Latest Design: Frayed Denim Jacket

My latest design was pretty time intensive. I gained a lot of new knowledge and had fun making mistakes along the way. In this post I take you through the entire journey from shopping at Fabricana to hammering in the final metal snap. I also provide you with step by steps for fraying fabric and sewing a hidden patch pocket. As usual you get tons of helpful tips for drafting and sewing.

We all love videos! We filmed the entire process of creating this frayed denim jacket. Check out our YouTube video for the full Fast Forward Edition.

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Fabric & Inspiration

All fabric, thread and snaps from Fabricana. Click on below fabric links to purchase. Please note the quilting cotton prints may no longer be available. But you could take 3-5 different fabric prints in a similar color palette to create the same vibe of this lining. Fabricana carries some really fun Ruby Star Society prints that would work beautifully! I'm really digging the Stay Gold by Melody Miller series for Ruby Star Society they are selling right now.

Project Stats

• 3.5 M of 10oz Bleached Soft-wash Denim
• 1M x 4 prints of Quilting Cotton. Series is Shimo By Debby Maddy.
• 1.5 M of Woven Fusible Interfacing
• 11 Metal snaps

• 2 Medium spools of Gutermann variegated blue jeans thread 
• 42+ Hours over the span of 5 months
• Stitched on a Janome HD-9 and a Juki DDL8300

I quite often say to my clients "talk to your fabric" or "what is the fabric telling you?". It sounds crazy but if we listen closely, the fabric will dictate how it wants to be pressed, folded, draped or manipulated. I started first with the lining. The quilting cotton prints made it easy to quilt in any formation I wanted. I really wanted to re-explore subway tile quilting but on a larger scale. We did this in the past with a Valentines Heart Shaped Bag. Initially the concept for the exterior jacket had no fraying element. Just keep it simple and let the lining shine was what I was going for. But the lining was so intricate and cool, that I had to make the exterior just as interesting. I'm sure we have all been there where a design evolves so much from initial concept. 

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Quilting Process

I have said it before, I am by no means a quilter. I just enjoy the visual of a "quilt" within a garment. The lining pattern pieces consisted of a BACK, FRONT x 2, UPPER SLEEVE x 2, LOWER SLEEVE x 2, and POCKET BAG x 4. I first mapped out which pieces I wanted the subway tiles to run vertically or horizontally. I started cutting out many many long strips of fabric. Some on grain and some cross grain (read on  below why this is important under tips). I then just started sewing strips together with no particular order. I let the fabric speak to me! I ended up creating an asymmetrical look to the tiles which I love.

Sewing up the lining of this jacket took up the majority of hours on this project. My guess is between 18-22 hrs. It involved cutting out strips, sewing strips, pressing each seam, cutting out each lining pattern piece, and securing edges. 150 strips in the end. Here are a few things I learn during this process I would love to pass an to you.

Subway Tile Quilting Tips

• ​Cut strips on grain for vertical running panels and cross grain for horizontal running panels.
• When cutting out strips use a quilting ruler and rotary blade. Makes your cuts consistent and straight. 
• Always make the quilted piece of fabric 3-4" larger than the pattern piece. This will allow you to shift around the pattern to avoid placing project seams or pivot points along any quilted seams.
• After cutting out individual pattern pieces, secure the tile seams with a basting stitch or overlock stitch all the way around each pattern piece. 

For more quilting tips check out our Quilted Heart Bag blog post. ​I couldn't resist trying on the layers of the jacket before them came together. Anyone else give in to this?

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Fraying Process

This was my first time intentionally fraying lines into a design. I made so many mistakes, but learned so much that made me wanting to make more designs with frayed seams. As I mentioned earlier, I also had no intention of creating any fabric manipulation to the denim but the lining looked so nice that the denim needed its own special treatment.

The front pocket panels and the entire back of the jacket had the vertical frayed edges. I took these steps to make it happen. I'm pretty proud of the outcome and look forward to applying this technique again.
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Step by Step Fraying Denim

1. Prewash fabric and press.
2. Cut out strips of fabric on grain. I cut out 3" strips for this jacket. NOTE: If you cut out on the cross grain, the frays will be representative of the darker color in your denim.
3. With wrong sides of the fabric facing each other, stitch cut out strips together. I used a 1/2" seam allowance (SA). The more SA the more fray you get, so feel free to play around on samples first.
4. Stitch another line right beside the previous stitch line. This step might not be necessary, but I figure with all the fraying the "SA" technically becomes weaker, so this was my way of providing more stability on these frayed seams.
5. Gently pull out the warp threads in the SA. This takes a while, be patient. 
6. Create a large enough fabric piece that is 3-5" larger that pattern piece you need to cut out.
7. Stay stitch or overlock around the raw edges of the large fabric piece you just created.
8. Throw it in the washer and dryer. This step is so important! It is what takes the frayed edges from flat to fluffy and soft.
9. Now go cut out your pattern pieces. 

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Design Elements

The quilted lining and the hand frayed edges of the denim are major design elements in this jacket. But elements such as pockets, metal snap closures, topstitching and a hanger hook are so useful. Read on about the unique approach I took to some and things I learned along the way.

Pockets
This jacket has four not so obvious pockets. Two deep in-seam pockets along the side seams and two patch style pockets at the front chest. I took more of a non traditional approach to the patch pockets. I wanted frayed vertical lines to be present in the front but not the full shoulder to hem length, and I did not want a pocket to interfere or lay on top of the frayed edges. This pocket consists of two major pattern pieces- EXTERIOR POCKET PANEL and a HIDDEN PATCH POCKET. If you want to create a hidden pocket like I did, here is a step by step.

1. Draft EXTERIOR POCKET PANEL by measuring length from top of patch pocket placement down to hem. Width you can follow your PATCH POCKET pattern piece.  Be sure to add seam allowance (SA) at the top and bottom edges.
2. With right sides of the fabric facing each other, stitch the top of EXTERIOR POCKET PANEL to the top of the HIDDEN PATCH POCKET. Press all SA's towards the interior patch pocket.
3. Under-stitch on the interior patch pocket side.
4. With wrong sides of the fabric facing each other, press top edge of pocket flat, letting the under-stitching automatically roll layers in towards the pocket.
5. Place pocket layers on FRONT JACKET lining up to pocket placement drill marks.
6. Stitch bottom edge of HIDDEN PATCH POCKET layer only to the FRONT JACKET.
7. Stitch sides of EXTERIOR POCKET PANEL down to the FRONT JACKET.

Note: If you do not wish to have frayed edges along the sides of the EXTERIOR PATCH POCKET, simply press in SA's prior to stitching down to FRONT JACKET.

Metal Snap Closures
​In my opinion, metal hardware like snaps are suited for denim over traditional buttons. I initially had darker colored snaps. But as I have learned, designs evolve and it is best to go with it. The frayed edges of the denim seams needed a lighter colored snap to balance the white of the fray.  Honestly, if there was a way to make invisible closures for this jacket that would have been my preference. I wanted the frayed edges to be the star. I could experiment with magnets, but I am afraid of how the laundering process would effect the fabric.

Tips for Installing Metal Snaps

• Test out snaps on scrap before hammering into garment.  Make sure the scrap sample represents the same number of fabric layers you will be cutting/hammering through on the garment and use the same fabric.
• Always buy 3-5 extra snaps for testing and if you mess up on the hammering. I got too excited mid way through hammering down the front opening. I ended up hammering with one piece instead of the two pieces  required for the receiving side of the snap. Therefore having to eat into a new set of snaps. A reminder to be mindful- that should be a tip on its own.

Top Stitching
Super underrated element in most garments. Top stitching makes garment seams sit flat, provides extra stability, allows layers to launder easily and looks damn good when done well. I've made this jacket in the past, and the hem was always top stitched. I proceeded to top stitch this hem as well, but took it out the same day. It interfered with the vertical lines made by the frayed edges. A lesson that you don't always need to follow traditional rules.

Hanger Hook
Hand downs the most useful element in the jacket. Hooks are not in enough jackets. I am making it my mission to put them in all designs going forward. The only issue is if I want to make this a fully reversible jacket in the future, how can I incorporate a hook? Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas please.

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Trying on the Jacket

I absolutely love the weight of this jacket. It feels heavy without being weighed down. I attribute that to the many many seams involved in the creation of it. This was also my first time (that I can recall) creating 3D with the fabric. It is not going to be my last. I already have another jacket cut in a darker denim color. The fraying I played around with vertical and horizontal lines and not lining! I will share that jacket soon.

I know we are all wondering what the jacket would look like inside out right?! So yup, I tried it on that way out of curiosity. It is nice with exception of the snaps being backwards and the hook being exposed. I think in the future I will try this design again, but with the intention of it being fully reversible. Let me know in the comments if you would wear this inside out.

If you would like to learn more about the textile manipulation and construction techniques in this post, book lessons today. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and YouTube for insider tips and inspiration.

Happy Sewing!
Filmed, photographed, written and created by Sheila Wong Studios.