I sew a lot. I sew clothes for my business and for myself, I sew things for Sam, and I’ve recently taken up quilting, too! All this sewing results in a lot of textile waste. While sewing your own clothes can be a way to opt out of the fast-fashion world, it presents its own challenges when it comes to sustainability. One way I like to combat my waste is to save my larger scraps and use them to make even more projects. Now that I am quilting, I’ve started saving the smaller scraps too! There is something so satisfying about piecing things together to make a larger something. Even when we are not scrap busting in our sewing, we are making garments out of a bunch of pieces of fabric and it’s really amazing!

This week I have a project to share that is made out of 6 different fabric scraps from my stash. I liked the way all these pink scraps were looking together, and next to this gorgeous dark blue popcorn denim, it was love. I’ve been pinning several scrap busted jackets like this on Pinterest and I wanted to do my own take on this cool look!

Fabrics Used:

• Dark Blue Popcorn Denim
• Bright Pink Denim
• Pink Cotton Twill
• Rosewood Washed Linen
• Light Pink Stretch Corduroy
• Pink Cotton Chambray (for bias bound seams inside)

For my pattern base I used the Friday Pattern Company Ilford Jacket. This pattern is great because it has nice straight lines and a simple, unlined construction. I’ve made three of them now! Two for me and one for Sam (coming to the blog soon). I was able to take this jacket pattern and easily add seams across the front and back to break up the jacket into smaller pieces. I also separated the button placket from the jacket (it is all on piece in the pattern) so I could make it all out of the dark blue denim. 

Once I made my initial horizontal breaks I further broke up the back of the jacket to make use of the pieces I had on hand. You can add a seam literally anywhere! You don’t have to approach it evenly, my back horizontal seam and front horizontal seam don’t match at the side seam and I think it looks cool. Don’t hesitate to play around with the breaks and do some sketches to work out your ideas. 

Once I had my base jacket, I designed some cool front pockets. I knew I wanted them to be asymmetrical and overlap the seam in some ways, and I was even able to work a pocket flap into a seam as well—so fun! The Ilford comes with some really cool pockets so it would be easy to use the ones provided here, too. The last modification I made was to add oversized elbow patches. I had some corduroy left so this was a no-brainer, I love a good elbow patch!

Sewing this jacket was not that different from the Friday Pattern Co instructions. I did have to sew my scrap-busted back and front together first and then attach my placket, but from there it was true to the pattern. I also went the extra mile with this project and did bias bound seams! I used another fabric I had some scraps of and pieced together enough bias tape to bind most of the seams. I used a flat-felled seam for the rest (sleeve and side seams). I love the way it looks and it was really satisfying to sew! Sometimes it’s nice to slow down with a project like this and enjoy every little detail. Plus, denim is so pleasant to work with! It was pretty easy to apply the bias binding on these seams. 

Since some of the fabrics I used for this project were different weights I made sure to interface areas like the cuffs and sleeve plackets. I used washed linen for these parts and I wanted to make sure it would hold up to wear and tear. I also chose to use classic jeans buttons for this project because I had a bunch in my stash and the copper colour just looked so good against the blue and pink. I recently did an Instagram story about how I installed these buttons if you want to check that out here. I got these buttons at Blackbird Fabrics. 

Thanks for checking out my scrap busted Ilford Jacket! I think I will wear this jacket a ton, especially now that the weather is a bit warmer here in the Pacific Northwest. I hope you are feeling inspired to tackle your own scrap-busting project. It can be very freeing and fun to use up your scraps and get creative with seam lines. Remember—seams can go anywhere and there is no right way to scrap bust! 

Happy sewing,
Helen