Above is Butterick 6063 made with
Tangier Paisley and
Stirling Paisley. You might recognize this jacket from earlier this season, when it made its debut with pockets. So where did the pockets go—and why were they there in the first place?
Well, this jacket turned out to be an object lesson in trial and error. Even after all my years of teaching garment design and construction, I’m still reminded that experimentation is the name of the game—and sometimes realizing you’ve made a mistake is where the real magic begins.
In this case, I added the pockets because I love pockets. But from the get-go, it was a pocketastrophe! I futzed with those pockets longer than I care to admit, trying to make them work. It wasn’t until a friend finally asked out loud, “Marcy, what are those pockets doing on there?” that it dawned on me: absolutely nothing good.
They had to go, and go they did.
Without them, the whole jacket snapped into focus. The cleaner silhouette lets the fabric do the talking—in this case, an impeccable selvedge cotton denim print milled in Japan.
So, in honor of a jacket that reminded me once again that learning is a lifelong adventure, I thought it would be fun to celebrate its before-and-after (scroll down) with a special sale on jacket fabrics. Because sometimes the best thing you can add to a garment is knowing what to take away.
