A Lined Jerkin from Sew Different

I had a sudden urge to make this quick layering piece this month. The Lined Jerkin by Sew Different is a pattern in their Layer Up Collection. It's the free pattern from the set, and so I thought I'd give it a try. 

I had a remnant of black and white wool blend in my stash, which I picked up at a thrift store ages ago. I'd always wondered what I could make of this small piece, which had one small hole in a white section of the print. This pattern fit onto my 1 m. piece easily, although I did have to mend the hole first as it was pretty much in the middle of the back pattern piece. But that was fairly easy. 

Mend: I took a matching section from the cutaway scraps and placed it underneath. Then I stitched over it with matching thread (by hand) to first secure it down, then tried to follow the weave to attach both pieces together. I then trimmed the inside piece so it wasn't too bulky. You really can't tell once you are more than a few inches from the fabric. Then I went ahead with construction.

Inside patch

 

Outside after mending

Making it was easy - it's a boxy layer to throw on over a tee or dress, with a lining to make it easy to get on and off. It's essentially the same piece but with a deeper neckline on the front piece. They're attached and then the lining sewn in at the neckline, the armholes edges turned under and hand-stitched, and the outer fabric encloses the lining at the hem. I did lengthen it by one inch but might remove that...haven't decided yet!

It's quite cute and I like it in this fabric. I think if I made it again, I would narrow the front piece by an inch at centre front just to suit me better. But I think it's a fun idea that will add some variety to plainer underlayers. And it was a quick make that allowed me to finally use this fabric!