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Billie is the jacket you grab without thinking when you’re out and about.
But grabbing without thinking doesn’t mean it has no character.
So here’s Billie, in Berry faux leather and with its bling zipper!
The pattern
It’s one of the few outerwear patterns by pm-patterns.
It’s not new. I had tested it way back in 2018. At that time, I had used both sides of tweed to play with contrast on the sleeves and shoulder yokes.
Besides its traditional jacket look, it also offers a moto jacket option. Sizes range from FR 34 to 52 and the PDF is not layered.
Princess seams slim the silhouette and shoulder yokes and two piece sleeves make the pattern perfect for color-blocking.
Center back is slightly higher for a more modern look.
This jakcet is also fully lined (you’ll bag the lining). Karine’s instructions are very thorough and you’ll achive a perfect jacket following them blindly.
So, let’s see now what I sewed.
Faux leather and Disco zipper
First step: checking the size. I was all over the board, from 38 to 44. I wasn’t in the mood for grading so I chose a size 42.
The fabric is soft faux leather*. The color is amazing: it’s called Berry and it has a lovely metallic shine. There are other colors available that would go well on soft boho bags.
Finding the zipper was tricky, but I fell in love with the Disco zipper range at Ma Petite Mercerie’s. Since the jacket was shiny, I wanted a shiny zipper! Choosing the right color was impossible online so I chose “copper” and I think it pairs well. The zipper is quite expensive (45 cm for about 9 euros), but I loved it so much…Who said that sewing is for the cheapie?!?
Look at it 😉
When I got my parcel from England, the faux leather was slightly folded (+ it came with custom taxes that time….shoot…). I pressed it carefully from the wrong side at low temperature and used a clapper where wrinkles were persistant.
Cutting with a rotary cutter made the task quicker.
Use clips instead of pins and remember that you just have one go: unpicking is not an option!
A size 100 denim needle was enough for stitching and topstitching.
Seam allowances should have been pressed open, but the faux leather didn’t handle it well. I opted to topstitch all of my seams, but the side seams.
Tip: I lengthened my stitch length to 5 (the maximum on my Janome 6700P) and I lowered the pressure foot’s pressure from 3 to barely 2.
I couldn’t crease the hem so I stiched in the ditch at the bottom of each seam crossing.
I had noticed that my first Billie jacket was a bit wide at the shoulders and I had had some regrets not putting shoulder pads then. So Billie #2 has shoulder pads and I feel it gives more structure and shape to the jacket. My pads are from A et A Patrons‘. They are made by hand and the felt and batting are carefully stacked.
I’m really happy with this Billie jacket. When I had finished the first one back in 2018, I had already a vision for a leather jakcte and…here it is!
Berry is a great color for green eyes and amethyst/berry/purple are my colors of choice.
I’m sure I’ll be wearing this jacket a lot once days grow warmer.
And you’ll notice a new garment worn underneath this jacket…that you can see here!