
Hello Sewcialists! When Charlotte approached me to write a post for Denim Month–after my knees stopped knocking–I was very excited!
Denim is pretty much my daily wardrobe. I tend to be a bit of a bull in a china shop, plowing through daily activities so I can get to the fun stuff: sewing. So I require sturdiness and ease in laundering from my clothes.
We recently acquired a puppy named Vinnie, through no fault of my own. Vinnie and I go on several walks a day. I wanted a jacket with ease of movement. But since we are out in the boondocks, it needed to be lined because it’s almost always windy.
When Closet Case Patterns released the Sienna Maker Jacket I was bogged down in holiday sewing, so I put this at the top of my “to sew” list after the first of the year.
Drafting a lining for an unlined jacket is actually not very complicated. I have done this before using information gleaned from an old Sewing With Nancy episode and a Threads magazine online article.
After picking some Cone Mills denim for the outer jacket and Robert Kaufman Mammoth Flannel for the lining, I was ready to make a perfectly useful and wearable jacket.

When sewing with denim, I like to serge the edges to finish them because the twill weave of denim wants to fray. My denim garments get a lot of wear and I’m not careful with them. Serging helps avoid fraying and strings dangling inside a garment. It is less of an issue in a lined garment since no edges are exposed, but I opted for “better safe than sorry.” If you don’t have a serger or overlocker, you can flat-fell the seams or finish them on a conventional machine.

Because I prefer to fuse interfacing to the sides that won’t show, I trim the lapel interfacing on the roll line. This triangle of interfacing is fused to the front of the jacket while the rest of the interfacing is applied to the lapel facing. Facings, of course, are in the fabric of the outer shell rather than lining.

Usually with a bagged lining, the lining and outer shell are only attached at the hems and where the facing and outer jacket are joined. With the Sienna Maker Jacket, I ended up deciding to treat the two layers as one for the belt vent facing. The left image shows the marking for the placement on the outside and the finished vent on the right.

One side seam of the lining is merely basted, then opened up to pull the shell through this opening to hem the sleeves.

The only “tricky” part of lining a jacket is hemming the sleeves, at least for me. I got the first sleeve right on the first try. But on the second sleeve, I kept doubting and getting confused. I pulled the sleeve right side out and pinned it three times before sewing. I think that’s normal…or at least I hope so!

Thank goodness for easy-care denim! On this jacket’s first outing, our rambunctious pup got muddy footprints on the front. But it cleaned up fine!

I’m Liz, @elruuska, and you can find me on Instagram where I share my sewing, knitting, and family adventures.
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing your project.
Thank you so much, Nancy! It was a very fun project!
Lovely jacket, and the colors of the lining and shell are great together! Also – that is one cute puppy!
Thank you! He was a bit rambunctious that day! Apparently snow doesn’t bother him.
Beautiful jacket! I love how the lining compliments the main fabric.
Thank you! The coordination makes me smile every time I wear it!
Beautiful coat. (And the first time I’ve loved this color Cone denim. Perfect fabric❤pattern combination!) Sooo much useful information (& links) here. You’ve answered many questions I’ve been mulling over. I’m looking at you summer Tamarack jacket…
Oh Melody! I hope you get to a summer Tamarack soon! I would love to see what you make! That is a wonderful pattern that I hope to do someday!
wow there is some amazing work here, and I love the color too! drafting a lining for a pattern that I didn’t draft myself would sound so scary to me. love your work!
Thank you Karla! I, too, was nervous the first time I did it. But there are very good tutorials on line and a full lining makes a jacket hang better and last longer. So it is really worth it! You work off the pattern pieces from the pattern. So you aren’t actually reinventing the wheel. I encourage you to try it sometime!
I love it Liz! Such a handy jacket. I love that you make things so durable – this should last forever! Can’t wait to get sewing mine, but have to do taxes first, boo :-(. Vinnie is an adorable prop btw, love the stick he found in the last photo!!
If only I could keep him from dragging sticks into the house! Ugh! Once your taxes are done I will be watching for your version! This is such a useful jacket!
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