Sewing for men: a bomber jacket

Sewing menswear is one of my favourite things to do. Finding interesting patterns is often the hardest part, so I was very happy to see a men's capsule wardrobe pop up in pattern magazine Knipmode last year.
The April 2017 issue had a pattern for a bomber jacket that I wanted to make straight away. Well, sort of. It only took me 18 months to actually start ;)

KM1704-23

The pattern is still available as pdf or printed pattern here in the Knipmode webshop

When I'm sewing for mr Foxgloves I always need to make length adjustments. He is 1.96 m tall and the pattern is drafted for 1.84 m. So before ordering the zippers I made flat pattern adjustments, followed by a muslin.

The muslin gave rise to mixed reactions. On IG someone mentioned it would make a nice garment for a 80-year old, while others (including mr F) liked it. Given the lack of plaid matching - amongst other flaws - I decided that no husband of mine would be seen out in public in this garment. I had to act fast and deconstruct it immediately, as mr Foxgloves had already declared this his perfect gardening jacket.

We had a little debate about the best length for a bomber jacket, which was settled when we saw the tv weather man sport two different bomber jackets on consecutive days. We agreed that one was obviously too long, while the other version was just right.

For the outer shell I used a navy cotton twill. The jacket is half lined and there was a request for a colourful paisley lining. I searched high and low but couldn't find it. We went for a flannel plaid in matching shades of blue from the stash, but there definitely needed to be more colour on the insides. Hong Kong seam finishing was the way to go!

When you go to the trouble of sewing over 9 meters of Hong Kong seams it's nice to see the recipient appreciates your efforts!

See?

The pattern has a few nice details, like padded and quilted shoulder yokes, large pockets and a smaller zipped pocket on the left sleeve.

Except for the length adjustments and adding a hanging loop I didn't change a thing.

The tiny pocket is perfect for a bank card or some coins and is used on Saturday morning's bike run for freshly baked buns.

What more is there to say? Perhaps you're wondering about arm movement?

Check!

The back?

Yeah. When your model starts frolicking around you know the session is over.

One last one, just because.

Mr Foxgloves is very happy with his jacket and I'm planning to sew for him more often. On weekdays he's always wearing serious business attire so it's nice to have casual garments with a fun and personalized twist.

Ehm, did I mention serious business attire??

Happy holidays!