………well, Melo inspired anyway. But in the spirit of my New York Knickerbockers having an absolute killer showing last night in game 5 against the Pacers while down 4 injured key players (I digress now, don’t worry), and in the continued spirit of my cousin Alain (we’re still aethering!), I also recently finished this cozy quilted house jacket. (Apologies to all of my English teachers at all of the Sacred Hearts I attended. That was the worst kind of running sentence!)

Carmelo Anthony showcased his house and art collection last year and gave a tour in a cozy blue jacket which I couldn’t get off of my mind. I didn’t even bother to look it up. I was going to make my own version. I’d had this quilt laying around from HomeGoods that would work perfectly for this and it was pink. (Fun fact: I used to hate pink because I thought it was too girly. Look at me now!) This was actually the project I was dragging my feet on when I got news of my cousin’s passing. I put my energies for him into this. He heavily advocated for sustainability so it’s extra fitting!

The closest pattern I had to this is Simplicity’s 8697 women’s blazer pattern with the shawl collar. I even had plans to blanket stitch the edge too but it just wasn’t looking right. The edge where the quilt is cut was coming undone between the stitches. And it just looked flimsy. I went for using bias tape instead.

This came together pretty quickly but the details took time. I did a mock flat felled seam on the shoulders and side seams and bias bound the edges and pocket edge. I made my ownh bias binding from a checked fabric from Joann Fabric. I did use as much of the original border as possible.

It’s a little wider in the shoulders than I’d like but I’m otherwise really happy with it. I was going to make the sleeves long enough to fold over but didn’t account for the split hem. The lengthened sleeve was way too skinny and tight. Very skinny jeans of the arms so I just cut it to proper length.