket, but it isn't!  It's made from a scuba knit that I bought at Walmart.  This relatively new fabric is a heavy knit, something like a lightweight neoprene in weight and drape, hence the name scuba knit.  Compared to leather, this fabric is quite a bit cheaper and has a nice stretch to it.  It's likely not as durable as leather and I certainly wouldn't choose to wear it as personal protection on a motorcycle!

I started with Kwik Sew 3764.  There's two versions of this jacket, one with all the fancy zippers and features and a more stripped down version.  I made the fancier one.

In addition to the the asymmetric zippered front, the jacket features zippered pockets.  The zippers are exposed and part of the look, so I used shiny brass zippers to extenuate them.  Lining up a bunch of black fabric was a bit of a challenge.  I found that adding extra light at the ironing board was very helpful.

 The sleeves also have zippered gaskets at the bottom.This is the first time I've tried this technique.  It's easier than it looks.  The fabric on the inside is a separate piece.

The jacket also has epaulets.  These are not sewn into the neck seam, but are sewn on separately afterwards.  With many layers of heavy fabric, even my sewing machine was finding it tough going.  I ended up sewing them on by hand.  I needed to get out the really big needles, the ones for sewing sails.

Here's the finished project.  It's a nice addition to my look.

Come back next week for a new project!