Navigator Quilted Jacket

Do you search for patterns you want but can’t find them? That was what happened to me – I was looking for a puffer/quilted jacket pattern for my daughter and couldn’t find one so I turned the to see how I turned a Love Notions Navigator pullover into one. Keep reading to find out how!

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Lilli wanted a puffer jacket for winter and yes, while I could have bought it, where’s the fun in that?! 🙂 After some perusing of the interwebs, I found my inspiration. It has two sections, near the shoulders, tiny quilting to keep the bulk down and shaping for the rest of the body. I would wear this kind and I don’t really like puffer jackets!

Scouting video tutorials, I found this one of a DIY Puffer Coat by Pattern Scout – I was glad I watched this first and sized up 2 sizes. It fits perfectly! So instead of a size 5 and 7 from the waist, I decided to make the jacket using size 7 and 10.

The Pattern

Love Notions has a whole family of pullovers. All of them feature a half zip pullover with kangaroo pockets and optional hoodie. They are meant for knits.

• Navigator is designed for kids 2 – 16
• Constellation for women XS – 5X with full bust range of 33″ – 57.5″
• North Star for men XS – XXXL with chest range of 34″ – 50″

USE CODE BEE10 FOR AN EXTRA 10% OFF the patterns

The fabric

I had bought an second hand LL Bean jacket a couple years back and was contemplating keeping it for myself, as is, because of the color. But decided that I didn’t want another ill fitting jacket no matter how pretty the color is. So I took it apart to make in to a quilted jacket for Lilli. It was interesting to see the construction on the inside as I took it apart, the waterproofing tape they added to all the seams, the way the removable lining was constructed and attached.

The Hack

It’s a pretty big one this time, even for me. The overall steps are simple. But it’s the details that got me. How to construct a jacket with a zipper placket, or how to attach the lining.

• Convert front into one piece by joining the pocket and front top pieces together
• Add seam allowance to pocket section to allow for zipper all the way down
• Construct one outer shell, complete without zipper
• Construct a lining shell, also without zip
• Attach the two together and finish with topstitching. (There are many ways to attach the lining. The way I did it is just one and was the one that made sense at the time, see below)

Outer Shell

Wanting a quilted/puffer jacket, I cut the outer pieces and batting. I didn’t have enough batting, even after playing tetris so I started joining the batting with a zigzag stitch and a piece of scrap fabric.

Then, quilted the diamond shapes. The diamonds on the upper half are smaller to be less bulky at the shoulders, just like the inspiration. To keep everything even, I used my handy walking foot. Once the quilting was done, the edges were serged and ready for assembly.

I couldn’t iron the seams because it would melt the batting- instead, each seam got topstitched to keep it down. The hardest topstiching was down the sleeve. I had to stitch as far as I could going from the sleeve head, then stitched from the wrist in. And finally had to hand stitch the last couple of inches. Sure, you can tell the difference, but NO one should be that close to the jacket that they can tell it was hand stitched or not.

I had Lilli try it on before continuing, just in case I needed to add some width.

Lining

Lining was constructed from the lining of the old jacket. I added an inch to the back center fold to allow for movement. And before attaching it to the outer shell, I added a hanging hoop and a label full with some gold embellishments.

Construction

I pretty much followed the video by Karina from Lifiting Pins and Needles and how she constructed the women’s Constellation with a lining. Create two coats – one of lining, other of the outer shell, then sew them together. Where I deviated was the hem. I attached the lining to the shell along the front zippers and around the hood, but kept the hem open to slip stitch it later.

Because of this, I was trying to figure out how to finish the bottom edges at the front. Here’s what I did:

• Created and attached a facing to the outer shell
• Topstitched the facing, then slip stitched the edge to the batting.

• Created two flaps made from the outer fabric, with 3 sides finished. Sandwich the bottom edge with the flap.

And here is how it looks finished.

Zippers

The zipper construction took the longest to wrap my head around. I wanted a placket going under, to prevent the zipper from catching on other clothes. And I also wanted a placket on top, for buttons. I read and watched a handful of instructions to really get it. I’ll list the resources here.

• Sewing: Zippers & lined hoodies by Lifting Pins and Needles
• Zipper Placket by Mimi G Style
• Tosti Jacket by CocoWawa Crafts
• Sewing Zipper Placket by Closet Core Patterns

The placket that goes under the zipper went on before attaching the lining, and the the button hole placket was attached after topstitching the lining to the outer.

Here’s how it looks with buttons, just zipper and open.

Welt Pockets

Welt Pockets were another major mental block up. I must have watched at least 5 different videos and finally found two tutorials the most helpful.

• Welt Pockets by Atelier Saison
• Single Welt Pockets by Lifting Pins and Needles

I added a little embroidery as well – can’t go wrong with golden butterflies!

Buttons are from Brizel Buttons, bought on a whim but they worked perfectly with the jacket!

I hope this inspired you to look at your pattern stash in a different light. Your patterns are a base, and you can create anything from them!