Wiksten Haori Jacket

If  you click on the Instagram hashtag #wikstenHaori you'll see nearly 7000 posts! I liked this jacket and wanted to make one. But, it wasn't until I got to try on Catherine's that I decided to make my own (doing this basically confirms it will fit me; Catherine made a middle of the size range so I knew there was room on the pattern size chart for me). I also got to try on Dayle's a few weeks after I'd started mine and it also fitted - a size smaller than mine so perhaps I can size down next time...though that feels scary and feelings of "what if I do all the work and it doesn't actually fit me" are bubbling to the surface.

The Wiksten Haori is a Japanese-inspired jacket that has large pockets, a fold-over collar and is fully lined. The fit is oversized (more or less oversized depending on how big your frame is). It comes in short, mid and long lengths (I have made the mid-length jacket and am about 5ft 7" tall). My denim is from Spotlight (it has a tiny amount of stretch to it but it feels very un-stretchy to me!) and the lining was bought in Phnom Penh when I was in Cambodia in 2018 (IG post on it here; fabric from Watthan Artisans Cambodia). I "think" the lining might be rayon and I was worried about working with it as I've found it tricky (and slippery) in the past. Happy to report it was (mostly) incident free!

I took my time with the lined pockets (which is the first part of the make) BUT I realised AFTER I had made them that they were very narrow compared to what I was seeing IG. Turns out I'd made some sort of error in cutting out the PDF...so that was fixed and the proper, BIG, pockets were done. For me the big pockets are one of the great features of this jacket so it was worth the effort.

Look how smug I am with my big big pockets!

The lining method was very simple (no bagging out) but after I wore this jacket yesterday I noticed that the lining near the pockets was hanging below the main fabric (you can see that there's no turned up hem)...which I don't like. I think I will do some Macgyver-ing and run a line of stitching along the bottom near the hem to try and stop that fabric from dropping. The lining was also "somehow" slightly longer than the main fabric so there is a bit of dodgy sewing with a few tucks here and there to make it fit with the main fabric - lucky the lining is so busy so you don't notice.

I also decided that I didn't want the fold-over collar. I have made two Seamwork Oslo Cardigans (here and here) with that collar style and it drives me NUTS the way it always flaps about and becomes unfolded. I don't know what went wrong here but the collar turned out to be longer than the jacket -- by about 15cms -- so some chopping went on during assembly. I don't have a walking foot either so there are a few tiny tucks in the collar where it didn't quite fit (despite surgery) and I couldn't ease it in fully. Blah, whatever! I also have only interfaced one size of the collar as I didn't want it to be too stiff, but I think I could've done both sides and been fine.



I don't always want to wear this with the sleeves rolled up. At their current length they feel just a bit too long.  The oversized style of the jacket PLUS the very long sleeves make me feel a bit sloppy and smothered in fabric. It would be easy to shorten the sleeves so I'm pondering that. What do you think - lose a couple of inches?

Overall I really like this jacket. I wouldn't mind one in the shorter length and perhaps the next size down to wear with wide-legged pants as the weather heats up. It would probably be in denim (again) as you cannot go wrong with denim!

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Pattern: Haori Jacket by Wiksten
Size: XL, mid-length
Modifications: halved the collar width

Fabric: Denim from Spotlight & lining is (possibly a Rayon) from Watthan Artisans Cambodia.
Changes for next time: would like to try the shorter length; and perhaps size down and shorten the sleeves.