For my birthday this year, my sweet husband relented from his desire to surprise me and I purchased myself a secondhand Janome Magnolia sewing machine to celebrate my 27th year of living. It's not an exaggeration to say that having a machine that runs as well as this one does, with the functions that it has and the possibilities that it opened up for my sewing life, was nothing short of a game-changer for my wardrobe this year. (Also, you know you're a nerd when you spend an entire night practicing making buttonholes on scraps of fabric just because you can DO that now. But we won't dwell on that.)
I decided to christen my beautiful new-to-me machine with a really challenging make (for me). I fell in love with the Oversized Wiksten Kimono Jacket from the time that I saw it on Jenny's feed in the most recent Making zine and had to have one. I combined a black semi-mystery, cotton blend fabric I purchased at the Scrap Exchange with some wonderful linen-rayon from Freeman's Creative and am so happy with this piece, even with its many imperfections.
That "I'm just so excited I just finished this thing late at night" feeling
The only changes I made to the pattern were to shorten the jacket by about 5". I wanted more of a cropped, boxy look but I kept the pockets the same placement and size because I also LOVE a generous pocket. I made the size medium but for a more fitted fit would have gone for the small. All in all, the instructions were really clear and easy to follow, especially since this was my first fully lined garment!
We had such a weird, long winter this year that I have already gotten a great amount of use out of this piece, and the two neutrals have gone with a lot, including some darker prints I have in my closet.
Since its debut in Making, Wiksten has also published a re-worked version of this jacket for sale as a paper pattern, so if you found yourself wanting this jacket with some modifications, check that out.