The Victorian era was full of frills, lace, and silhouettes. Combine them with the practicality of denim for something truly special.
For pure romance, nothing beats the Victorians. Lace, doilies, and flowers were central motifs in their décor and in their clothing. Victorians also perfected the art of silhouette portraiture. Many of today’s women yearn for the romance of the Victorian era. Modern life isn’t always conducive to surrounding oneself with the fussy beauty of the Victorian look. However, for the woman with Victorian and romantic yearnings, this jacket, which includes, lace, doilies, flowers, and Victorian silhouettes, is a beautiful and satisfying project.
Supplies
- Denim shirt
- Doilies
- Home-made and/or factory made lace
- Wool felt
- Coordinating thread
- Scissors
- Needle
- Embroidery floss
- Buttons
- Iron-on adhesive
- iron
Instructions
- Use the instructions for How to Make Victorian Silhouettes to create the pattern for the silhouettes.
- Pin the pattern to wool felt and cut out the silhouettes.
- Experiment with your materials. Try different layouts of doilies and lace until you are satisfied with the effect that you’ve created.
- Apply iron-on adhesive to the silhouettes according to manufacturer’s instructions.
- Iron the silhouettes to the denim shirt.
- Baste around the edges of the silhouette if necessary.
- Sew the doilies and lace to the denim shirt. Hand sewing is more accurate and careful. However, machine sewing is quicker. If one is careful, it is not difficult to sew the doilies onto the jacket with a machine. It works best to sew a seam that bisects the doily in one direction and then sew a second seam to bisect it another direction. These two seams will anchor the doily making it easier to sew through the curve without distorting the doily’s shape.
- Embroider the around the profile of the silhouette using your favorite decorative stitch. Chain stitch was used here.
- Embroider random flowers on the silhouette using buttons for the flower centers.
Ideas and Suggestions
- If the silhouette is of a boy or man, use something thematically appropriate for embroidering in the silhouette rather than using flowers.
- Embroider the name of the person portrayed on the silhouette.
- Create silhouettes of grandchildren or children for the jacket it and present it as a Mother’s Day or Christmas gift.
- If you love your cat, dog, or horse, consider creating a silhouette of them to use or find a pretty silhouette from clip art to use to immortalize your pet.
- If you prefer, embroider the silhouettes before sewing them to the jacket. However, embroidery on the silhouette will mean that the appliqué fusion paper will probably not work.
- Consider lining the jacket to protect the embroidery on the inside of the jacket. If the jacket will be used in cold weather, use fleece to line it to make it warm and cozy.
The copyright of the article How to Make a Silhouette Jacket in Sewing/Needlework is owned by Melissa Howard. Permission to republish How to Make a Silhouette Jacket in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
