Floral Denim Jacket with Faux Piping

Whaaaaat?!?! Is Shams wearing a floral?!

A year ago I made a Sandra Betzina blouse as a jacket. I have worn that jacket a number of times and I wanted to revisit this pattern and make some changes: to lengthen the hem and the sleeves, add the button closure (which I'd left off of the previous version), and to use a stretch woven for increased wearing ease. When I saw this beautiful double-sided, stretch denim on Marcy Tilton's site, I snapped it up.

When I was sewing this up over the end-of-year break, I was having some trouble pinning the darts properly so I visited my friend, Ronda Chaney, head of the fashion department at Cañada College, and she pinned them for me. She also suggested that I add slits at the hem. Thanks so much, Ronda!

Here is the full list of modifications:

• A generous FBA using a side dart.
• Lengthened the hem by several inches.
• Added side hem slits.
• Faux piping along the front edges and the sleeve hems. This is done by "favoring" or exposing the facings just slightly. Topstitching in the ditch secures the mock piping in place. (Of course, you must also sew the facings on "backwards" to expose the other side, or use a contrasting fabric.)
Constructing the faux piping.
I love the fluted collar on this pattern.

• Omitted the sleeve pleats. Rather than lengthening and tapering the main sleeve piece, I decided to draft a lantern cuff for the rectangularly shaped sleeve.
Lantern cuff. You can also see the faux piping on the cuff and the hem slit.

• Added pockets! I spent some time thinking about how to do this. In the end, I used a pocket inside a pocket. The inside pocket used the solid blue side of the denim and is much shallower than the larger outer pocket. This is perfect for my cell phone and tissues. The pockets are cut cross grain to take advantage of the wonderful selvedge.
Inner and outer pockets, before attaching. The fabric selvedge is at the top of both pockets.
Completed pocket. The outer pocket is roughly 8" by 10".

• Replaced the functional buttons with decorative buttons and snaps. The buttons that I found at Stone Mountain & Daughter were 1.5" across. I didn't want 1.5" buttonholes, so I sewed them on decoratively and added snaps.
Decorative button.

This denim was a dream to sew and very comfy to wear because it's extremely soft and stretchy. I expect to get a lot of wear from this!

Thanks to mem for the pictures!
Vogue 1385

P.S. I just saw on Sandra Betzina's Facebook page that she had surgery recently to repair pain in her neck, arm, and shoulders. It's so good to hear that she'll be in top form again soon!