Refashioned Leather Jacket

Sometimes I shop at the second hand store for clothes to harvest the fabric. This red leather shirt is the perfect example.  

I picked up this oversized shirt a couple of years ago thinking that I would use it in a bag but then I saw this jacket over at Communing with Fabric and my creative juices started thinking that I need to switch up my plans. The pattern I used for this project was the same that Shams used, Burda 7183, I just omitted the zipper.

Burda 7183 will go down as a TNT pattern. I cut a size 14 and there were no issues with fit. Although the pattern calls for knit fabrics, it worked out fine in the leather as well. My biggest challenge was how making the pattern pieces fit. 

I was working with a size XS leather shirt from Danier Leather which meant that I had to do a lot of seam ripping work in order to utilize all the fabric that I needed. And we're talking down to the millimetre!  

It was worth it, as I was able to squeak out just enough to create the jacket I wanted. Thank goodness for eighties oversized styles.

This is how it turned out. I love it. It would be a nice little topper for the late summer / early fall. Shams finished her jacket with fold over elastic and I did consider this option because it looked so good on her jacket. I changed my mind because I couldn't find a matching colour nor one that I thought looked suitable. So I decided to leave the edges raw.

Now the question remains, what to do with the left over pieces?  

The Stats:

Fabric:   1 - XS leather shirt

Pattern:  Burda 7183

Needle:  1 leather

Additional Tools & Supplies:  Sewing machine, thread, walking foot, seam ripper, scissors, threat clippers, tweezers, cutting table, paper clips, and some background noise from the television.

Happy Sewing!