This refashion project by Portia Lawrie combines functional denim with traditional wool tartan; taking inspo from the late great Vivienne Westwood
YOU WILL NEED
■ Denim Jacket
■ Pleated Heavy Wool Skirt
■ Medium weight Fusible Interfacing optional)
■ Sewing Machine
■ Overlocker (optional)
■ Basic Sewing Kit
DECONSTRUCTION
Step one Begin by laying the jacket face down in front of you. Observe the order of construction and pinpoint the last element that would have been sewn. The aim is to unpick enough of the jacket to allow you sufficient access to replace the back section, and to do so in the reverse order in which it was originally sewn. In this case we started with button tabs first followed by hem band, then worked backwards from there.
Step two Remove the tabs and a section of the hem band, open up the side and sleeve seams, partially unpick the sleeve heads up to the shoulder seam so the whole thing can be splayed open as pictured. 01
Step three Release the lower back section by separating the yoke and yoke facing.
Step four Cut the hem band just in front of the side seams for now, and open it up a little to allow access to the side seams. 02
CUTTING THE NEW BACK SECTION
Step one Deconstruct the pleated skirt and, working with the front section only, steam press the pleats and carefully baste them closed. 03
Step two Using the lower back piece of the denim jacket as a template, cut a new pattern piece from the pleated section of your skirt; adding additional length at the bottom, equivalent to the width of the hem band + 1cm seam allowance. 04
Step three At some point your side or armhole edge will run over a folded edge from the pleating. Unpick basting to unfold any sections like this and recut in line with the template. 05
Step four Ideally there needs to be at least 1cm clearance between the final armhole seam (as it will be sewn) and any pleat folds.
Step five Finish the raw edges of the new pattern piece using an overlocker if you have one or with a zig zag stitch if you don’t.
Step six Depending on the thickness of your wool you may wish to reinforce the side seam and armscye allowances, so the fabric is closer in weight to the denim you are joining it to. 06
RECONSTRUCTION
Step one With right sides (RS) together, join the top edge of the new wool section to the yoke edge and sew together along the original stitching lines in the denim. Press seam allowance up towar
