Making a jacket 101

Upcycling a jacket takes a long time, a lot of patience, and a lot of hands-on work.

With this post, I'll be introducing a jacket I made, and I'll be explaining how I made it.

The jacket was actually one I didn't have to buy because I found it in my closet not being used. I chose to make something new out of it and have something new and trendy to wear.

I definitely love this jacket now that I have it completed and I'm wearing it. I was always fascinated with the world of Alice in Wonderland and having my own unique jacket to wear is a dream for me.

I try to create individualistic and unique clothes because expression is important. Girls have beauty standards set on them to look a certain way or blend in and it's simply unfair. I try to express myself through clothing like this jacket that I enjoy and I hope to be taking orders soon and providing others with clothing that helps them feel safe in their skin.

Also, I will be taking ideas for jackets and hopefully taking some custom orders soon! If you want to contact me about ideas, an artist, song, movie, or book, you can use the contact section of my website, and I should be updating the website soon to be taking orders.

The first thing I did was make a design, so I could see what the jacket would hypothetically look like and figure out where I wanted everything. Design is a critical part of the process because it allows you to move pieces around and figure out where you want everything. Without design, I would be going into the process of making a jacket without any blueprint, and I wouldn't be able to erase what I don't like.

This is my design. It took a lot of remodeling, and I was able to include everything except the 'eat me' cake on the right pocket. Designs won't be the best drawings because they don't have to be. Designs just have to get the message across of what I want on the jacket and act as a sort of blueprint of where I need to paint.

The next step was to start painting.

I started with the biggest piece, that being the cheshire cat design on the back. Although it may look a little rough in the design it's my favorite part of the jacket. Since it was the biggest piece, it took me the longest, and I had to paint the section white first because in large spots like that, acrylic isn't as opaque.

From there, I started with the white roses painted red on the shoulders (if you're an Alice in Wonderland fan, you'll get it), and from there, I started working on the smaller details.

These are the little details scattered around the jacket:

-The queen of hearts card soldiers on the sides

-Mad hatters hat on the back square

-White rabbits clock on the front right pocket

-White roses being painted red on the shoulders

-Cheshire cat painting and quote on the back

-Wonderland on the collar

-Checkers throughout the linings

The process of making the jacket was fun and relaxing and I finally came to a finish after about 2-3 days.

Here are some pictures: