Koos van den Akker Jacket

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Difficulty:

Category: Sewing

Type of item: Clothing

For: Women

Style: Classic

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Materials

raw silk, rayon

What was your inspiration?

On a trip to New York in the spring with a group of sewers, we visited Koos van den Akker's studio and boutique. At the studio we saw a jacket under construction and later saw it in the boutique. It had my name on it, so I tried it on, but the cost was way beyond anything I could afford. I had had this two meter piece of red raw silk in my stash for at least twenty years and decided to use it to make my version of the van den Akker jacket. I did use a commercial pattern for the basic garment pieces, but the interpretation is my own. The welt pockets and bound buttonholes are based on techniques described by Kenneth D. King. Oh, and I bought the buttons in NYC!

What are you most proud of?

I thought the whole project turned out well. With jeans and my diamond earrings - I can go anywhere!

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

I collected fabrics and the bias tape for several weeks before starting. I had a clear image in my head of what I wanted the jacket to look like. The final jacket goes well beyond the original pattern pieces - the appliqu was "basted" in place with a touch of 3M spray adhesive, then I pinned the bias tape to the edges and top stitched carefully one needle-width from the edge. What you can't see in the photo is that I top stitched the applique 1/4" from the bias tape in all the spaces created by the tape. I also did several practice samples of the welt pockets and bound buttonholes before doing them on the jacket itself.