Have you ever had that one piece of fabric that you just “needed” to use? J&R Edwards Textiles graciously donated this stunning rose panel to me and I instantly fell in love with it! From the vibrancy of the colors to the silky feel of this woven panel, I just knew I needed to make something that I would get a ton of wear from, but also a piece that would allow the panel to steal the show.
Because it’s officially Fall y’all, shackets will be all that I’m reaching for until about mid-December. From brisk mornings walks to school, raking leaves or bouncing from the grocery store to the hockey rink, I love the convenience and comfort of layering an oversized shacket over my hoodie. I decided to use the Ramona Shacket pattern from Petite Stitchery as my base pattern to help bring my vision to life.
I knew I wanted to create a cohesive garment with color blocking that would compliment the beauty of the panel. This panel with its image of green stained glass, bronzy/copper soldering and crimson colored roses was giving me gothic romanticism vibes, so I kept my colors to simple black and red. How perfect is this color palette just in time for spooky season too!?
Constructing the Front & Back Bodices
I wanted to be able to admire the panel myself, so I decided the best placement would be one of the front bodices. I chose a black, bottom weight stretch woven for most of the shacket. This particular panel measures 10”X10”, so I needed to add some width to the panel to make it fit the pattern.
I added an extra fabric strip (a few inches wide and a little taller than the height of the panel) to the edge of the panel that would be sewn closest to the side seam to ensure that as much of the panel was front and centered as possible. I then squared up the top and bottom of the strip to be the same height as the panel. From there, I decided where I wanted the panel placed on my bodice from top to bottom and cut that pattern piece into three pieces. I proceeded to then cut my fabric pieces with these pattern pieces, then assembled them to make the left-hand side of my color blocked bodice. When making your own color block pieces, be sure to add whatever your desired seam allowance is to each edge you plan on sewing together. To keep as much of the panel as possible, I added ¼” seam allowances for my pieces. Next was just straight forward, cut the right side of the front bodice, solid black.
When I first started sewing this shacket, I was envisioning it being color blocked all black, aside from a red yoke and the panel. As I was digging through my fabrics for my red quilting cotton, I found a scrap of black rose stretch lace and I immediately got giddy! I knew it would perfectly compliment the panel as an overlay across the red yoke and tone down the scarlet color a little too. I cut out my yoke in red woven, placed it over the lace wrong sides together (my lace had a definite front textured side and flat smooth back side) and trimmed the lace to the yoke size.
I took those two pieces to my sewing machine and basted the lace to the yoke all the way around the edges to prevent it from slipping during future assembly. I then attached the yoke to the lower back bodice, I chose to make this solid black. That left me sitting with 3 garment pieces, my color-blocked front panel bodice piece, my solid front panel bodice piece and my color-blocked red lace and solid black back bodice and my next move was the sleeves.
Now, I know what you’re thinking here. Did she say she only had three pieces cut? Why yes, yes I did! See, for me, sewing shackets is a slow process. I thoroughly enjoy the slow, meticulous process associated with sewing wovens. I sew all my seams on my regular machine, then finish them off on my serger sew they don’t fray. I measure, remeasure and remeasure again to ensure accurate seam allowances and straight or bias grainlines for proper fit. I also press EVERYTHING! I like to add detailing topstitching in addition to the normal amount of topstitching required. So yes, when I sew shackets I don’t cut all my pieces at once.
Constructing the sleeves
Let’s talk about these sleeves! These are made from the same bottom weight stretch woven as the bodice, aside from the cuffs, which are a brushed poly-spandex.
The vertical red stripe down the center of the sleeve with the lace overlay was not my original intent. I was actually going to put that stripe on the front bodice opposite of the panel, but I really thought it would be too busy with the ribbons criss-crossing and really just didn’t want to take anything away from that gorgeous panel. So, that’s how we arrived at just one fancy sleeve and one solid sleeve, you know, adding complimentary interest, but not taking away from the panel!
The color-block sleeve was constructed with 4 pieces of fabric. I determined how wide I wanted the red stripe to be, which was ultimately decided by the width of my longest scrap of lace. I ended up with it being about 3 ¾” wide, so that’s how wide I cut my red woven strip. I basted my lace overlay all around the edges of my red strip.
The next thing I did was NOT cut apart my sleeve pattern piece. Instead I did a little math-ing to get the measurements for two RECTANGLES of black fabric to be sewn to either side of the red stripe. (Just to be clear, I have never made grommet flaps, so this was essentially an experimental element. I’m sure there is a tutorial or a precise method to accomplish this technique, but it is unbeknownst to me. Feel free to share the proper way of doing this with me if you know how!) I took my stripe, folded it in half and measured that width, then subtracted ¼”. (for seam allowance) From there, I drew a line vertically (parallel) with the fold line on the pattern piece at that distance (1.625”). That new line became my “folded” edge of the pattern piece.
I measured from that “fold” line to the widest part remaining on the pattern piece, jotted that down, added 4” to allow for the grommet flaps just to be safe, and cut two rectangles from my black stretch woven.
More math, hang in there. To create flaps for the grommets to lace the sleeve up I needed to know 1-how wide were the grommets and 2-how much space did I want between the two flaps to allow to red and lace to peek through. My grommets were ½”, so to create the flaps I needed to fold over the long raw edge of my black rectangles (wrong sides together, where I planned on joining it to the red stripe) at least that much. I had sewed my fabrics right sides together, stripe in the middle and black rectangles on each respective side along the long raw edges. With all three three pieces facing right sides up, while simultaneously maintaining those ½” flaps, I experimented with how close I wanted the flaps by moving them equally closer together or further apart. I ended up liking the look of a 1” flap, so I pressed it to create a crease and then sewed a straight stitch/topstitched an inch from that crease on top of the seam underneath formed from attaching the rectangles to the stripe.
So, the TLDR version: I sewed three pieces of fabric together, made some accordion folds and topstitched them in place. I found the center of my red stripe and folded along that line and matched that to the original “fold” line on the pattern and cut the sleeve. I played around with grommet spacing before installing them. I ended up using 7 on each flap, with about 4” in between each, leaving about 3” above my topmost and 3” below my lowest.
Sleeve Cuffs
The Ramona pattern does not include instructions for cuffs. My original plan was to use black ribbed knit, but like fate, I found red brushed poly-spandex in my stash. Along with that fabric, I also found a black unitard I had made myself like 2 years ago that no longer fit AND it just so happened to have bishop sleeves made from the same black rose stretch lace! Score!! I removed those cuffs from the bishop sleeves, took out all the stitching and used those cuffs as the pattern for my shacket cuffs. Instead of basting the lace to the red poly-spandex, I just tacked it down with a glue stick to prevent it from shifting while sewing. I gathered the raw edges of the shacket sleeves to the same width of my shacket cuffs and attached them together. Because there was such a substantial difference between the widths of the shacket sleeve and the cuffs, and the stretch woven so structured, it created this gorgeous bulbous look where they met!
Cut Button Placket, Collar & Collar Stay
I had toyed around with the idea of making the button plackets red and using a lace overlay, but ultimately decided it was too distracting. I actually made up a woven red and lace chest pocket to place opposite of the panel, but I also found this too busy. I thought about making the collar or the collar stay red, and it may have very well looked great, but ultimately, I decided to stick with the solid black for all those components, primarily because I didn’t want to change my thread colors.
Adding the Hood
My original idea was to use black ribbed knit for my hood for both the main and the lining, but lucky me, hiding on my shelves was a yard of black brushed poly-spandex, and I thought the smooth texture of the poly-spandex would coordinate better with the texture of the lace. Since I had
removed the lace bishop sleeves from the bodysuit, I found myself with more lace to work with, so I wondered if it was enough for an overlay for the lining of my hood? When I tell you it was just wide enough to accommodate the fullest part of the hood, I literally mean I cut off less than ¼” from both sides!
What Should Have Been a Button Placket & Tying Things Up
I had interfaced my placket as recommended in the instructions, fully intending to bite the bullet and sewn those danged buttonholes. I remembered though, that I had purchased a snap kit with about 20 assorted colors in it for all the woven dresses I make my daughter. I cheated and took the easy way out deciding on snaps, but I really couldn’t ignore my internal monologue arguing with me, telling me I would ruin this masterpiece if I went with buttons. I laid out black, copper and red snaps to see what I though looked best with the panel. Although the red snaps were more of a brighter, scarlet shade than the rose in the panel, that’s what I ended up choosing. I took a leap of faith going full send without asking anyone for input, but goodness, I think they are just perfect!
They just so happened to be a perfect match to the ribbon I ended up using to lace the sleeves. (The ribbon is removable so it doesn’t get destroyed during washing, I have black I can swap it out with too!)
So, here you have it, this stunning shacket, thoughtfully made piece by piece, all for the love of this incredible 10”x10” panel!! It ended up ONLY taking 3 days to assemble this amazing creation. I can’t think of a single thing I would have done differently. I do want to say that I have made this specific pattern before, and I am fairly confident with color-blocking and have a bit of experience with mixing different fabric bases and weights together so I was able to make this creation with minimal hiccups. (I could not in, good conscience, recommend something like this to a beginner.) What do you think? Did I give this panel the appreciation it deserves? What other ideas do you have for ways I could have showcased the beauty of this fabric! Thanks again, so so much, to J&R Edwards Textiles for your generosity!! I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to showcase this beautiful panel! I’m so fortunate as a sewist being able to apply so many skills I’ve learned from so many talented sewists over the years and if your looking to hone your skills too, be sure to check out The Sewing Hub on all the social platforms! From tips, tricks, techniques, sew-a-longs and just pure creative inspiration, they’ve got something for everyone! 'Til next time friends!!
-Kim
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