DIY | boxy leather jacket

Jamie: Boxy jacket - Selfmade // Top - Asos // Jeans - Cheap Monday // Boots - H&M

Kelly: Boxy jacket - Selfmade // White Tee - Gap // Jeans - Hollister // Dr. Martens

Materials.
001_2 yards of faux leather
002_needle & thread
003_scissors

This jacket was 100% hand sewn

There's always something really rewarding when making DIY projects. Even if it saves you hours of trial and error and multiple needle pricks to just go out and buy whatever it is you're making, you still do it because being crafty is just so much more fun. That, and I've had a lot of free time to myself this past week so I wanted to challenge myself by working on the ultimate DIY: A faux leather jacket.

First problem I encountered was the fact that I know absolutely nothing about making clothes. I don't own a sewing machine and I can barely understand clothing patterns. I thought I'd find something useful on { Pinterest } or { Google } at least, but to no avail--and some where so complicated it made my head spin. So my only option was to take old tee I found in my closet during my closet cleanse and undo the seams to see how it all works. See, before that I had no idea how sleeves of a shirt looked unraveled. It's a good thing I did too because I would've started cutting out a completely wrong shape.

Once I deconstructed the shirt, the rest was quite simple: I traced the front and back portion of the tee on the faux leather, adding an extra inch on each edge for a larger fit and seam allowance. For the sleeves I measured the length of my arm and drew a shape using the sleeve taken from the tee. The rest was a matter of sewing together all the pieces inside out. Simple. Longest part really was measuring out the shape to make sure it fit alright. Faux leather isn't as elastic as other types of fabric so it was crucial to get the sizing right--I must've drawn at least 2-3 rough cuts of the front and back panels.

Cut down the middle of the front panel to create a jacket. Sew on a zipper if you like--I left mine without just to keep the minimal look. Or forego the cutting and wear it as a jumper/sweater.

Inspired by vintage cropped moto jackets
Thanks { Kelly } for the photos