Wool Bomber Jacket

This gorgeous wool denim made its way to my house, Mood Fabrics' Italian Wool Denim to be exact.  

 The description is medium-weight good for boxy tops and jackets. I had it in mind for another project to mix with a wool plaid but these two fabric were not quite right for each other. After Papercut Patterns Rigel Bomber, came out,

I knew this fabric would be great for a bomber jacket. As you know, bomber jackets are all around in fashion and Meg made a fabulous one in this post.   I went with the Mood Fabrics' Antique Dark Blue 
Ribbing for the cuffs, hem band and the neckline

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 It has a soft hand but I loved the wide ribs and the look of a vintage varsity jacket, plus it went beautifully with the wool denim. I did have to make some adjustments for this ribbing as there is no lycra which means little recovery.




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 I cut all the pieces smaller to compensate for the recovery, which seemed to be just what was needed for
the fabric.

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 The bottom of the jacket was just a bit loose and didn't have the weight I felt it needed for the jacket. I had an ah-ha moment driving home from work, remembering the elastic Meg used in her jacket. I stitched a seam in the middle of the hem band and added two rows of elastic. Yes, this was just the answer for the hem band.


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 To add some interest to the jacket, I quilted the sleeves in a crosshatch pattern, using a thin piece of quilt batting, here is the wool denim after the quilting

 I felt this added just a bit of texture to the garment and plus a bit of warmth to the sleeves. You can see a bit of the quilted lines in this picture.

 Thanks to Meg's advice and her above mentioned post, I went with this Mood Fabrics' Blue and Black Small Floral Silk for the lining and used a flatline method

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 What is flatline? Well, from Meg's post, "Flatlining is a technique where the fashion fabric and lining fabric are treated as one fabric, rather than constructing the garment first and then attaching the lining."

This pattern does have a facing, which is a nice feature to cover the zipper. I hand stitched it to the silk, which by the way I love the silk, it is a perfect touch for the jacket. It makes it so much easier to wear with long sleeves and a nice way to finish the inside. Not to mention the feel of silk  

   On Pinterest I saw a white blouse with a blue bomber jacket and really liked the look, a white blouse, it just goes with everything, doesn't it? I did add 1" to the sleeves but that was my only adjustment. The idea of a denim bomber jacket really appealed to me, denim just does with so many things and I have several colors of jeans and corduroys. This wool denim was the perfect partner for these jeans, and adding a basic to my closet. I wouldn't normally wear these boots with these jeans but as you can see, a few inches of snow accumulated in the night, changing my boot plans. Then throw in a nice gusty wind and you have to keep your hair in place!

  A silver and antique gold separating zippers were in my collection and I went with the antique gold, I just liked the look of this gold metallic with the wool denim better than the silver. I guess it was just the look of old Levi jeans, which appealed to me

 This pattern was easy to construct and the most time consuming part for me was the welt pocket. If the welt is intimidating, a faux welt could be used and have the some look on the front of the jacket. Here is the welt and a close look of the texture and look of the wool denim, doesn't it look just like a pair of comfy old jeans. Well, actually it feels like a pair of comfy old jeans.

 Another great jacket for my wardrobe and I can see it with jeans, pants, over dresses, with skirts and I am so happy I jumped onto the bomber jacket wagon.

 

Construction information
here
here
and here