I learned this cool method to customize a denim jacket with fabric, creating a one-of-a-kind piece that’s truly out of this world — perfect for fans of abstract art and the unusual. All you need is some fabric paint and leftover fabric scraps from previous projects to make this unique jacket.
The process is simple: Make an abstract drawing of a face, paint over it and then do collage work with fabric pieces you have lying around and you can have a fully customised denim jacket that no one else owns.
What you make will be different even if you copy the exact picture, because the way you do the painting and embellishments will be different. The interpretations of your drawing, painting and fabric work can be diffferent and personal.
To decorate your denim jacket this way you can either make your fabric collage on your jacket itself or make your art on another bigger piece of fabric and then cut out the back of the jacket and then sew it from behind the cut out. This is how I did it.
Materials Needed for this project
Fabric paint and brushes: To color the inside of the face. Use acrylic paint and fabric medium if you do not have fabric paint.
Scissors: For cutting the denim and fabric pieces
Needle and Thread: For baste stitching.
Base Fabric and backing fabric : My base is a cotton on which I will be doing the work and backing is a soft flannel. Cut it slighlty larger than the back panel or cut out of the denim jacket.
Small fabric pieces: For fabric collage.
Your Jeans Jacket: The canvas for your creativity.
You can use the orange thread used in jeans stitching, blue thread, white thread or monofilament thread and different techniques like close stitches, machine sewing with a small zigzag stitch, or hand sewing. The choice of thread and stitch used depends on the desired durability and the aesthetic look.
If you are going for a design of your own, the embellishing possibilities are endless. You can use lace, beads or sequins. The choice of method you use may depend on the specific fabric, the design of the jacket, and the desired final look – if you like a cottage core look, lace is perfectly fine. If you are going for the rock chic look, may be not.
Draw the picture of a face.
If you think I tried to copy the style of Pablo Picasso, then you are correct; The fragmented and reassembled features of the face are too noticeably similar. The eyes should be drawn expressive and alive.
Paint the picture
Paint the face with vibrant colors like yellow, blue, and orange. The colors used should suggest a vibrant and enegizing personality.
Human nature is strange and no one is fully good or bad, at least from what I’ve experienced. The dual colors of this face represents that idea. The face is divided into dark and light halves. The dark side could represent the parts of us that are hidden, unknown, — our fears, insecurities, angers, or sorrows. In contrast, the light side can represent all the positive aspects — kindness, joy, and happiness. The drawing represents duality in human nature. We wouldn’t be as interesting without the mix of good and bad.
Sew the features
You man machine stitch over the facial features to make them stand out.
Patch the base fabric with fabric scraps
You can add fabric scraps outside the face area. Read how to make this kind of texture in this post on making rag textiles.
Sew the fabric scraps in place, either by hand stitching or by machine stitching. Remember to turn the fabric edges under. This is to prevent the cut edges fraying on top of your work. If you like the frayed look, go ahead and leave the cut edges open.
Mark the Panel and cut it out
Decide which panel on the jacket you want to modify and mark it with chalk. Cut out the inside of this area leaving 1/4 inches all around as seam allowance.
Clip the corners.
You can use fabric glue, like Liquid Stitch or Stitch Witchery,or heat-activated fusible spray to attach the fabric to denim before sewing it. Or You can use Glue Tapea double-sided tape that will hold the design in place, before you sew. I would recommend tacking the fabric onto the denim jacket using hand stitches (basting stitches) or pinning it every inch or so before machine stitching.
Turn the jacket inside out and apply the glue tape along the edges of the marked panel. Place the right side of the mesh onto the wrong side of the jacket panel, and press down. You can now pin the design .
Attach the design
This is a little tricky. Flip the jacket to the right side. Turn the 1/4 inches you have left to the inside and pin in place. Top stitch around the perimeter of the panel, on top of the folded edge. You have to make sure that all edges and the folds and corners are all straight and not wonky. You may have to loosen the stitches a little bit and restitch – at least I did to get it all straight.
Related posts: Make a Punk jacket; Jeans Design Ideas ; Names of jackets for women
