The seed for sewing the Beryl Bomber Dress was planted during Sew My Style 2017. The chosen pattern for  December 2017 was a pattern from the then not yet launched Named Clothing AW17 New Collection. Although I gave up the Sew My Style challenge,  I kept following it on IG and blogs. So, when Named Clothing launched their AW17 Collection, it was the Beryl Bomber Dress that caught my attention. I love the design of a bomber jacket and I find it very clever of Named Clothing to use this design and turn it into a dress! Then it only took me nearly a year to sew one for myself!

Bomber Jackets

Whenever I think about bomber jackets this photo of ca. 1944 comes to mind. It’s a group of Women Airforce Service Pilots leaving their B-17. Look at their cool bomber jackets! And they named their B-17 “Pistol-Packin’ Mama”!

The Beryl Bomber Dress pattern

The Beryl Bomber Dress pattern consists of 9 pieces. As I planned to sew the dress I ordered a printed A0 pdf-pattern at Patternsy. This was my first time I used this platform and I was 100% satisfied. You upload your pattern, they email you the price and if you agree, they print your pattern on very usable tissue paper. And it only takes a few days!

Based on the finished measurements I cut out size 46. I lengthened the sleeves with 4 cm (2 cm under the biceps line and 2 cm under the elbow line).  Further, I lengthed the hem and the facing with 4  cm.

The Fabric

I bought this fabric at my small local fabric store. It’s a knit of medium weight with an unknown composition. The fabric salesman in this store is a man of few words. So when I asked about it he just shrugged. I was attracted to the combination of the colours and the black design lines.
Somehow I thought that I needed a knit for the Beryl Bomber dress but after reading the instructions thoroughly I discovered this wasn’t the case. Luckily this fabric has only a minor stretch percentage so it worked out well.
One downside of this fabric is that threads are easily caught on desks and chairs. So I don’t know if the dress is going to lead a long life???

For the collar and sleeve cuffs, I used a strong black rib knit with small golden speckles.

When I started to cut out the pattern pieces I became aware that I had to do some stripe matching! You wouldn’t say it at first glance when you see the fabric. But when the seams were a little askew it disturbed me a lot. So, I cut out the pieces on a single layer of fabric.

The sewing process

The sewing of the Beryl Bomber dress was fun. Sewing the collar and the zipper were a bit challenging but I liked it. The instructions are clear with crisp designs. I followed them for about 90%.

As I worked with a knit fabric I used my overlocker for all the seams. I machine basted (stitch length 5) the collar and finished it too with the overlocker. To reach a perfect fabric matching I hand basted the zipper and the pockets.

Conclusion

I’m very, very happy with my Beryl Bomber Dress. I wore it a lot already for several occasions. It’s extremely comfortable, due to the knit fabric I guess. I wore it during a two-hour flight and it never felt uneasy.
Will I sew more? I hope to. Also because my daughter and daughter-in-law expressed their enthusiasm for this model and design. Now, I just have to find some time (an old story I know!).