Sew Grateful - Minoru #2

This post is for Deb's Sew Grateful week projects made using others tutorials or posts. Most of this Minoru was sewn following Tasia's tutes and using PUL fabric. This version was my first experience using showerproof fabric. The listing of finished Minorus are on this post from over 60 sewers.

Here's a link to my first Minoru (below). This version continues to be a well worn and much-loved  jacket.

Last week I gathered my notions for a showerproof Minoru and got started. I bought the 2 zips I needed from MyHung Parramatta - $1 each. 

On the weekend our summer weather was cool and changeable so I spent the time to sew in 5 zippers before the main construction steps. The pattern only requires 2 zips.

- Two internal zippers on the inside pockets
- Two zippers on the outside welt pockets
- One long zipper on the collar to store the hood.
The 6th zip is the 70cm front zip. I sewed that in on Tuesday night using a zipper foot.

Using run-of-the-mill sticky tape is worthwhile when sewing PUL.

The Minoru doesn't have external pockets and the internal pockets are designed to have velcro closures. I added the external pockets because that's what I want in a casual jacket.

I'll have to work on inserting zippers into pockets a bit more. You can see I learnt very little from a zipper workshop I went to last year.

The lining is a polyester chiffon remnant for the body and a rayon remnant for the sleeves. That's all I had in my stash but the colours were the same. Both are remnants from Pitt Trading.

I got excited that these pockets worked.

I've used the rayon as bias binding feature around the internal pockets and along the inside of zipper placket. This is a finish I enjoy wearing.

I took this shot so you can see the fine, soft gathers.

 Sewing PUL:

• This is the first time I've used PUL showerproof fabric - bought from Green Beans Aust. 
• The fabric base is a knit structure but the showerproof side is like rubber. At least that's how it reacted to the iron XD
• PUL is very easy to sew - just don't pull it to hard when you're sewing it.
• When you sew with it, creases appear but don't be fooled by the fabric.
• And lower the feed dogs on your machine 1 notch so you can control the fabric flowing through the machine.
• You might think sewing PUL is overwhelming. It's doable.

Rain proofing:
For details on how to make your rainproof jacket more rainproof and profession, go to, Caroline of Little Package. She did this guest useful post during the Minoru Sewaholic Sewalong last year. Caroline really knows her stuff. she's smart, practical and adventurous.

And Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn has also perfected rain proofing jackets.