My Wiksten Unfolding Jacket in Crinkle Linen

Oh you guys, this pattern. It’s the Wiksten Unfolding Jacket, and I know we’re only five days into the new season and I haven’t even worn it yet (other than to strut proudly around the house), but I’m calling it – this one’s definitely going down as one of my most worn items of this spring and then right into summer and let’s keep it going into that lovely first part of autumn too. It’s a total style keeper and I can’t see this ever, ever dating.

The pattern is available directly from the Wiksten site, in PDF only. I’d earmarked a long-stashed and much loved linen to make it up in, but then we received our new crinkle linens and this Signal Blue Crinkle Linen became The One.

The pattern comes with three length options. Being a slightly larger check (the fabric) and not being particularly tall (me), I decided on making the short version which finishes at the hip. I took my sweet time at the cutting stage, being extra careful to match up all my rows at the jacket front without being too mirror-matchy. The colour palette of this fabric is pretty neutral so it all fell into place nicely, but after playing around with some excess fabric lengths, I decided that the upper (visible, turned back) collar needed to colour/print match on both sides.

For the lining, I went with our Ghostly Grey – a silk/cotton voile. I used this for the body only, and lined the sleeves with the same main fabric. The pattern can be fully reversible (mine’s not) so if you’re planning on going down that clever path, bear it in mind when choosing your fabric. Oh the choices…

One tip if you’re making it up in a crinkle linen. Both upper collar and under collar are interfaced so make sure you use a lightweight interfacing so as not to interfere with the texture of the fabric.

The pattern is really fabulous and came together super-quick. I honestly felt like I took more time at the cutting stage than I did the sewing part. With clear and simple instructions, it’s a winning pattern for beginners and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who finds the prospect of lining a jacket a little confronting.