Stacie Jean Jacket - A Perfect Imperfect Work of Art

I have made this Style Arc pattern multiple times and on most of them I added machine embroidery, but on this one I decided I would leave it plain.  The is a "not so great quality" denim I bought at my local craft store.

Stacie Jean Jacket

I made this jacket over 3 years ago and I believe I wore it once and absolutely hated it because it was so boring.  It hung in my closet and I decided it was time to put it in the give away pile until I saw the book Represent! Embroidery by Bianca Springer.

Using this book, I decided I would give my jacket "new life".  If I screwed it up it didn't matter because I was planning to put the jacket in the give away pile. 

I chose 4 designs to try.  I had no previous experience with hand embroidery and I didn't bother trying to practice or learn the stitches, I just jumped right in.

I started with the smaller designs on the front yokes and was not happy with how they turned out because they were not "perfect".  I got to the back yoke design and did the outline and was completely frustrated and done because it was starting out "not perfect" also.  I put it aside for months (maybe even a year or longer - I lost count).

Since then I have amassed a lot of UFO's because I am always rushing through my sewing.  In utter frustration and not wanting to start a new project and fail, I decided it was time to start finishing some of my UFO's - screw perfect!

I picked up this boring jacket again.  I finished the back yoke design and still wasn't please with it, but it was more important for me to complete something rather than making something perfect.  The last design I decided to use machine embroidery because I was tired and wanted it complete so I could move on.

It took hours to get the design scanned in.  Why because I have a really old printer and whenever I do a major Windows update my printer gets jacked up.  I always forget what I did to fixed it and so it takes hours of playing before I finally remember what worked before.  It almost went back in the UFO pile.

I had to work with the design to darken it so I could get the embroidery software to recognize it.  I finally got it convert and again it was not perfect but I wasn't going for perfect, I was going for completion.  One day I will get it properly digitized.

When I was machine embroidering the hair and eyeglasses outline I knew it was dark but it looked ok under the light.  Once I took it from under the direct light you couldn't even see the see it.  I thought of a few ways I could enhance the outline, but ultimately I decided to hand embroider on top on the machine embroidery for the hair/eye glasses outline only (the rest is machine embroidery).

All Machine Embroidery

And as if that wasn't enough, I ran out of the color floss I was using for the hair outline. Of course the craft store was already closed and because I was going for completion I chose another color floss that did not match at all, but I completed it - yay.  One UFO done and a million more to go 😖.

Machine and Hand Embroidery

I made so many mistakes, but I am telling you it is a perfect imperfect work of art!  I love the explosion of color and it just makes me happy to look at it.  I will enjoy and proudly wear this jacket for many years to come.

Eventually I will take the time to learn hand embroidery stitches because I will now make room for hand embroidery in my world.

The original review for this jacket is here.