Denim jackets are a staple of early fall and spring fashion. Making the back panel interchangeable makes a garment that can easily be worn through both seasons, or changed with your mood or outfit.

To begin making your interchangeable jacket, start by laying a ruler over the seam and measure 1” away from the seam. Use a temporary marking tool to draw a line.

Repeat this step with the three remaining sides.

Using scissors, cut out the back panel following the temporary marking lines you made previously.

After cutting out the center of the back panel, use the scissors to cut up to the first corner of the back panel, making sure to not cut into the seam.

Repeat and cut slits to each corner of the back panel.

Turn the jacket over so the wrong side is facing up. Use temporary spray adhesive to lightly spray the edge of the back panel, then fold the edge inside to the wrong side of the jacket.

Repeat for all four edges. This will leave you with nice clean edges for the back panel opening.

Depending on your preference, use your chosen type of fabric and stabilizer. You can use a heavier piece of fabric, like denim or twill to match the jacket, or a lighter fabric such as cotton. In this demonstration we’re using cotton with cutaway stabilizer. Use a temporary spray adhesive and spray the wrong side of your fabric and smooth the fabric over stabilizer.

After prepping your fabric and stabilizer, lay the jacket over the fabric and stabilizer with the right side facing up.

Now take your temporary marking tool and carefully trace the back panel opening. If it helps, use a ruler or straight edge to keep the edges flat as you trace.

With the first box that reflects the size of the opening drawn, now we need to draw a box 1½” away from the first box. After embroidering, this will be your cut line.

Print a template of the design using an embroidery software. A template, or printout, of a design is an excellent tool to help with placement. We recommend Wilcom’s Hatch software which comes in different levels depending on what you’d like to use the software for. Hatch Organizer works will to view your designs, print dielines and templates, change design colors, and create basic layouts. (This is an affiliate link. We may earn commission on purchases made through this link.)

Arrange the template within the box until it is placed where you would like the embroidery to sew. Use your temporary marking tool to mark the axis lines of the design.

Connect and extend both the vertical & horizontal axis lines using a ruler and fabric marking tool. To make hooping easier, make sure to extend the lines larger than the size of the hoop.

Hoop the fabric and stabilizer together. Make sure everything is hooped tightly and there are no wrinkles or puckers in the fabric.

Follow the color change sheet to embroider your chosen design. 

After the embroidery finishes, remove the design from the hoop.

Trim the excess fabric and stabilizer following the cutline.

Trim the excess stabilizer on the back of the embroidered piece.

Follow the directions on your packaging to remove the markings. Then, iron your design using a pressing cloth.

Cut a second rectangle of fabric matching the shape and dimensions of your embroidered piece of fabric.

With the right sides together, pin the embroidered front piece to the second fabric piece.

Sew around the outside edges with a ½” seam allowance, leaving an opening of at least 5” at the bottom.

Trim the corners of the back panel, then turn right side out and press. If you would like, topstitch around the outer edges ¼” away from the edges.

There are many ways to achieve an interchangeable back panel. For this demonstration we’re going to be using snap tape along with hook and loop fasteners (commonly known as Velcro). The hook and loop fasteners will be going across the top and bottom, while the snap tape will create secure side closures.

Begin prepping the snap tape by measuring and cutting the snap tape to the same length as the left and right sides of the panels.

Repeat to cut out the hook and loop fasteners matching the length of the top and bottom of the panel.

Pin the snap tape to the panel along the side.

Sew the edges of the snap tape onto panel, as close to the edge of the snape tape as possible. If desired, match your thread to your thread tape, although this will not be visible on the finished project.

Repeat to pin and sew the snap tape on the opposite side.

Follow the previous steps on the top and bottom for the hook and loop fasteners.

Lay your jacket wrong side up on the table, then place your panel beside the opening to check alignment. Since this is the wrong side of the jacket and the right side of the panel, you will need to keep in mind which set of snaps coordinates with which side. For instance, the left side of the panel in this photo is lined up with the right side of the jacket opening.

Pin the snap tape into place.

Repeat this for the other side.

While the two pieces of snap tape are only pinned, double check that both sides line up properly.

As the stitching from here on out will be visible from both sides, make sure your thread and bobbin match.

Sew the snap tape down on the first side.

Repeat to sew the other side down as well.

Now that the side closures are done, use the panel again to help determine the placement of the hook and loop fasteners.

Pin or clip the hook and loop fasteners to the wrong side of the jacket. In this example we used clips since the seams were too bulky to easily pin through.

Sew the hook and loop fasteners.

After sewing the hook and loop fastener strip down, trim excess fabric away.

Repeat to sew the bottom hook and loop fastener. With that, your first panel and jacket are finished!

Now you can repeat the process to make as many times as you’d like to make as many interchangeable back panels as you’d like.

Shop the Jacket Back collection and find designs perfect for your project!