Burgundy Suede Jacket

Last winter, I started creating a suede jacket using a soft garment grade sheepskin I’d gotten from Tandy Leather Factory.  It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated, but I’ve finally completed it in time for fall!

Materials needed:

Scissors, lining material, garment grade sheepskin (multiple skins), coat hooks (6), buttons (8), needles, and awl

Thread (3-4 spools), sewing machine with leather needles, clips, tape measure, marker, ruler, newspaper (optional, not pictured), slide adjuster, pins

I created my own rough pattern with newspaper and used a well fitting jacket I already owned to help me estimate the size of the pieces I designed. I traced the pieces onto the back of the sheepskin and cut them out.  I then traced the non-decorative pieces of the jacket onto a lightweight material that I would later assemble for the jacket’s lining.

Here are the main shapes and pieces I created:

Back of jacket:

Front of Jacket:

Miscellaneous:

A- Three belt pieces

B-   Inside flap

C-  Decorative strips for front

D-  Shoulder pieces

E-   Collar

F-   Belt loops

Arms:

I began stitching together the pieces of suede, starting with the back center of the jacket.  At each seam, I also folded the edges down on the underside and stitched them down, as shown below.

Next, I stitched on the shoulder pieces (D) and pieces G and H on the front.  I tried on the jacket and made a few adjustments to tailor the jacket more for my figure.  Then I stitched on the arms.  So far, the jacket looked like this:

The next part was the front center of the jacket- this is the hardest part.  I knew my machine wouldn’t be able to stitch through four layers of suede, so I had to be strategic about when and how I stitched each layer in place.  The center pieces of suede (I) were designed to be folded in half and stitched onto both the front and back of the jacket.

I started with the right side.  First, I stitched piece I onto the back of the jacket, leaving a little over an inch of excess material at the edge.  It can be trimmed down later after the lining is stitched on.  I determined where the fold was going to be and then aligned pieces C with the fold.  The buttons will later be stitched to the other end of pieces C.

Then, I folded the material for piece I in half and stitched down the suede within a few millimeters to create a distinct edge. 

I stitched down the other end of piece I to the front of the jacket, as shown below.  The excess inch or so of space I'd left at the edge allows the piece underneath to be folded out of the way while stitching.  Then I prepared the left hand side to match the right hand side.

I also created an additional flap of material (B) for the left hand interior of the jacket.  Since the jacket fastens with hooks, this piece is both aesthetic and functional, as it prevents gaps and keeps cold air from getting inside the jacket.  The flap, shown below, has an elongated edge for stitching it underneath piece H before attaching piece I.

After pieces I were stitched in place, I attached pieces K to align at the bottom.

The rest of the steps are mainly aesthetic.  I trimmed pieces C to my desired length on the ends and stitched them down before hand sewing the buttons at the end.  (I had to use an awl to help make the holes due to the thickness of the layers of suede.)  I also stitched the coat hooks along the inside of the jacket so it could be fastened.  I created a collar with pieces E, but waited to stitch it to the jacket until I was ready to attach the lining.

The jacket wasn’t quite as symmetrical as I’d hoped, so I made a belt (pieces A stitched together, folded in half, and stitched down) and belt loops (pieces F folded in half and stitched down) which nicely covered the imperfections.  I used a slide adjuster as a fastener for the belt.

I stitched together all the pieces of the lining, which made a thin shell the size and shape of my jacket.  I then stitched the lining to the inside of the jacket, starting along the flaps I had left at the front center.  At the top, I attached the lining inside the collar while I stitched on the collar.  The arms were a little longer than needed, so I folded the suede under, stitched in the lining, and added multiple rows of stitching to strengthen the job.  At the bottom of the jacket, I cut a few strips of suede to stitch to the inside of the jacket with the lining attached in between.

This is the finished garment!  It's my first attempt at a jacket and it fits pretty well.  The material is amazingly soft yet sturdy and has that new leather smell.

Viking Six Panel Hat

To stave off the cold, I’ve created a Viking six panel hat created out of a deep burgundy garment sheepskin with rabbit fur trim.  It’s lined with matching burgundy linen for extra warmth.  The basic six panel hat and lining are pretty easy to make; the fur trim took up the most time and effort.

Materials used include: Garment sheepskin, linen, rabbit fur, and thread to match the sheepskin.  While I went with natural materials, you could easily substitute other fabrics or faux fur if you wanted.

Additional materials include: Sewing machine with leather needle, scissors, measuring tape, sharp knife, marker, needles, thread to match the fur, small clips, white charcoal pencil, ruler, pencil, pen, ruler, and straight pins.

First, I created a pattern for the six panels that will be connected to make the hat.  For scale, every four squares is equal to one inch.  The hat ended up with a circumference of 22 inches, so you may want to adjust the pattern or the seam allowance depending on your desired circumference.

I traced the pattern onto the linen six times with the charcoal pencil and then cut out the panels.

I repeated the process with the sheepskin, marking the ‘leather’ side with a marker since I want the suede side to show on the finished product.

Next, I stitched one edge of the lambskin panels together as shown, with the suede sides touching in the middle.  I used clips since pinning leather isn’t desirable. 

This shows the seam allowance I used.   Next I attached the other end to the next panel and repeated until all six panels were stitched together.

I followed the same steps for the linen, except I was able to use pins instead of clips.  If you are unsure about the sizing of the hat, you may want to do the linen section before the sheepskin one.  Linen is much more forgiving to fix (and cheaper to scrap if you need to start over.)

After the six panels were stitched together, I folded the seams over and stitched them down.  This will help strengthen the hat and allow it to lay nicely.

I wasn’t able to stitch all the way to the center of the hat using the sewing machine, so I flipped the hat to the suede side and finished stitching by hand.

I measured and cut a strip of linen approximately 3.75 inches by 24 inches (circumference of the hat plus an extra inch on each end) to use for the backing of the fur trim.  You could also sew the fur directly onto the hat instead, but the rabbit skin is delicate and I wanted a little additional strength and reinforcement.

I cut two matching strips of rabbit fur.  They were just barely long enough for my hat so you will want to measure and select your fur accordingly.  It’s also important to make sure that the color and direction of the fur on the pieces that you use matches.  Alternatively, you could use another type of animal with a larger pelt to avoid using multiple pieces.  I used a sharp knife to cut the rabbit skin- you don’t want to use scissors because you will cut the fur, too.  You just want to very carefully cut the layer of skin apart.

To attach the two strips of fur, I placed them so the fur sides were touching and stitched the ends together.  Then I stitched the fur to the linen strip by hand (back of strip shown to demonstrate position of stitching.)  I used thread that was similar in color to the rabbit fur for any stitching that would actually go through the rabbit skin.

At this point, there were three pieces to the hat- the outer suede part of the hat, the linen lining, and the fur trim attached to a strip of linen.

The lining should be turned so that it fits inside the suede hat so that the seams aren’t showing.  The linen strip has one edge that overlaps with the fur and one end that is just linen.  I fit the end that is just linen between the suede hat and the linen lining (fur side down) and stitched it as shown. 

This way, the machine stitching attaches all three pieces but doesn’t actually go through the rabbit fur itself.

Lastly, I turned up the fur trim to the desired length and hand stitched the fur to the suede hat.  (Just a few small stitches per panel held it in place.)  The back of the hat where the two ends of the rabbit fur met required more stitching.

This is the finished hat.