Burda Bomber Jacket

I've been sewing! Baby boy and I have worked out a way for me to get my sewing fix in and I've been loving it. Thanks for all of the encouragement and advice! Here's how it's been working: my cutting table is on wheels so I've been rolling it over to the kitchen and getting my cutting done while the baby is up. He loves to crawl around on the floor for most of the day. Doing the cutting in the kitchen allows me to keep an eye on him and he doesn't have to be cooped up in the sewing room which doesn't go over well for long. As far as the actual sewing, I do need to wait until the baby goes to sleep for this. So I've been staying up for a couple of hours, a few times a week to sew. It's football season so it's working out well with the hubby too. He watches the games, I get my sewing in!

This is from the 10/2009 issue of Burda. It is from their "Take 1, make 4" section and is style 129. There's actually another jacket in the same section that I have fabric for. I didn't renew my Burda subscription for a couple of reasons. Although I usually like at least 3-4 things from an issue, I wasn't keeping up with sewing them. I also found that there were a lot of duplicate styles from issue to issue. There's only so many times you can see the safari theme! I may subscribe again at a later time but there's still so many styles I would like to sew from my current collection.

I used a wool blend from Hancock Fabrics and a polyester lining. It also needs ribbed knit for the collar, cuffs, and waistband. I couldn't for the life of me find a separating zipper that was long enough for the jacket! I didn't check online- perhaps there's some online sources out there. The jacket calls for a zipper up to 28 inches long depending on your size. I think the longest I found was 23". I tried to make this work because I knew I wouldn't be zipping the jacket up all the way anyway, but the shorter zipper just didn't look right. So I ripped the dang thing out and used large snaps instead. I'm pleased with the substitution- I still get the look I was going for.

The jacket is rated "intermediate difficulty, for advanced learners". I think it was a bit more challenging than they rate it. The instructions are vague, per the usual Burda, and I found myself just sitting there trying to go over in my mind the way things were supposed to go together. I was really intimidated by the welt pockets which I don't know if I've ever made before. I almost chickened out and made faux welts by just sewing the welt band in place. But with the help of some online searching and my Vogue Sewing book, I did the real thing! The rest of the jacket went together pretty smoothly.

Here's a close up of the cuffs.

My welt pockets turned out pretty well, I think!






I wore this out and about today. The temperature is cold over here! It was in the 30's today but felt even colder with the wind. Even with the wool and the lining, the jacket is still pretty lightweight so I did feel the bite of the cold today. But... it looks cute so that's all that matters, right?

Oh, and I created a Burda Style account finally! As far as I can tell it has the feel of Facebook but within the fashion and sewing community. This is my first project on there. Check it out!

~Jenny