It’s rather handy that Clare now fits into some Style Arc size 4 patterns.  She wanted a bomber jacket – and a pdf download quickly provided one!

I say quickly, but that was just getting the pattern. This jacket actually took quite a bit of time for me to sew up. It’s the Style Arc Bobbi bomber. From their website: The Bomber Jacket is the ultimate addition to your weekend wardrobe; this trend right style has become a popular alternative to the Moto Jacket. Its exposed front zip along with the stitched zip guard and rib trim makes our bomber jacket the real thing. Wear it confidently with anything. FABRIC SUGGESTION Drill, Wool, Velvet, or any suitable woven fabric. Contrast rib bands and lining.

Clare chose floral printed sweatshirt knit (a remnant from Spotlight) for her jacket.  It’s brushed on the inside, so cosy.  This is a lined jacket, and I used a purple cotton/spandex knit from stash for the lining,  The plush ribbed trim is a velvety rib knit from Lincraft.

The first step in sewing this jacket is constructing the welt pockets. I had to take this really slowly, and refer to other references in addition to the instructions that came with the pattern. I could have done with a tutorial on the Style Arc website that was specifically for these single welt pockets, where the pocket bags from different fabrics and attached after the welts have been attached. In the end patience and common sense produced a fairly satisfactory result. It’s important to refer to the markings on the pattern pieces for this one!

The shoulder panels are a lovely feature of this raglan sleeved bomber jacket. You could definitely go to town with contrasting fabrics here. We elected to keep things simple and just use the same fabric. I did add some topstitching alongside the panel seams to highlight them a little bit.

The front zipper was another stage I needed to take slowly – mostly in order to select a zipper of the right length. I have a number of zips in stash, including a whole lot of chunky zips, so this green one was selected because the length was just right and the colour coordinated fairly well. Style Arc have you make zipper guards – I think they look great and really improve the overall finish of this jacket.

Each side of zipper tape is covered in the fashion fabric, and the guard underneath is made from the fashion fabric as well. I was very pleased at how this part came together, and the collar edges all lined up perfectly too. The rib fabric used for the collar was super soft and stretchy, which was an excellent choice for this jacket.

I got Clare to try on the jacket before I added the sleeve cuffs, and we chopped about one and a quarter inches from the sleeve length as a result. Once the cuffs were on the sleeves were the perfect length for her.

I mostly bagged the lining, but decided to hand stitch any tricky corner bits from the right side so that I knew they would be as perfect as I could get them. That was a good decision, especially at the front collar/zip intersections and the bottom band intersections. Clare has worn this jacket a LOT since I sewed it. Because it was all constructed in stable knits it is comfortable, and she likes the colour and pattern. It’s a definite win. I’d like to try this pattern again for her next year in a woven. This is when I’m glad that I bought the pdf version of this pattern – because I also have the next couple of sizes up!