BAM! – Golden Snake Foil Bomber Jacket

Sometimes all you need to get out of a sewing slump is one meter of golden snake skin polyester. In past posts, I’ve talked about the unusual quiet on this blog in the past months. I didn’t get much sewing done in 2016 and even though I missed it, I had been feeling far too restless to sit down quietly at my machine, working patiently on a project. I expected 2017 to be the same. I was just in a slump. Until this jacket happened.

It all started when I realized how much my style had changed. Suddenly, I remembered that I always wanted to own a golden mini skirt. This resulted in an impulse-order of golden swatches, one of which being this crazy snakefoil polyester. And then I realized that I could also make a jacket. A golden bomber jacket! Hell yes!

I sewed this one over the course of one or two weeks and was so excited that I even wore it before it was completely finished. Making and wearing this jacket was so much fun! And I have never received more comments on something handmade – from housemates, colleagues, fellow students, waitresses at restaurants, … even from my dad!

Okay, let’s talk fabric and pattern then, shall we?

Sewing with Golden Snake Foil Fabric

The fabric is a polyester spandex mix called „Snake Foil“. I ordered 1,5 meters of this beauty and still have more than enough left for a mini skirt. The fabric was interesting to work with. It’s a jersey, but without a lot of stretch, so although I started with stretch stitches, I got more courageous very quickly and sewed most of the seams in straight stitches. This was my third time making single welt pockets and I love how they turned out. If you’re planning to sew with this fabric, I would definitely recommend a light interfacing for the pockets – I made one with and one without and the interfaced one looks so much neater.

I lined my bomber jacket in 100% cotton interlock knit. In hindsight, I probably could have just gone with a woven since the snakefoil isn’t all that stretchy (and silk or viscose lined sleeves work much better when taking the jacket on and off). But the interlock adds a nice thickness to the otherwise pretty thin outer fabric.

Pattern and Instructions

The pattern is this blouson jacket from an old Burda magazine. It had some details I didn’t like, but those were easy to eliminate (a long waistband, a v-neck and 3/4-length sleeves). I’m still not sure about the overcut shoulders, though. They look okay in this case, but I would probably draft another version with »normal« shoulders should I sew this pattern again. Also, in case I just awoke your desire to own a golden bomber jacket – mark my words and don’t use the Burda pattern. Unless you’re an experienced sewer, I would recommend using one with decent instructions, like the Papercut Patterns Rigel Bomber

As far as instructions go, I dropped the Burda ones as usual and mostly went with my gut and these tutorials from Mood: How to Sew a Reversible Bomber Jacket and DIY Free Reversible Bomber Jacket.

Alright, did I inspire you to add some sparkly golden madness to your closets? Great! I’m looking forward to seeing them on all y’all’s blogs very soon :-D If not, let me know about the craziest thing you’ve ever sewn in the comments.