I was on a crowded BART train and saw this bomber jacket on a woman standing next to me and immediately thought, “I want to make that!”
I love the look of the venise lace sleeves. I have a large scrap of venise lace that I got in New York a couple of years ago for just about $2. It would be perfect for the sleeves. Here’s the lace.
I have no idea how I would deal with the raw edges. I could leave them unfinished but I would rather have a cuff of ribbing. I don’t know how that would look. Or maybe I could line the sleeves with a mesh and then sandwich that in between the ribbing. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments below.
I began looking at bomber jacket patterns. Because I have a limited amount of lace, I think I need to avoid raglan sleeves, which would use too much fabric. I’m going to include some of the raglan sleeve patterns at the end of this post for future reference. I think raglan sleeves are the classic bomber jacket design.
I’ve made plenty of longer jackets so it will be fun to make something that’s shorter than the four Pilvi Coats I’ve made (ponte knit, colorful fabric, big faces fabric, blue version).
Bomber Jackets with Inset Sleeves
Here are a few possibilities, in alphabetical order.
Amelia Bomber Jacket, PDF sewing pattern by Wardrobe by Me, $12, sizes 0-16 (US), 30-36 (European)
This pattern is designed for medium-weight woven fabrics. The PDF is for letter-size and A4 paper. Note: no copy shop version.
Jalie’s Charlie Bomber Jacket, $12.99 (Canadian), paper, $11.99 PDF, $17.98 for paper and PDF, 27 sizes (girls, women, plus sizes)
This pattern is for knits or stretch wovens. I’ve always heard great things about Jalie patterns, which focus on knit fabrics. I have one cardigan pattern by them but I still haven’t made it. I love that their patterns come in so many sizes. My lace isn’t a stretch lace so I can’t use this pattern but I will keep it in mind for a knit fabric bomber jacket.
McCall’s M7637 Misses and Men’s Bomber Jacket, $19.95 paper and PDF (cheaper at Joann’s or when there’s a sale), sizes S-3X
This pattern has collar and pocket variations, plus you can also make a hoodie sweatshirt.
Mimi G Bomber Jacket 8222 – from Simplicity, $12.57, sizes 6-22
Mimi G has lengthened the traditional jacket from high hip to mid-thigh. This pattern is for stretch knits.
Mood Fabrics’ Free Reversible Bomber Jacket
You can get this PDF pattern as a free download when you sign up for Mood’s newsletter. The pattern includes women’s sizes (0-16) and men’s sizes (XXS to 4X).
Bomber Jackets with Raglan Sleeves
BurdaEasy Zip Up Blousons FS/2014
This pattern has three variations (short sleeves and pocket variation) $5,99, sizes 34-44, no seam allowances in this PDF pattern
Burdastyle Plus Size Hooded Jacket B6489, $7.77, paper pattern, sizes 18-32 (US), 44-58 (European)
You can make a jacket or a hoodie with this pattern.
The Midway Bomber Jacket, a PDF pattern by Greenstylecreations, $10, sized XXS-3X
New Look Flight Jacket 6545, $4.29, sizes 6-18
Papercut Patterns Riegel Bomber Jacket, $30 NZD for paper, $20 for PDF, sizes XS-XL
This is a little shorter than the traditional bomber jacket and the neckline is also a little lower. It’s a sexy cropped version.
Style Arc Bobbi Bomber Jacket, $19 AUD, paper; $17 AUD, PDF, sizes 4-30
The description says it has “panelled raglan sleeves.” From the photo, it appears that the sleeves have three panels, instead of being one pattern piece.
Obviously, I found more raglan-sleeve patterns than inset sleeves. I think I need to measure my lace scrap and see exactly how much I have. Maybe I should see if I could squeeze two raglan sleeves on it. What’s your favorite bomber jacket pattern? Which one would you pick?
BurdaStyle has some “blouson jackets” that might fit the bill — https://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/blouson-jacket-022013
This one is raglan and open fronted, but look at the sleeve ends, they may inspire you: https://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/open-jacket-022018
Thank you, Sara! I will check those out. 🙂
I like Street Style’s 025 bomber jacket with raglan sleeves. There are video tutorials on YouTube for it, too. But if you can’t get the longer raglan sleeve, I like the McCall’s M7637 pattern.
As for the sleeve hem on the lace, if you don’t do a ribbed cuff, you can cut the lace at the sleeve hem on the edge of the larger motifs, adding extra cut-out lace motifs from your scraps to even up the sleeve edge so there aren’t any raw/frayed edges, and the sleeve edge isn’t too zig-zag. If you can find pictures of bridal dresses with lace sleeves, you’ll get an idea of what I mean.
You can also use this technique to ‘extend’ your lace fabric if there isn’t enough length or width in the right place – just add on the motifs cut from elsewhere.
Thanks for letting me know about the video tutorials. I will need to measure that piece of lace to see if I can squeeze a raglan sleeve on it. I need to look at more lace sleeves to see how they finish the edges.
I just made the Jalie out of a woven, including the sleeves–they’re quite wide so there’s no problem.
Oh, good to know that the sleeves have plenty of ease. Thanks, Wendy!
I like the sexy cropped version for the lace. Lace is definitely sexy.
It is a cute pattern but I think a longer length would go with more of my wardrobe.