I have several projects I’d like to finish before heading back to North Dakota in April. The first was the backpack that I posted about last week. Now I’m working on the second—adding some “flare” to this denim jacket.

I have many denim jackets and chambray shirts. I’ve been buying them over the years–I still have the first denim jacket I bought about 37 years ago. Sometimes I update them with embroidery and applique to reflect a theme or holiday.

I bought this jacket at Sam’s Club two years ago. Did I need it? No. But–It was cheap and It fit. Mine!

Let’s put a quilt block on it!

I’m a big fan of Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) although it does kick my butt sometimes. Lots of little pieces and it is so easy to put them together backwards which calls for Jack the Ripper and silent cursing.

I wanted to put the Hope Tattoo on the back of my denim jacket. I bought this pattern from “Happy Sew Lucky” a few years ago and made two wall hangings with it. One for Jessica, my daughter, and one for me.

I bought all the fabric except one at the local quilt shop, Three Little Birds in Hyattsville, Maryland. Other than the solid white and blue fabrics, the rest is from Ruby Star Society. The white starry piece was left from the Lucy quilt background.

I printed out the hope pattern at 95% for the jacket, thinking that size would just fit the back panel. With a little trimming it would be perfect.

But. I didn’t like it.

After overthinking it for a few days, I realized that the problem was the background fabric. The blue just wasn’t the right shade and I didn’t think it complemented the denim. Time to rethink the block.

(The block won’t go to waste it will eventually be a wall hanging or a pillow.)

I downsized the next attempt a little more—to 90%—and just made the Hope word.

I like this a LOT better!

I hand basted the piece onto the jacket so I could take it off easily if I change my mind or if I want to move it.

I will eventually add swallows but I would like to embroider them. I checked out Pinterest, Etsy, and Instagram looking for a swallow embroidery pattern and only found one that I liked. The caption said that it was included in a book so I ordered it even though I couldn’t actually look at the pages. But the index does list a swallow!

We shall see!