A Motocross Short Jacket

I don’t know if the designers at My Image (or is it Image Wear now? I think Image Wear is the name of their overall company and My Image is just the pattern magazine title) were inspired by motocross or not but this bolaro jacket feels it could have been, to me at least. If it closed in front it might actually be functional as one too with the right fabric choice (except for the shortness…). Do they have motocross or dirt biking in Europe? Seems like the type of “sport” American’s would make up.

This jacket was one of the reasons I bought this issue, so it’s really satisfying to have finally made it and have it be exactly what I thought it would be: comfortable and awesome. The color isn’t perfect, too close to my skin color so kindof a bad choice looking back (not originally bought for this project either, but the original idea would have been bad I think, and this is the perfect weight), but oh well. It works.

Pattern: My Image 1107 from Spring/Summer 2011

Pattern Description: There’s no description given that I know of. Long sleeve bolaro or short jacket with lots of style lines and decorative buttons.

Pattern Sizing: 36-44, I traced a 36 and I think it fits pretty awesomely.

Doesn’t her head look distorted? And that’s the way the magazine image is, not some weird thing that happened when I scanned the page.

Hmm, are those buttons drawn on the correct side? Not that it matters, but it doesn’t match their samples.

Fabric Used: Tan cotton duck, the weave looks like a tiny checker board and is the weight of canvas.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, there are a couple different versions made up in the magazine and I think it’s pretty accurate.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Kindof, they’re more detailed than Burda instructions but they were obviously just translated to English from Dutch and not written in English because I guess some words don’t translate or something. Like the top back shoulder piece was referred to as the shoulder pass, I don’t know what that means but you can figure out most everything from the layout and technical drawings, and context clues.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like all the style lines and the fit is really comfortable, I’m hoping it will be like a cardigan that I can wear with any tshirt and jeans. I like that it doesn’t close in front because on blazers and jackets the fronts always get in my way when I’m trying to do stuff, and this jacket is shaped just enough that it doesn’t really fall open much when bent over.

As far as sewing, not all my seams matched up perfectly but that could be because I’m not a perfectionist with tracing and cutting (pretty sure I’m never a perfectionist in sewing). I also kindof wish My Image numbered the seams like Burda does cause it’s easy to get pieces turned around if it’s not obvious where they go.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I left off the half circle sleeve piece because as far as I could tell it was just supposed to be sewn to the outside of the sleeve like a patch. Which would be fine, except this one is down by the wrist, seems to me patches on sleeves should be near the elbow. Instead I just top stitched where the seam lines would have been, but it doesn’t show up much.

Would you sew it again? Yes! It would look great in more colors or even leather. I thought about a denim version but I wear jeans most of the time and I doubt I would ever want to pair a denim jacket with jeans because that just too matchy, even different shades of denim.

Would you recommend it to others? Yes! My Image is awesome, and I assume their new envelope patterns will fit great too (they’re just a little boring to me is all)

~Molly