Bomber Jacket

Bomber Jacket

This is the free Floral Bomber Jacket pattern, size 2T,  from Sew A Little Seam. I have a new niece or nephew due in June and I know that a size 2T will not fit for quite awhile, but I had an ideal combination of remnants from other project to use I was looking forward to trying out a new pattern.  There are five different fabrics in this project and they're all scraps leftover from previous projects.  Since I do not know if the intended recipient of this jacket with be a boy or a girl, I opted for a very neutral color palette. The gray knit on the front and back and the black sleeve cuffs are from two separate hoodie projects, the black waist band and collar are from a recent shirt dress, the white and gray stripe lining is from two shirts, and the print fabric on one of the sleeve lining is from a long-sleeved shirt.

Some of the fabric selections

The pattern was a pdf that was easy to tape together and cut out. I opted not to add pockets to this version, but I do like how they look in the pictures on the Sew a Little Seam website.

Cutting the lining

The gray that I chose for the body was reversible and I chose to go with the side that had the more noticeable stripes.

Back side of fabric

Front view, fabric right side out

Serging seams 

Most of the seams were done with my serger and I am pleased with their finished look.

Sleeve and side seams

The bottom band was clipped on and then the seam serged as well.

Adding bottom band

I did not have quite enough striped fabric for the lining, so one sleeve does not match. No one will see that inside the coat.

Mis-matched sleeves

Lining ready to be attached to coat

After installing the zipper and adding the collar, the instructions for attaching the lining to the coat were straight-forward.  When attaching the lining at the sleeve cuffs I was not able to get all of the fabric under the serger foot and ended up sewing that on the machine.  The lining was attached to the collar with hand sewing.

Lining at collar

Collar

 I really like the look of the standup collar on this jacket and I hope it will be comfortable for my niece or nephew to wear.

Finished jacket

Finished jacket: back

Four different fabrics in this pic

I was very pleased with how well this pattern went together and will probably make it again when I have a good selection of fabric scraps to use up.  Right now, I only have the one pattern size, but it is available for sale on the Sew A Little Seam website as the Ollie Bomber Jacket in a pdf pattern sizes 12 months to 12 years.  If I purchase the pattern I could use it for the next several years.

This was a fun project to work on and I would be happy to sew another one.

Pink and Green Girl's Dress for Spring

Girl's dress for spring

This project was started several years ago by my aunt. She was sewing for her grandchildren. Before she finished though, the girls had out grown the dress and she decided not to finish it. When she moved homes, this didn't go with her and I added it to my pile of UFO's. Yesterday, I finally decided to try to finish the dress. The picture below shows what had been done on the dress by the time I got it. The pattern is McCall's M6270 and my best guess is a size 2. The top had already been finished and would only need the button added on the back.  All the pieces for the ruffles and the body of the dress were included and only pattern number 6 needed to be sewn on the sides.

Great start, all the pieces are here and the ruffle hems are finished

My aunt had already meticulously finished the ruffle pieces with wonderful pink trim and the neckline had pink bias tape.

I'd like to learn how to such small serged trim

Neckline is perfect

There are 5 different fabrics, six if you include the bias tape, used in the dress and all are well-coordinated pinks and greens. I didn't have the exact color of pink thread used originally, but I found something relatively close. I used my Bernina 1230 for this project and it worked well. After finishing the bottom ruffles and attaching them to the dress, I used some of the remaining fabric to cut out a lining.

Cutting lining

Lining in dress

For the back button, the choice was between a white and clear button. Final decision was to go clear.

Look how nicely those plaids match up

This was my first button loop. I know that the girl who ends up wearing this dress will not be able to fasten it herself but it should be quick for someone helping her.

Button with button loop

The finished dress. I really don't know if any of my nieces can still fit into this dress, but I'm happy to have it completed and it was fun to work with such bright colors.

Front view

Back view