Here’s the finished denim “lace” jacket. Turned out rather well. It will be a useful garment to have in my wardrobe this summer.
I bought the fabric from Marcie Tilton at least three years ago ( I didn’t keep the receipt – I just remember the fabric was expensive but it had my name on it – BTW I just checked, there is none on the website now, not a surprise). In the photo below you can see the lace backing to stabilize the cutwork in the denim.
I started by backing the fabric with a fusible lightweight polyester interfacing because I wasn’t planning on lining the finished garment and I thought it would be easier to work with. That went more easily than backing the eight metres of silk dupioni when Marni and I were making her wedding dress!
Once the fabric was backed, I cut out the garment. I used a navy silk dupioni (which I had in my stash) for the facings, sleeve plackets, and the inner yoke. The silk gives a stability to the shoulder area that the denim lace didn’t have.
Sewing the shirt together was not simple! The denim lace was made by stamping out a floral pattern from a lightweight cotton denim, then backing it with a polyester lacy fabric to fill in the “holes” and hold the denim in shape. However, when you go to sew the seams the lace backing was stretchy so I had to be very careful not to pull on the edges while stitching. The collar, collar stand, and cuffs were particularly difficult to work with because of the different weights of parts of the denim lace. I did a lot of careful, slow seam ripping as I was sewing the cuffs in order to get the edges to fit precisely.
Assembling the shirt took quite a bit longer than I expected it to, but I’m happy with how it turned out in the end.
jmn 
Dear jmn,
I enjoy reading about your “experiments.” They are encouraging me to try new things. I also enjoyed seeing your 6×6“ flower experiments. I think you have very creative ideas; thank you for sharing them with people like me. Just now, I’m in the middle of making throw quilts for each of my six grandchildren as each finishes high school and goes off to college. I have almost finished the quilt top for granddaughter #3, who will go off to college in August.
Looking at your pictures (these and previous ones) I suspect that you and I might be fairly close in age. Again, it encourages me to know that somebody else of “my age” is willing to try new ways of doing art and sewing. Thank you.
Margaret Mielke Mechanicsburg, PA
Margaret, keep experimenting with your quilts! It’s gaining new skills that keeps us young (I’m now 81!).
It’s really nice and funky😍