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If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a jacket that fits exactly the way you want, NextFab’s newest Maker Series course, Create Your Own Workwear Jacket, might be just the project for you. Each Maker Series is a two-month program that offers up to 5 classes, unlimited shop access, and a cohort to learn alongside.
Led by Kelly McGovern, NextFab’s Textiles Department Manager and an eight-year veteran of the space, the Maker Series is launching a multi-session workshop centered on building a workwear jacket from scratch. Think Carhartt-inspired canvas or denim, customized to your style and body.
The Maker Series workwear jacket course is designed around a blocked pattern, which is a solid base that participants can personalize from there. Pocket styles, collar options, cuff finishes, and other details are all on the table depending on what each maker wants to achieve. Students bring their own denim or canvas fabric and specific trims to make the jacket their own. NextFab will provide standard tack buttons unless a different button style is desired, and standard thread, but if a specific color is desired, you’ll need to bring your own (TEX 40 or 60 weight). Makers can find high-quality materials from small businesses on Philadelphia’s Fabric Row.
The course unfolds across several sessions. Day one focuses on sizing, pattern adjustments, and tracing and cutting out all the pattern pieces; a step that, as Kelly notes, takes longer than most people expect. From there, participants move into prepping and ironing the fabric, working on the sergers, and then assembling the jacket piece by piece.
One highlight of the course? The Reece buttonhole machine. It’s an industrial-grade machine that automatically sews and cuts each buttonhole; the kind of equipment you’d find in a factory. Students also get hands-on time with a Juki straight stitch machine and a Singer bartack machine. For anyone who’s ever struggled with buttonholes on a home machine, it’s a genuinely satisfying experience.
By the end of this series, you’ll have a fully completed jacket and the foundational sewing skills needed to continue creating custom clothing. We’ll explore the durability of workwear construction, focusing on heavy-duty seams, functional pocket design, and hardware installation.
Kelly describes the ideal student as a “confident beginner or intermediate” sewist. You don’t need to be a seasoned garment maker, but comfort on a sewing machine goes a long way. If you’re new to sewing and want to prepare, NextFab offers sewing basics classes as well as an industrial sewing course that will get you familiar with the kinds of machines you’ll be using in the Maker Series.
It’s also worth noting that NextFab’s studio has both home sewing machines and industrial machines; the kind built into tables and designed for heavier materials. If you’ve ever tried to run thick canvas through a home machine and hit a wall, the industrial machines are a revelation.
As for who typically shows up to the studio, Kelly puts it simply: anyone and everyone. The textiles studio sees a wide variety of projects, from building product lines to crafting high-design clothing, making curtains for their homes, and yes, attempting to make boat sails.
One of the most appealing things about this workshop is its flexibility. The jacket pattern can be modified and scaled in complexity. It works whether you want a straightforward, satisfying project to wear at the end or a challenge that stretches your skills. Kelly says her goal is simple: she wants participants to leave excited about what they made, and eager to make more.
Classes in this series:
Kelly came to textiles through a background in sculpture and fine art, earning degrees from Moore College of Art & Design and the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. She’s been sewing since age five, a skill her mother first taught her, and has watched it weave its way through every chapter of her life, from making her own clothes as a teenager to incorporating fabric into fine art to managing NextFab’s full textile studio today.
When Kelly joined NextFab, the textile studio was just two digital embroidery machines tucked into a closet. Today it’s a fully outfitted studio capable of handling anything our members can dream up. Kelly has built out most of the classes in the studio herself over the years, and she also does freelance upholstery and sewing work on the side.
This is the first time the Create Your Own Workwear Jacket Maker Series is being offered, so now’s the chance to get in on the ground floor.
Interested in signing up or learning more about the course? Visit the course page for details and registration.