Outfit for Cathy

August 2025—March 2026
Kakishibu-dyed fall jacket with eco-printed lining.
The shell and facings are made from midweight cotton canvas, kakishibu, washing soda, dyeable zippers, brown Gütermann cotton thread.
The lining is made from lightweight plain-weave blended cotton-hemp, unbleached cotton thread, brown cotton thread, fallen maple and oak leaves of various species, aluminum acetate solution.
The tags are made from lightweight plain-weave blended cotton-hemp and cyanotype dye.

I had a lot of fun making this jacket with bestie Cathy! I learned how to eco-print to fulfill the vision of a lining printed with leaves. And it honestly turned out even better than I expected. The canvas shell also had a stunning texture thanks to the kakishibu that it was painstakingly dyed with. It looks like leather!

The shell was dyed alongside the fabric for my outfit. The canvas, being much heavier than the fabric I used for my outfit, was by far the most difficult, dye-guzzling, and physically demanding to work with. Like the kakishibu for my outfit, I had trouble getting the colour dark enough—except for the zippers. Those dyed really dark, quite easily.

To get a more brown colour from the kakishibu dye, I shifted it with an alkaline solution of washing soda. However, the dark brown colour wasn’t entirely stable or that dark to begin with and slowly shifted back to orange. It’s still a beautiful colour and texture.

I didn’t mention it in any of the videos, but I used the non-shifted kakishibu for contrast details inside the pockets, and for the back facing.

The pattern for the shell and linings were near-zero waste, however, the armhole cutouts and select shoulder cutouts went unused. I find keeping on hand some scraps of a fabric that took so much effort to dye is helpful for future mending purposes.

The kakishibu is supposedly water-resistant, so if caught in the rain Cathy’s jacket may hold up a little bit. But it’s not a main feature of the jacket.

To learn more about the inspiration behind the jacket, watch our planning video: