PATTERN REVIEW: Paola Workwear Jacket
Alisha wears FS Paola Work Wear Jacket made with FS EARTH Heavyweight 100% Linen
While thinking of making something for myself for the fall/ winter season, I stumbled upon the Paola Workwear Jacket Pattern, or Chore Jacket as my daughters call it. I ended up making six jackets and three of them were for men. I’m happy to share how I altered them. The Paola is one of Fabric-store’s Free Pattern offerings. We live in Florida so I knew right away making this jacket in linen would be perfect to wear with a t-shirt or for layering during the few cooler days we may receive December – March.
Anna wears FS Paola Work Wear Jacket made with FS ULTRAMARINE Heavyweight 100% Linen
Anna wears FS Paola Work Wear Jacket made with FS ULTRAMARINE Heavyweight 100% Linen
I began by making the Paola Jacket in Earth Linen for myself, then my youngest daughter asked for one in Bleached Linen; her guy friend, in turn, requested one in Black Linen; another male friend saw my Instagram post and requested one in Cobalt Linen ; my son in law requested a jacket in Red Cotton Twill, and finally my older daughter requested one in Ultramarine Linen. So, happily, many people will be warm this season.
Making a total of six Paola Jackets, five of them in 4C22 7.1oz linen and one in red cotton twill, gave me lots of opportunities to practice this pattern. I was able to make some variations and observations to share. The pattern was so easy to use. You can absolutely make this as a beginner who is familiar with sewing basics. The only part that you may have to move slowly through is the attaching of the collar. Fabric-store did an amazing job showing each step on the tutorial featured on a blog post about the jacket.
FS Paola Work Wear Jacket made with Red Cotton Twill
For the men’s jackets, I used the size guide to estimate which size might work for them even though it has women’s sizing. This wasn’t too tricky and I measured their shoulder width to make sure I got it correct comparing the width to the top of the back piece pattern. For men, you also need to put the buttons on the opposite side – buttons on the right, buttonholes on the left. For the pockets on the cobalt jacket, I made the curves on the pockets into angled edges. The red and black jackets got squared pocket edges. For the remaining jackets, I stuck with the pockets as designed within the pattern.
FS Paola Work Wear Jacket made with FS BLACK Heavyweight 100% Linen
The only other alterations I made to the pattern as instructed was using a French seam for the sleeve and side seam instead of the flat-felled seam. I found the top stitch required for the flat-felled seam difficult to reach all the way inside the sleeve down to the cuff. I instead used a French Seam for both the sleeve and side and then was able to topstitch down the sides of the body, while still having a very finished seam inside the sleeve. I also decided to place one of the upper pockets on the inside. This is a stylistic choice we had seen on other chore jackets. This is simple to switch during the pocket pinning in step 1 of the tutorial.
The Paola Workwear Jacket is an amazing pattern! It is so on trend right now and you should feel absolutely confident in trying it if you have not made one yet! Maybe you’ll end up making several like me.
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About Author
Alisha Cooke
Ma Ma Osa is a handmade clothing brand that offers heirloom quality garments and patterns, hand-made by a mother. We celebrate the cherished craft of sewing and seek to honor the art of slow fashion in all our practices as a brand.Leave a Reply to Jeffery Curry Cancel reply
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30 Comments
Jeffery Curry
Great article! Its time to put my skills to the test as I am going to try making one for my wife.
https://www.7thangle.com/categories/black-leather-jacket/mens-black-leather-jacket/
Delbert Sampson
Nice article! appreciate your afford.
https://www.tvjackets.com/product/spirited-ryan-reynolds-jacket/
Hannah Ann
Hi, I want to make this for my husband so we can match! but I’ve never made any men’s clothing and don’t really know how to transform the pattern that’s designed for women into men’s. jacket. However, could you give more detailed instructions on how to do so? do you have any suggestions on how to do it? Thank you a lot for your advice!
Lauren Linen
Hello Hannah, This pattern is a unisex design, so it is already good to go for mens shapes too. Simply measure your Husband at his chest and hips, and choose the size that gives him enough room to move.
Alisha Cooke
Thank you for answering Lauren! Yes Hannah, that is exactly what I did for my son in law and our friend. Just found the size that would work for them and then made sure the arms were the right length as well. Also, another fun detail is using the Fabrics-Store Zina Pattern for it’s CUFF at the bottom of the sleeve. I did this once as well.
Robin Brady
Has anyone lengthened the jacket? I am interested in making it hip length.
Lauren Gates
Hello Robin, I’ve helped customers adjust the length of this pattern. If you would like assistance with this please send us an email at ask@fabrics-store.com
Essentially you will need to draw in a lengthen line on the fronts and back pattern pieces. Lengthen the pattern to your desired length, adding in pattern paper to make up the extra length, and taping your pattern pieces together again. You may also like to tweak where you place the front pockets to your new desired locations
Dixie Schulz
I have the tutorial on the Thread Blog, but are there printable, written instructions available?
Lauren Gates
Hello, If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can download this page, and print them out. We don’t have just written instructions available.
Rachel Askey
Is this pattern available as copy shop format. I listhe piecing a4 patterns.
Have some boiled wool to make a fall version
Lauren Gates
Hello Rachel, Our free patterns are only available in the tiled Letter/A4 paper size at the moment. They don’t take that long to assemble though.
Jana Hastikova
Hi, I found really inspirational the transformation into mens jacket. However, I woul need to broaden the back and shoulder area, do you have any suggestion how to do it? Thank a lot for your advice
Lauren Gates
Look out for an email from me Jana
Yael David
Hi where can I download the pattern
Sashanna Hart
Hey Alisha! So excited to see this review up! I have a couple questions. Firstly, did you lengthen the sleeves or the body of the jacket at all when making them for men? My husband is relatively tall and wears a 35″ sleeve. Also, did you find that you had to extend the width of the shoulders across the back when making them for a man? You mention checking the width, but not what to do if it doesn’t seem wide enough. Would you just go up a size or two in the shoulders and then grade down to whatever waist size is correct? One other question. This jacket is clearly supposed to be light weight, however, a mid weight jacket or heavier weight works better for those of us who live where there are more dramatic seasonal shifts. Do you think this pattern would lend itself well to being made out of quilted material? Should I size up if I do so?
Alisha Cooke
Hello Sashanna,
I haven’t sewn the jacket with quilted material and don’t often work with that material so I don’t have a confident answer for that one. I did tell a few other people that I thought you could use a heavyweight linen and then line the jacket with something adding lining before you sew down the neckline and front button areas. As for men’s sizing, I did just size up a bit for the men. I printed the pattern size I felt was closest for them and measured that shoulder width. So they ended up getting a size larger than they “looked on paper” (or on the sizing chart). Yes, I lengthen the sleeves for two of the men’s jackets as well as one for my taller daughter (featured in the white jacket). I simply added length to the sleeve.
I am happy to help if I can.
I hope this helps! Happy sewing.
Alisha
Kathleen Mccartney
Alisha,
I have already downloaded the pattern in two sizes and made pocket templates. This jacket reminds me of a company in England – Toast – whose workwear jackets in cotton twill retail for $250. I had never thought of using the 7.1 oz linen for a jacket and sent away for several swatches. I will make a wearable muslin in an 8 oz denim to test the pattern size and then make a few others in the heavyweight linen.
In the photos of your jackets, there are two views of the ultramarine. The second shows the model reaching into an inside pocket that is not part of the pattern. How did you handle the stitching on the outside of the jacket? I am assuming you put a larger pocket on the outside to hide the stitching of the interior pocket. Did you then have four exterior pockets?
Thanks so much. Kathy
Alisha Cooke
Good Morning Kathy,
Yes, I have seen this type of jacket on several other sites too in the same price point. I am very pleased with the 7.1oz linen for this style and so happy I made them. I did not add a fourth pocket on the outside of the top pockets. We did an interior pocket on one side of the top as a stylistic choice from chore jacket inspiration pictures my daughter gave me. The stitching just simply shows. We did this on all the jackets I made as their friends all loved the look as well. I am sure you could make it using a pocket on the outside to hide the stitches if you’d like as well, but for exterior pocket consistency, I’d probably make the interior one smaller if you go with that plan and make the exterior to match the sizing on the other side.
Enjoy the pattern! Alisha
Kathleen Mccartney
Alisha,
What a great idea to handle the interior pocket the way you did. I’m going to do this on my wearable muslin. Having an interior pocket with an exterior pocket over it may be too bulky. I had printed out a copy of the upper pocket and planned to scale it down on the printer so it fits within the stitching lines of the exterior pocket. It will be fun to play around with both options. Thanks so much for making the linen jackets as I’d never thought of using the 7.1 oz weight nor would I have ever tried a downloadable pattern. Kathy
Yael David
Hi where can I download the pattern
Morgann Mccoy
Thank you for sharing this, Alisha! I have a vintage boy scout jacket very similar to this pattern that I found at a flea market years ago and wear all the time. I have been looking for a chore jacket pattern to make something similar in linen. This looks perfect!
Alisha Cooke
I love that you have a vintage jacket! I think you will be very happy with the Paola! Happy sewing.
Cindy Parker
Did you line the jackets? What fabric did you use for the lining? Could you go with unlined? They all are gorgeous!
Alisha Cooke
I did not line the jackets because we live in Florida. BUT I was sharing with someone on my instagram account that I don’t believe it would be difficult to add lining. You could simply cut out lining for body and sleeves and assemble the same as the outer portion and then add the lining to the jacket before tacking down the inside of the button and neck portion. I hope that makes sense. Thank you for your kind words.
Robin Brady
Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
Alisha Cooke
Thank you.
Rima Khusainova
Thank you for the great review, Alisha! I’m so glad you liked the pattern! It’s one of my personal favorites too. Rima
Alisha Cooke
Thank you Rima! Even after making 6 of them, I liked it so much that I’d make more! It really is a great pattern.
Yael David
Hi where can I download the pattern
Lauren Gates
Here is the link to the pattern Yael:
https://fabrics-store.com/sewing-patterns/paola-paola-workwear-jacket-pattern