DIY Leopard Denim Jacket | McCall’s M8011 Pattern Hack

I’m obsessed with this jacket! When McCall’s released their patterns for Fall 2019 I knew I had the perfect fabric to make this McCall’s M8011 cropped denim jacket. The leopard print trend has been persisting for a few years now and you can find printed denim jackets in stores at every price point.

Thankfully, I find the artsy nature of this 4-color large scale print to be more striking than the cheap, small-scale, safe examples on the market. This Nanette Lepore print might have been ahead of its time when it was released in 2006, or the trend has come back in style. Either way, the print and all of my design modifications have produced a work of art that I’m excited to wear all the time!

Aside from being a fabulous design-driven make for me, I sewed this jacket to fill a gap in my wardrobe for casual clothes. I can throw this jacket on with practically anything and have a great layer for 55-70°, with a sweater if it’s cool, or under a coat when we hit frigid NYC winter temps. It will look good with any color because leopard is a neutral, but I’m especially excited to see it with orange, kelly green, and red. I want to wear it with leather pants and skirts and denims as much as I want to see it over sweater dresses. I’m also really curious to see this bold print mixed with other prints. Plaid, stripes and florals could be a great complement if the scale is right. 

Huzzah for another non-basic make in my neutral collection! Neutral, but still a little too bold to wear to Columbia’s Homecoming football game a few weeks back. Our mascot is the Lion so that would have just been cat confusion! 😀 

Pattern

• McCall’s M8001, View A
• Sewing Difficulty 3/5
  • Sewing up the basic shape of this jacket is “easy”, however finishes like top stitching and sewing buttonholes will require some practice for beginners.
  • There is a lot of slip stitching by hand along the collar, both button plackets, the waistband and the cuffs that add a bit of time to this project.
  • I found the instructions for the top of the button placket that connects to the collar to be confusing and it took some comparing to other jeans jackets that I own and seam ripping to get it right.
• Fit Difficulty 1/5
• I would make this pattern again – with more hacks!

Fabric 

• Cotton canvas print that was labeled Nanette Lepore 2006 in the selvage
• I can’t say where I bought this online a few years ago but I’m assuming it’s no longer available.
• The same print was used for this beautiful silk dress by the Nanette Lepore

Fit & Modifications

• I thought the pleated pockets on the pattern looked a bit folksy so I drafted my own. The pocket is a rectangle with a 1-inch fold stitched in at the top. The flap is the same width as the pocket with a neat point. I chose not to put buttons on the pocket flaps. 
• My fabric is loosely woven and loves to fray so I cannot rock the cut-off look from the pattern. Instead, I added a chunky waistband that finishes with a point. I didn’t measure but I made it as wide as I could with my remaining fabric and tried to make it super long so it would extend beyond the center front. As it turns out, I cut it the perfect length to hit center front!
• The cuffs on the pattern seemed a little too apologetic/functional/discrete so I decided to widen them a bit to 2 3/8″ when finished. I did this in lieu of adding any length to the sleeves for my height.
• For #sewingtall, I added about 1.5″ at the bottom of the bodice pattern for my tall body. That, plus the new waistband, means that the jacket doesn’t hit at my natural waist. The downside is that it doesn’t highlight the thinnest part of my frame but the upside is more versatility in wearing this jacket with mid-rise jeans.
• Changes for next time:
  • Add 1″ to the sleeve length
  • Taper down the size of the bodice to the waistline a bit, taking out 2″ in width

Tips for sewing denim

• I bought some nice (expensive) top stitching thread for this project but what worked better was 2 regular threads the upper needle at 3.5 stitch length (instead of my standard 2.5). Always use standard thread in the lower bobbin.
• Use the blind hem foot when edge stitching and top stitching to keep the stitching line even with the edge of the fabric
• Sewing through thick layers of fabric can cause your fabric to get stuck with the needle going in and out at the same spot. This often happens at corners and edges where the presser foot is not level. An easy fix is to fold some scrap fabric to the correct thickness or use a bit of cardboard behind your project, under the presser foot, and stitch until the presser foot is completely on top of your project and level.
• I struggled for hours and weeks trying to get my Brother CS-6000i to stitch buttonholes for the jeans buttons I’d chosen but I couldn’t get the shape right for the wide metal shaft of the button. Finally, I resorted to paying a professional at Jonathan Embroidery in NYC’s Garment District – and I’m glad I did! The buttonholes cost me $8 and each took only 7 seconds to sew by the powerful industrial machine.