DIY Tutorial: Patched Denim Jacket

I Dreamed It…

A few weeks ago I woke up and thought to myself, ‘I really want a denim jacket with patches all over it’. Maybe I dreamed about one or something but that morning, I lay in bed googling images of denim jackets with patches all over the back and later on I made a Pinterest moodboard to try and figure out what I wanted. I pinned and pinned and eventually I had a clear idea of what I wanted. I decided I was going to patch my own jacket as a little DIY project. I’m not really sure if this counts as a tutorial, but this is how I did it and this is where you can find a link to me wearing it!

Trades

Weirdly, a week later I was talking to my friend and she had also been lusting over patched jackets and jeans, we dug through our craft boxes and like teenage girls with sticker collections, we traded some patches we both had duplicates of. For some reason I had quite a few anchor and fist patches, and she had quite a few letters and number patches. We both happily traded some of our extras to get a little more verity! I can’t wait to see what she does with hers!

The Jacket

Once I had a good selection of vintage (and vintage style) patches, I set about looking for a great denim jacket. I didn’t want to spend a lot, as there is no point buying a designer jacket to customise, but I also didn’t want to buy one which was so cheap that I was unhappy with the cut and colour of it. I always go to Next for good quality basics, they tend to offer great quality clothing at affordable prices. I really liked the shape of this jacket and the colour of the denim. It was an easy decision!

Tack

I finally had a jacket and patches, so I got out my needle and thread, and opened up my Pinterest moodboard and I started to place my patches on the jacket and playing around with options. I decided I didn’t want any patches on the front, instead I wanted a big teddy bear in the middle of the back and a few others scattered around it. I loosely tacked on the patches in a neutral coloured thread and then once I had tried on the jacket and decided I was happy with the placement I sewed them on securely. I’m sure it would have been much quicker and easier to sew them on with a machine, but I’m an old fashioned kind of gal who loves to hand sew.

Sew Cool

All my patches are iron-on patches, but I wanted to tack them on so that I could try on the jacket and be able to move them around if I didn’t like the way they sat on my body. It is important to remember that the jacket will always sit differently flat on the table compared to when they are worn. If I tacked them on so I had the option of moving them, it is harder to move them if you iron them on. If you don’t want to tack them all on, then you can always pin them and carefully try the jacket on. Personally I would always handsew them on rather than iron them, as iron on patches can peel off after a while. If you ever want to take the patches off the clothing, it is much easier to unpick them than try and peel them off and your won’t leave yourself with ugly glue marks.

Get Yours

My denim jacket is from Next, I’m really happy with it, the price, colour and fit is great!  As for the patches, I would suggest searching on ebay or etsy, or see if you can do a trade with your crafty friends!

♥

Tutorial: In short

Step 1. Find some good vintage / vintage style patches. 

Step 2. Find a good Denim jacket

Step 3. Place the patches on the jacket to find an arrangement you like the best

Step 4. Tack or pin the patches on the jacket and try the jacket on. If the patches are on the back, ask a friend to take photos or you in the jacket, or if they are a similar size to you, ask the friend to try the jacket on for you to see how the patches look on the jacket. 

Step 5. If you are not happy with the way they patches look on the jacket, take the tack stitches out and try the patches in different places. If you are happy, handstitch the patches on with small neat stitches.

This is my final arrangement! See me wearing it here!

What do you think of my patched denim jacket?