Creating a made to order vintage quilted jacket
I have been cleaning out closets in my house this fall in order and came upon a stack of handmade quilts given to me while my children were babies. I haven’t used them in twenty years! They are meaningful to me in many ways, but mostly because they were made either by my mother, or my mother in law, both being avid quilting guild members in their current or past lives. However, decorating my guest room with a Quiltmaker’s Gift quilt sized for a twin or full size bunk bed is no longer an option, and I just can’t see donating it either….so….
I decided to experiment to see if making a jacket out of the quilts was possible, first experimenting with a really cool baby beach blanket with batik prints in navy and cream and yellow that was made for my middle son by my mother in law. Without a pattern, I went to work. I wanted to salvage as much of the trim binding, and minimize cutting as much fabric as possible. It wrapped perfectly around my body, so I could minimize seams. I made the jacket practically reversible by using French seams at the shoulders and arms. I even used the fabric cut for the arm holes to make a quilted collar and then used some ultra suede I have as the contrast. I’m so proud of the final product, I can’t stand it! I have been wearing my quilted jacket all over the city, and I get stopped with “Cool Jacket! Where did you get it!”….
So with that, I decided to offer creating custom quilted vintage jackets through Sequin Saturday. Each jacket is a work of art that tells a story and allows the wearer to be wrapped in love. My next personal upcycled quilted jacket will be for my mom using a quilt that her friends made for her when she retired from leading her quilt guild in Florida. And then after that, I am going to venture to repurpose the Quiltmaker’s Gift quilt. My boys are both asking for college themed quilt jackets…So my new hobby for my empty nest adventure will be looking for cool quilts that I can repurpose.
Stay Tuned…
Read about my: Halloween Sequin Jacket