BOMBER HACK – cozy coat

# how to make a really cool bomber jacket with the cozy coat sewing pattern

Hi Guys!

Ever since I made the first #TRCOZYCOAT prototype I had this bomber hack in mind – I really love bomber jackets, I always have. There‘s something about the elegant proportions but also the general casualness that really works for me. My personal style has always been casual with a bit of preppy, a little bit sporty but trying to keep it elegant – a little bit chic!

For my cozy coat bomber hack I have kept everything as minimal as possible – to keep the focus on the quilting. Have I mentioned that I really like quilting?

I didn‘t have to buy any fabrics for this project as I had everything kind of in my stash already. So I‘ve actually planned the whole bomber hack around the materials I already had at home…

How I made the bomber hack

pattern modifications

The pattern modifications are super easy. First things first I cropped the cozy coat at the hip crop line. You can also go longer or shorter – that’s up to you.

I‘ve added a simple waistband which is just as wide as the front and the back ( like all the way around minus seam allowance), I’ve cut mine to be around 12 cm. The idea is to fold the waistband in half and stitch it with around 1,5 cm (⅝”) SA – which will result in a visible 5,5 cm and is enough for a 4-5 cm/2” elastic and has a bit of wiggle room hahaha 🙂

The cuffs are exactly the same because I made one long strip for both the waist band and the cuffs, super easy.

I would recommend to lower and widen the neckline by around 1 cm ( the seam allowance) I’ve overlooked this little step and the collar is a bit narrow but still ok.

materials

The main fabrics that I use are all kinds of linen. Mostly small scraps that I have been collecting and hoarding over the last year. Some pieces have neon yellow prints on them. I did a whole month of experimenting with fibre art a few months back with my graduate students, and printing with hand made stamps was one of the techniques We explored.

I went for super easy abstract shapes – it’s a bit like potato printing but much easier. The PVA foam is soft like butter and you can cut it easily, it’s also super absorbent and a bit bouncy so it’s perfect for simple prints .

Let‘s have some fun!

The patch-worked linen scraps are freely pieced – freestyle so to say. In the first part of my youtube video I’m focussing on creating interesting combinations of the fabric scraps, I usually create random patchwork pieces mainly with a kind of log hut pattern and by cutting and sewing it again and again…. Afterwards I cut everything into easy 15 x 15 cm (6” x6”) blocks and start creating patterns with them.

It’s a bit like painting with linen, playing with different compositions and creating different forms and shapes from the random blocks. It’s like a puzzle with many different possibilities and the neon prints are just so awesome! They glow in black light but already pop in cool daylight 3500K ( which is oh so popular in Asia)

bomber hack toile – template

Once I had my bomber hack lay-out and composition figured out I had to fine tune it to fit the pattern. Working with the paper pattern wasn’t really convenient so I first cut the pattern form calico and then stitched the shoulders together and added the sleeves.

Fun fact, since both the shoulder seam and the armhole are straight and without any ease, the pattern can be made from one big piece. This is really brilliant if you are a visual person like me, the whole jacket at a glance, flat on the table.

Amazing!

I patch worked the entire bomber jacket in one go which eliminated the shoulder seams and the armholes. It‘s much easier to get a nice finish like this and the fit is really good without those seams.

So – I’ve used the calico prototype as my guide and assembled all the blocks and then cut the patchwork with the help of the prototype into the final shape. I’ve then pinned the patch-work to my backing material, in this case I went for french terry. Jerseys come in much wider qualities here in Thailand and my French Terry is a good 2 m wide , which was just enough for the crop length. You can also make a center back seam for the backing If your fabric isn’t as wide.

I didn’t want to use extra wadding because the jersey has a fluffy wrong side anyway and I don’t want it to be too hot. Thailand isn’t a jacket country per se – but then again this one is going to be my new travel jacket – I’m finally going to see my family after 2,5 years! Yay!

bomber hack Quilting time

Now that the basic shape is there and the backing as well it’s time to prepare for quilting. My strategy is usually as many pins as possible and securing the edges, in this case I overlocked the whole thing, but a basting stitch works just as well. Here and there I also like to hand stitch instead of pinning .

The first round of quilting were straight lines, basically following the blocks or other interesting lines within the blocks, I did that everywhere to generally attach the linen to the jersey. I did this with my regular heavy duty sewing machine, for the decorative free motion embroidery I then switched to my Bernina. I didn’t have a real plan for the motifs and pattens but a few ideas from Instagram hahah. I just love to go with the flow. I don’t like repetition too much because I easily get carried away , bored and just go rogue every time.

Next step, side seams

Once the quilting was done, I made lots and lots of bias tape with the continuous bias tape hack and went on to bind all 4 sides from waist to cuff. I made 2” (5cm) bias tape for a ½” (1,27cm) visible edge, this works well with the 1,5cm (5/8”)seam allowance – the side seams are a simple right sides facing open seam.

Waistband & cuffs

My next step was to attach the waistband to the waist and cuffs to the sleeves & then to add elastic…Like I mentioned earlier I made one long strip of linen patchwork and cut it to size once the side seams were done. No need to calculate before hand.

I should have added the pockets before I stitched the sides together… but I hadn’t made up my mind yet at that point ….

Upgrading the BOMBER hack with nifty pockets

I really wasn’t into slapping on huge patch pockets onto my bomber hack – hiding all of the prettiness. So I came up with something else, not sure what to call them though…. It took me forever and I added them at the least convenient moment imaginable – but they are great and exactly what I didn’t know I wanted …hehehe

So I actually just made an opening that is pretty much like the faced drawstring opening from the lazy pants, but big enough to fit a hand. I’ve then topstitched egg shaped pocket bags to the inside of the jacket. Because I also didn’t want a lining nor pocket bags dangling around.

You would ideally want to add the pockets while the sides are still open and everything is easy to reach. It makes it also easier to mark and place the pocket opening.

You can use the pocket bag piece to mark and position the pocket opening on the right side of the fabric . I found that it works best for me about 5 cm (2”) from the center front and about an inch from the bottom. Mark from the wrong side where the pocket bag needs to go.

Cozy Coat Bomber hack YouTube video

GET THE PATTERN IN MY BOUTIQUE

You can find the pattern pieces here in my little boutique as a free download

If you would like to make your own oversized bomber hack check out my #TRCOZYCOAT sewing pattern