Hasty Irregular Patchwork Bomber

I'm working on a slightly more involved irregular, multi-texture patchwork bomber jacket, and not feeling the most enthusiastic about it.  On Sunday, I decided that I wanted to use some large knit remnants--that I'd already decided would work together well for something--to make a quicker irregular patchwork bomber jacket for a friend I'd be seeing on Tuesday.

I finished it Monday night! 

 

It is cheerful and silly and meant to wear like a layer of blanket.  And it used a nice little amount of bulky fabric bits!

Mulberry Bouclé

After finishing the oversize bomber for a friend, I really wanted to make an oversize bomber for me.  Yes, I have made many bomber jackets for me over the years, but they have been considerably less generous in width and, especially, length.  I wanted this to be big.

I didn't feel like doing patchwork for this, though.  My last visit to the craft thrift store had turned up some dark pink toned wool bouclé, which the previous owner had cut sleeves from, then folded the sleeves and everything back up and did no more with.  I figured I'd make a blazer from it...until I decided I wanted to make a big bomber.  I knew the existing cut sleeve wouldn't be wide enough, but I figured I could use part of it, and add a seam to make a mock two-part sleeve.

There was the big question of which knit to use for the bands.  I have a lot of a pale salmon-y pink (also from the craft thrift store) that does coordinate, but I didn't like the idea of having lighter bands with the dark shell.  On a whim, I dug out what was left of the chintz print knit (used for a dress, a shirt, and in the patchwork cardigan) and tried to judge if it would coordinate well with the wool.  (Yes, that knit fabric is also from the craft thrift store.)  I decided that it didn't matter if it coordinated well--I just liked the idea of using it.

And then, for lining, I decided to coordinate with the floral print, and use the light blue charmeuse I picked up at the craft thrift store the same day I got the wool.

It is, perhaps, a bit more luxurious than I planned.  That's always nice.

Animal Crossed Patchwork Bomber

I have recently started playing Animal Crossing Wild World for the first time, and I have read enough to know that I'll need to interact with someone else who has the game to be able to get the final version of the Nook store.  I have a local friend who had been thinking of starting Wild World for the first time, too, and we'll help each other with that store interaction.  

To thank the friend, I made this

 

 which contains a smattering of licensed Animal Crossing fabric

Gengar-inspired Thanks

 Went with the friend to the craft thrift store again today--I wanted to bake something as thanks, but the forecast was for Ridiculously Hot today, and I worried that any food stored in the car would essentially be an incubator for any untoward pathogens that might have found their way onto it.  So I decided to sew something instead.

Friend is a Gengar fan, and we had also recently been discussing the relative lack of sequins in this friend's wardrobe, so this was a given.

Skater Skater Alligator Bomber Bomber Jacket

 A friend helped with some things this week--I had already baked something as Thanks, but, yesterday, I decided I wanted to make something more.  And I wanted to use the grommet press to install some spring snaps.  Because that's not something that just anyone has the equipment to do.

Initially I thought it would be a simple bag, so I looked through my fabric for something that seemed suitable for this friend, and this caught my eye

This friend likes bright colors (I made this jacket as thanks for them for something else), roller skating (which...close...), reptiles, and tackiness.  Someone sent me this fabric a few years ago, and I've been hanging onto it because...well.  Look at it.

What isn't apparent in this photo is that it's essentially a border print, with the print radiating from a packed geometric stripe at the center fold to the selvedges...and that's why I thought that maybe it wouldn't be so great for a bag after all, because there is a slight natural crosswise stretch of the woven cotton due to the weft yarns being weaker than the warp yarns, and that would also mean the weaker direction of the fabric would be the load-bearing direction in a bag.

At that point, though, I really wanted to use this fabric for this Friend Thanks project (I had considered, for years, using it for something for the kiddo, but his Ironic Humor Standards change so often that even if he liked it when I made it, he might not care about it a week later just because it's no longer the right kind of funny.)  As the title of this post indicates, I decided to make a bomber jacket.

There was just enough fabric.

Floral Cascade Bomber

 Even with the need to fussy cut for pattern matching, there was still quite a bit of that floral and stripe knit left from the previous project.  I wanted to use enough of it that whatever was left wouldn't take up much storage space, so...hey...how 'bout another jacket?

I used Stretch & Sew 1027, which I'd traced and modified a few years ago to make a gift.  Even before starting the project, I wasn't sure if I'll keep this jacket, so I wanted to make it in a size that could suit more people than the New Look bomber I usually make.

It certainly used up a good amount of remaining fabric.

Spider Bomber

So, a few months ago, I had a dream that lace bomber jackets were The Big Thing, and, in that dream, I had to be different and make one from one of the spiderweb laces I have.  I woke up and thought that seemed like an interesting idea, and furthermore decided that, since (at that time) the only other bomber jacket I'd made had used a foiled synthetic Halloween novelty fabric, I should use the foiled synthetic mock lace net Halloween novelty fabric that was in my stash.  (I also dd a search on "lace bomber jacket" and discovered that they were indeed A Thing, just not A Big Thing.  I'll call my dream idea 'convergent fashion evolution.')

I filed the idea into the "someday I'll sew it" realm and then kinda forgot about it.  Then a friend's birthday came along and I decided I wanted to sew something for them, but what?  What should I sew for my friend...the friend who loves Halloween...the friend with the big tarantula tattoo...hmmm...  Well.  As obvious as it seems now, it took a while to let the thoughts percolate past the initial "sew doll things!" default.

And I'm glad I did.