A Quilted Bomber Jacket

 Hello Readers. I made a bomber jacket from what I would call a "Grandma in Boca Raton" jacket. (If you have ever lived in south Florida, you know what I am saying!) Anyway. This jacket was light weight and I like the blue and white color scheme. And the quilting looked really good.

  Bomber jacket.

I forgot to take a before picture! What was I thinking??? This little jacket had no front closures, no pockets, no waistband, and no cuffs. I thought that would make it easy to transform this jacket because there was nothing in my way. Look at the quilting, it was nicely done.

I accidentally bought one gigantic piece of navy blue ribbing and I had to cut strips and make my own cuffs, waistband and collar. This is the collar piece right here. Measuring, cutting and ironing it myself took extra time but it wasn't difficult. 

I stitched the waistband on first. I think the navy blue color makes those big flowers really pop.

The next step was to add the wrist cuffs. 

I cut the original collar off and added the new navy blue collar piece. 

When I added all these pieces I used my serger so that it would keep the ribbing from fraying all over the place. It was a mess and there is navy blue lint all over my sewing room. Was this easy to sew using the serger? No. Was it a pain in the &$$%? Yes. The thread kept breaking and I had to re-thread the serger at least a dozen times. The needles broke a few times too. I do not know why this was so difficult to sew through. I even stopped to oil the whole machine. I got it done but the inside seams are not my best and I am never doing this again!

The last step was the zipper. I waited for this to arrive from Amazon because I really wanted a navy blue zipper to go with the navy blue ribbing I had already added to the jacket. The zipper wasn't that easy to sew on either. I was using a different sewing machine and a straight stitch at this point. My needle broke and it was difficult to get my bobbin tension correct. I still don't know why it was giving me so much trouble. Maybe the fluff of the jacket was unusually tough to sew through? I have no idea. I got the zipper in and top stitched every seam so they would lay as flat and smooth as possible. 

I really did like how it looked though. It is just a smidge big on me but that was perfect because it was actually for my daughter. She is taller than I am so this jacket will be a great length on her. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update- My daughter still likes and wears this jacket and is glad I made it for her.

Brocade Bomber

 Hello Readers. The cold snowy weather made me want to do a jacket refashion. Luckily I had a jacket in the stash ready to work on. I got it as a hand-me-down last year and NOW is the time.

Before and after.

 

 I really liked this brocade jacket. The fabric was so pretty. It fit well enough but it didn't really close. It had one little hook and eye closure in the front and that was it. It wouldn't be very warm like that. I had a plan. I wanted to make a bomber jacket with a zipper and ribbed collar, waistband and cuffs.

I started by cutting the edge off the entire jacket. It had a nicely finished edge but I didn't think it would go with my new plan. 

I used my serger to close up all those cut edges. The jacket layers were moving around a lot and it was hard to work with. Maybe I shouldn't have cut the edges off? Sometimes you just have to figure it out as you go. 

I got my ribbing out and ironed it in half long ways. I bought this just to make this jacket and after a year of not buying anything for sewing it felt very strange to buy something. 

I used the serger again to close the ends. This is going to be the waistband. 

I made cuffs from the ribbing as well. The ribbing was folded in half but the cuffs were connected to make a circle. I attached the waistband and the cuffs to the jacket the same way. I stitched the open side of the folded ribbing to the edge of the jacket. You can see the jacket and the ribbing layers above. 

When the ribbing and the jacket were connected on the inside I smoothed the ribbing down. I top stitched the seam so it would lay flat. 

The cuffs and waistband were done and looked good to me. Now it was time for the zipper. 

I got this zipper from Wal-Mart. It was only a few bucks. I needed a zipper that opened at both ends for a jacket and I didn't have one on hand. You can find them on Amazon too but it was a lot cheaper at Wal-Mart.

This is only like the third zipper I have ever sewn into clothes in my lifetime. I am afraid of them. The zipper had a lot of instructions that I did not read. I just did what made sense to me. (That is how I live my life, I don't know what to tell you.) I stitched it onto the jacket like you see above. 

Then I top stitched it so it would lay flat. This also hid the serged edge from view. 

I made the collar with folded ribbing just like the waistband. I needed to attach the collar along the neck. 

It took some pinning to get the collar on correctly and evenly. 

I wanted the collar to taper down and disappear where it met the top of the zipper. I sewed it into the position I wanted and had to cut off the excess ribbing after it was attached. 

 

 

 I took this jacket on a little road trip. It was cold and snowy and I saw a huge roller skate at what seemed to be a trash truck repair center on the side of the road. I can't explain it, I just got a picture and went on my way. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 *Year End Note From Chickie- This is my all time favorite jacket!