This customised denim jacket is a project from my book, Colourful Fun Embroidery, and it is the perfect project for week 2 of The Happy Stitch Project!

This week’s stitch is satin stitch. Have I told you how much I love satin stitch?! I guess if you’ve seen lots of my designs then you have probably guessed! It takes a little practice, but once you get it right then there will be no stopping you I love this stitch because you can use it to cover different sized areas really easily, and it’s just so versatile.  And in my tutorial video on YouTube, you’ll be able to follow the process and learn a great technique for satin stitch.

About the customised denim jacket

This project is designed to take your time over, so it isn’t a quick one. It appears in the ‘Pick Me Up’ section of my book, where all of the projects take time to stitch but are things that you will want to keep coming back to. The great thing about this project is that you can stitch a bit and then wear it, even if you plan to add more stitching later. And even better, nobody will have a jacket exactly the same as yours! It’s so easy to do, and this denim jacket customisation will leave you wanting to customise more I’m sure!

You’ll need to do a bit of preparation before you get started with this project. All the instructions are given below, but please note that step 1 is not shown on the video. You could also take the principles of this design and customise another garment, or even make a hoop if you prefer! You’ll find this project on pages 108-111 of Colourful Fun Embroidery too.

Materials

A denim jacket

Lightweight interfacing big enough to cover the back shoulder panel of the jacket

Loose ends of thread (or a selection of your own specific colours)

An air erasable pen

An iron

Instructions

1. Wash, dry and iron your jacket. Then turn it inside out, and cut a piece of lightweight interfacing big enough to cover the back shoulder panel (I just did this by eye). Iron it onto the inside of the jacket, according to manufacturer’s instructions.

2. Turn the jacket the right way out and lay it on a flat surface. Use the air erasable pen to draw the first shape. I drew a small triangle to start. Thread a needle with 3 strands of a colour from your loose ends, and then cover the shape with satin stitch. Don’t worry if you run out of a particular colour half way through stitching a shape – just use another colour as I have done here.

3. Draw a few more shapes around the first one, and then continue to stitch with different colours to build up your design. You could even leave a few shapes unstitched in the middle so that the denim shows through in some places.

4. Although the design and stitching process for this jacket is very free, you might want to think about these tips to help:

• Keep the size of the shapes quite small, as this will help to maintain the right tension of thread as you stitch. If it is too loose, it will just look baggy rather than being neat and tidy.
• Don’t draw too many shapes in advance or the pen marks will disappear. Stick to drawing one or two at a time, drawing over the lines again as you need to.
• As you stitch, don’t leave big gaps between stitches in case you run out of the colour thread you are using. Complete a smaller colour block and switch to another colour if the shape is not covered.
• Using a thread conditioner will really help the stitching process and will also help to maintain the look of the stitching as you wear the jacket.

I decided to stitch a few small areas over the back shoulder panel on my jacket, which I will build up as I continue to work on my design. I haven’t decided whether or not to join them all up yet – that’s a decision I will make later. You could stitch one large area, working from one side of the jacket if you prefer – the beauty of this project is that you can do whatever works for you. Enjoy the freedom of the project and the time that you take to stitch it!

Watch the tutorial video here!

Share your stitching!

I can’t wait to see your satin stitches this week, so don’t forget to share them with me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or by good old email. Please just get in touch if you have any comments or questions too!

Important stuff

The customised denim jacket project is taken from Colourful Fun Embroidery © Clare Albans, 2020. All rights reserved. Published by White Owl Books. It is for personal use only and may not be reproduced without permission. Thanks!

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