Men's Bomber Jacket

Pattern: BurdaStyle's Men's Quilted Jacket 12/2015 #125
Fabric: 2 yds 8.5 oz brushed canvas, 1/2 yd heavyweight rib knit, 2 yds kasha lining
Cost: $70


It's how it always happens. He saw a jacket online for $400. I proudly proclaim that I could make one even better for much less. I am forced to live up to that claim. I wait until his birthday, and then Christmas, and as the weather turned cold I was finally forced to live up to my claim...

In truth, I really like making stuff for the Mr. I like when he wears it out and gets to brag about who made it. But I have found it hard to make the time when there are so many fun things to sew for myself, and especially lately when I haven't even had the time for that. In January, however, I was finally forced to finish up this bomber jacket after gifting him the muslin for Christmas, and I'm so glad I did. 

In truth, I do think it is better than the original. It is cut to his size, has a flannel-backed satin kasha lining, and a zipper fly. He got to pick out the color, which is a nice greenish-gray. He's been wearing it a ton.



The pattern is BurdaStyle's Men's Quilted Jacket 12/2015 #125, which has really interesting princess-type seams in the front and back that end in a semi-raglan sleeve. I think this gives some nice visual interest to the jacket, but boy did those sleeves cause some fitting issues! For one, the pattern is drafted a bit boxy with semi-batwing sleeves (very low armhole). When I took in the jacket (he likes things more fitted), the low armholes significantly restricted movement. Luckily I had enough fabric to recut each sleeve and the front and back side panels (on the jacket and lining!) to fix this, but it was a lot of work. I had to redo every one of those corners on the jacket front and back and lining :( The result was totally worth it though. I ended up raising the armhole and sleeve edge by three inches, and probably could have done half an inch more. The jacket is now much more fitted and he is actually able to raise his arms.

Come to think of it, I've had a lot of patterns from BurdaStyle that feature this semi-batwing sleeve. I think it's a style choice, but it's not Mr. Made's style. It must be their European styling or something.


If I were to make this jacket again, the one thing I would do is a sloping shoulder adjustment. The jacket tends to wrinkle there at the shoulders, which is partly from shoulder shape and partly from the neckband gathering a bit too much. I looked at the pattern photo again and saw it had a similar, though less extreme, issue. Again, the half raglan half set-in shape of the sleeves makes it very difficult to do adjustments, but I'm sure it could be done with another muslin.



Overall though I'm happy to have this done and it has been getting a ton of wear. I think it's nice for him to have a jacket that finally fits his long arms, and for much less than $400! Now back to sewing girly things...

4 comments:

  1. Looks great! I'm sure he'll wear it for years. I'm so impressed with the sleeve alterations you made! I made this pretty awful fleece jacket for Eric when I was just starting, he's on the small, slim side and nothing fits. It was not a great garment and I was kind of embarrassed when he wore it out, but he was so proud. He'd tell everyone I made it, and they were strangely impressed. I finally made him stop wearing it, but he refuses to let it go :)

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  2. that jacket looks fantastic and I don't see any fit issues. looks so good on him.

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  3. how did you do the zipper fly? I don't see that in the instructions. Thanks

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    1. I drafted a little fly piece and stuck it behind the zipper between the lining and the jacket. I don't think the pattern calls for a lining either, so I definitely made some alterations. Some online tutorials can help!

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