How to Make a Quilted Jacket with a Pattern

A quilted jacket is one of those pieces that earns its place in your wardrobe: warm enough for a proper winter, light enough to layer, and far more interesting than anything on the rack. Making your own means you choose the fabric, the fit, and the quilting pattern, so it ends up being completely yours.

I made mine after seeing the beautiful quilt coats from Julie O’Rourke and Sea and deciding I couldn’t go another winter without one. It gets seriously cold where I live, so a cosy handmade layer felt like the right project.

Most quilt coats are cut from vintage quilts, but pre-loved ones are next to impossible to find where I am, so I quilted my own fabric instead. If you can get your hands on one, it will save you hours of quilting; eBay, Depop, and Facebook Marketplace are good places to look.

Either way, this tutorial walks you through my whole process, and it’s beginner-friendly, so don’t be put off if you’re new to sewing.

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How To Make A Quilted Jacket With A Pattern

I purchased the supplies below for my quilted jacket. Your supply list may differ slightly from mine, depending on whether you are making a quilt and what jacket pattern you choose. Just use this as a guide.

Materials & Supplies List

• 2 metres (2 yards) – main fabric
• 1 metre (1 yard) – contrasting fabric
• 1/2 metre (1/2 yard) – 2^nd contrasting fabric
• 2 metres (2 yards) – lining fabric
• 100% cotton Sashiko thread
• Olympus Sashiko needles
• All-Well Cardigan Coat hacked into the Simple Collar version (or check out the patterns below)

Pattern Suggestions

Quilted Jacket Materials

I used beige linen as the primary material, with contrasting fabrics including blue floral cotton and a striped cotton shirt I found at a thrift shop for $2. I lined my quilted jacket with linen I naturally dyed with avocado pits and skin.

Best fabrics to use:

• Quilting cottons
• Medium to heavyweight linens
• A shortcut is to find an old quilt blanket

How To Make A Quilted Jacket

Step 1: Choose a quilt pattern or find a quilt

If you’d rather skip the quilting, start with a premade quilt, either new or vintage.

If you’re making your own, find a pattern or book to work from. I used The Patchwork Quilt Design & Colouring Book, which is full of helpful tips for getting started, and settled on a traditional sawtooth pattern. A beginner-friendly option is to use a quilt sewing pattern to make the process easier.

Once you’ve chosen a pattern, plan where each fabric will go. I used plain linen as my main fabric, with a stripe and a floral as the contrast.

Rather than sewing one large rectangular quilt, I made four mini quilts sized to fit the jacket pattern pieces, which saves both fabric and quilting time. To plan them, I drew a diagram of the quilt blocks with the dimensions and the number of pieces to cut.

Step 2: Cut out the fabric

Following your quilt block diagram, begin cutting out all the pieces needed to sew the quilt together.

Step 3: Sew the quilt blocks together

Start sewing the quilt blocks together. I found it easiest to sew piles of the same block pieces together at once before moving on to the next. Sewing in batches makes the quilting process a lot quicker.

Step 4: Trim the quilt blocks

Before sewing the satooth blocks together, square them up and trim them using a rotary cutter and a quilting ruler. Trimming the blocks helps keep everything accurate. Seams can stretch once sewn to other fabrics, so don’t miss this step.

Step 5: Sew the quilt together

Begin joining the quilt blocks into a pattern layout you are happy with. I used the quilt jacket pattern pieces as a guide for how big each quilted section needed to be. This helped me reduce my fabric waste and saved me time.

Step 6: Sew the lining together

Find a hard surface to lay down the lining and batting fabrics. I placed my lining right side down first and taped it to the floor using masking tape. I pulled the fabric tight to keep it nice and flat.

Place the batting down on top of the lining and smooth it flat. Place the quilt top onto the batting and lining. Smooth this out and tape it to the surface like the lining. This holds everything in place for pinning.

Once all three quilt layers are in place, begin pinning the layers together with quilting safety pins. The pins keep all the layers together for hand or machine-stitching. My tip is to add more pins. Once pinned, the tape can be removed.

Step 7: Quilt the fabrics together

Mark lines into the quilt top using a Hera marker. These pressed lines are your stitching lines. I then hand-stitched my jacket together following this tutorial from Sara at Farm and Folk. You can machine sew the quilt together if you prefer.

Step 8: Cut out the jacket pattern pieces

Trace around the pattern pieces onto your quilt and cut them out.

Step 9: Sew the jacket together

Follow the sewing pattern instructions for your quilted jacket.

This is one of the longest sewing projects I have done so far. It was pretty challenging, but it was fun to make. I hope you’ve found some inspiration and helpful tips to make your own quilted jacket.

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How to Make a Quilted Jacket with a Pattern

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Keep warm and cosy this winter in a beautiful handmade quilted jacket. Adding this quilted jacket to any outfit elevates it, showing off your character and style. Anyone can give this sewing project a go by following a simple, beginner-friendly sewing pattern.

Prep Time 1 hour

Active Time 10 hours

Total Time 11 hours

Difficulty Advanced

Estimated Cost $50-$100

Materials

• 2 metres (2 yards) – main fabric
• 1 metre (1 yard) – contrasting fabric
• 1/2 metre (1/2 yard) – 2nd contrasting fabric
• 2 metres (2 yards) – lining fabric
• 100% cotton Sashiko thread
• Olympus Sashiko needles
• Jacket sewing pattern – I used the All-Well Cardigan Coat hacked into the Simple Collar version.

Tools

• Sewing machine
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting mat
• Quilters ruler
• Hera marker or butter knife
• Quilting pins

Instructions

Step 1: Choose a quilt pattern or find a quilt

If you don’t want to sew a quilt, find a premade quilt that is either new or vintage.

I made my quilt using a book called The Patchwork Quilt Design & Colouring Book, which is full of helpful quilting information. I settled on a traditional saw tooth pattern. Once the pattern is decided, begin planning where each fabric will go.

I decided on using plain linen for the inner squares and the borders. Then, I used the stripe and floral as the triangular shapes and the outer border squares of the saw tooth pattern.

It would be helpful to consider the size of each quilt block. The smaller they are, the more cutting and sewing that’s needed. Take your time to plan and get things right before you start cutting out your materials.

I made four mini quilts to fit each sewing piece rather than an entire rectangular quilt, as this approach would waste materials. Draw a diagram of the quilt block pieces, including dimensions and the number of pieces to cut out.

Step 2: Cut out the fabric

Following your quilt block diagram, begin cutting out all the pieces needed to sew the quilt together.

Step 3: Sew the quilt blocks together

Start sewing the quilt blocks together. I found it easiest to sew piles of the same block pieces together at once before moving on to the next. For example, a Saw Tooth can be sewn together starting with the flying goose method. Sewing in batches will make this quilting process a lot quicker.

Step 4: Trim the quilt blocks

Before sewing the Saw Tooth blocks together, they must be squared up and trimmed. This is done by using a rotary cutter and a quilting ruler.

Trimming the blocks helps keep everything accurate. Seams can stretch once sewn to other fabrics, so don’t miss this step.

Step 5: Sew the quilt together

Begin joining the quilt blocks into a pattern layout you are happy with. I used my sewing pattern pieces to help guide me on how many pieces to sew together. I sewed linen borders around the Saw Tooth blocks to break up the pattern.

Step 6: Sew the lining together

Find a flat, hard-surfaced area to lay the lining and batting fabrics. I placed my lining right side down first and taped it to the tile floor using masking tape. I pulled the fabric tight to keep it nice and flat.

Place the batting down on top of the lining and smooth it flat. Place the quilt top onto the batting and lining. Smooth this out and tape it to the tiles like the lining. This holds everything in place for pinning.

Step 7: Quilt the fabrics together

Mark lines into the quilt top using a Hera marker or the back of a butter knife. This helps guide you on how to hand-stitch the quilt’s fabric layers together.

I chose to hand-stitch mine together because I prefer the finish. Sara has shared a helpful step-by-step hand-sewing tutorial on her Instagram stories on how to do this. Begin stitching the fabric layers together with a needle and thread. (or use a sewing machine if you prefer). Follow along the marked lines to guide you.

Step 8: Cut out the quilted fabric using a jacket pattern

I chose the All Well Cardigan Coat pattern because I loved the shape and style. This pattern comes with a pattern hack guide, which I followed for the collar. Trace around the pattern pieces and cut the quilted fabric out.

Step 9: Follow your sewing pattern instructions

Follow along with your sewing pattern instructions to construct your quilted jacket. The pattern I used had instructions to bind the outer jacket edges, which I love the finish of. I decided to cut out binding strips and use them to finish the inside seams.

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