Reflective Bomber Jacket, Reporting for Duty

Ready for Spring in my new bomber jacket, Ligne 8 jeans, and Cole Haan oxfords! Soon all that snow will be gone, at last!

Bomber jackets have been popular for a season or two now, and I’ve finally got mine finished and ready to share! Bomber jackets, also called flight jackets, bombardier jackets or captain’s jackets, are a classic jacket style for women (and men, obviously) that never seems to go out of style, but at the moment is enjoying fanciful interpretations. What better way to recreate a classic military style than with some reflective jacket, for bombing around town on a bike?! Using the McCalls 7100 pattern, I opted for fully reflective sleeves, using some of the fabric I got through my Australian blogger friend Oanh. It has a cool pattern, and oh by the way, is amazingly reflective.

The pattern instructions were a bit challenging, and twice I had to rip out stitches and start over. The zipper I used is actually glow-in-the-dark, although I’m sad to say that it’s hard to see it glow in a photo. The zipper was longer than I needed, and since I don’t have zipper stops, I just faked it and stitched it straight into the seam. It doesn’t look as bad as you might think! The pockets were very easy, because they are set into a seam, however. I opted to flat-line the sleeves, because I disagreed with the way the instructions would have you sew in a dart then trim them, so you’d either have a raw or serged edge right on your shoulder. I am much happier with the lining.

Glow-in-the-dark zipper!

The shoulders actually look pretty nice, I think.

The only bummer part of this garment is that the sleeves are too short. It’s more annoying because I lengthened the sleeves on my SF Fog sweatshirt and they ended up too long, and after measuring the pattern piece, these seemed like they’d be okay. Alas, no – just a tad bit too short. All the better to show off bracelets, I guess! I was also a bit worried that the ribbed band on that sweatshirt rides a bit more snugly than I would prefer, so I made the band on this jacket a bit more relaxed. Although I’m wearing it here with jeans, I can see this going well with skirts and trousers, so it will be a good wear-to-work piece also. Yay for multifunctional!

Fine, you are saying, let’s see it reflecting! Here you are: Once the weather is warm enough to not need a heavy coat, this will be a great evening biking piece. It will be hard to miss me when my arms light up so much!

I will wear this to the Women & Bikes Forum on Tuesday (March 10, 2015), along with my Ligne 8 jeans, so if you are there, you will recognize me. I always like to wear my bike fashion sewing project to bike events, and it’s important for me to now have something new for each one. I am really excited about the Forum, and looking forward to hearing all the speakers.

Now that this is done, I’m ready to move on to other projects. Besides my wedding dress conversion, I’ve got plans for a bucket bag (drafting the pattern myself), jumpsuit, top and I’m considering culottes. Culottes are very in this spring, and I am a bit on-the-fence about them.  Maybe shorter ones, just below the knees, would be good for biking – full enough to mimic an A-line skirt, split for ease and comfort, but not so long that the fullness would get caught in the chain rings (it’s happened more frequently than I’d prefer). But am I brave enough to wear them?! Only time will tell…

McCalls 7099

If you read my blog regularly, this will seem familiar. I’ve been wanting to make it for ages! McCalls 7099

Vogue 9087 – with a fully reflective panel

Vogue 9087

Vogue 9091 Culottes – no front pleats, I distrust them.

Vogue 9091 Culottes