Terra's Treasures P51 Flyer Jacket

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Can you feel it!?!??!?  The Boy's Bundle is almost here.... which means it is time to start sharing the final two patterns in the Bundle.  Outerwear may not be for the faint of heart, but it is one of my personal passions as it can get the most wear of anything I sew - particularly for my boys!  Outerwear means details, means time consumption, and also mean that sigh of ultimate glory when you hold up your finish garment and exclaim to the world, 'I MADE THAT!' 

Today's pattern is the P51 Flyer by Terra's Treasure - let's just say this pattern is A-FREAKIN-MAZING.  Not only is it stylish with a professional finish, the size range is perfectly appropriate for toddler through teen!  Here is Becca to share all the details with you!

Hellooooooooooooo ladies! Boy do I have a charmer for you today (and a super cool jacket, too!). Meet my flirt ..er.. son, Everett. (He's growing up right before our bloggy-eyes, is he not??)

Terra's Treasures P51 Flyer Jacket Sewing Pattern Review on @pdfrevolution by @BeccaDPhoto | Euro poplin prints from www.mabelmadison.com

Like most boys of a sewing momma, this poor little fella is totally shafted in the momma-made department. There are so few patterns to inspire me, and too few fabrics to make them in.

....And then the Boy Bundle blew right on in and shook up everything I thought I knew about boy sewing.

I saw this guy:

I mean, how COOL is that jacket!? I just knew I had to make it!

But I immediately ran into trouble. See, I moved to San Francisco with a VERY limited stash, and I didn't have the suggested types of fabrics. (For the record, those are: soft leather, faux leather, corduroy, denim, wool, sweatshirt fabric, waxed cotton, duct cloth) All I had was a couple cuts of Euro Poplin from Mabel Madison. Quality stuff, but not jacket weight!

Until I remembered this project and my recent lessons in interfacings. I'd mistakenly purchased this interfacing online:

Maybe... just maybe this poplin jacket of mine would work out afterall! A quick google search confirmed that this interfacing could be used to reinforce a jacket (and you know, if it's on the internet it must be true!).

So, fun tip #1, stitch this up in any cotton fabric you have on hand, just pair it with the right interfacing!

Back on track, I got to work taping, and cutting... and cutting some more, and yes, more cutting. There's lots and lots of pattern pieces here, and most every piece needs a main and a lining cut (and if you're stubborn-ERR-resourceful like me, you can add a layer of interfacing into the mix!). 

I also substituted leftover fleece from this project in place of the suggested sherpa lining.

Cut this jacket without distractions!  Wait until the kids are in bed or off to school, and avoid social media like the plague. I mistakenly cut on folds and off folds, mirror image, all kinds of wack-a-do errors on my part. I was able to salvage my cutting errors, but you'll notice my jacket is mirror image.

^^^ My thoughts exactly when I realized I cut the fabric wrong. DOH!

Let's just pretend it's opposite day, ok?? :) 

Onto pattern deets!

  • Sizes 12m-16 (WOW!)Talk about mileage - you'll get more than a decade's use out of this pattern! 
  • Complete with yardage requirements (ranging from 1 3/4 yard - 3 3/4 yard) and measurement chart. I sized up for my growing boy, and per pattern recommendation when working with thicker fabrics (like my now heavily interfaced version!) It's definitely big now, but should be a perfect fit in time for cooler weather!
  • 21 pages of instructions and corresponding images. I had trouble on a few steps though, where I wish the images had been zoomed out some so I could get my bearings.
  • 40 pages of pattern pieces. Looots of taping and cutting, remember?
  • Give yourself plenty of time to sew this up. I'm comfortable with zipper installation and have even made this sort of jacket before. Remember this guy from Issue 3 of One Thimble?? Still, the flyer jacket still took me most of a day. (Though, who is to say how much of that time was spent un-doing my initial fabric cutting errors?)

So Flyer round 1 took a lot of time and fabric, but I choose to call it an investment in my sewing education. And making those mistakes so you won't have to ;) Even so, I'm excited to start round two!