Pashmina Jacket

As a lover of textiles and intricate prints and patterns, I often am seduced by the beautiful Pashmina shawls for sale in midtown Manhattan. Over the years, I have purchased several of them which are beautiful, soft, warm and colorful.

Trouble is, I never wear them. In fact, I rarely ever wear shawls. Recently I was folding and admiring the pashmina shawls I have and an idea popped into my head: why not turn one into a jacket? My shawls are 27 inches wide and 72 inches ( 2 yards) long, excluding fringe.

I got out one of my favorite simple classic jacket patterns, Butterick 6474, and laid it out on a shawl which I folded in half:

If laid out this way, the fringe would be on the cuffs and front edges, but not on the back.
I cut out the pieces, and sewed them together using overlock stitch and french seaming when possible, as the weave is a bit loose and the wool is somewhat ravelly and delicate.

Here is my friend Sue Dennis ( www.suedennis.com) , visiting from Australia, modeling my jacket:

A comfortable, warm and light jacket! And Sue makes a great model.