FINISHED! A clean and natural jumpsuit!

Jumpsuits have been on my watch list for a little while now. Debbie, Christine (I challenge anyone to find a person who has made more jumpsuits than Christine!) and Rosie  have been subjected to many a jumpsuit tagged with their names on instagram.  #operationjumpsuit became almost my number one occupation.  It's a well worn story now that I originally bought the Japanese pattern book  'Clean and Natural' because of the 'all in one' in it.  I hesitated making it up because I wanted sleeves so continued to look at other patterns.  I quite like a button down jumpsuit but I often came back to the simplicity of this particular design.

Over the Easter break I finally had an 'ah ha' moment and decided to combine my two loves in Clean and Natural: the peplum top and the jumpsuit. I just can't stop with the dropped sleeve and high neck look of that peplum top. I had a whole stash of lush chambray in my stash that I'd bought from Addicted to Fabric for exactly this outfit so my perfect jumpsuit was born.

There was a bit of hacking with the top I'll admit but nothing that was particularly troublesome. It was just a matter of angling the sides in more so that there wasn't gathering required. I did put in two darts as per the original design.  Otherwise, it is basically out of the box pattern with about 3/4 inch taken off the top of the pants so they weren't quite so 'high pants'. The legs are as per the pattern so again, if you are taller than 5'2" - extend them!  I however am quite taken with the tapered crop style of these.  

The original design has elastic only at the back but after trying both options decided on elastic all the way around for a bit more 'definition'.  The back is closed with an invisible zip.  The sleeves were originally going to have elastic in the wrists, but after trying it on so many times with the sleeves rolled up this style really grew on me and I can imagine wearing it with a skivvy underneath as the weather turns even cooler.

I completely love  this make.  It is so fun to wear and goes great with my gorgeous vintage Liberty of London scarf that I received last year from the ever generous Jen. This is going to be a go to Autumn outfit for sure.  Warning - there will be more jumpsuits and in fact I bought some new Liberty the other day and when it arrived I felt like it would be perfect for another one of these jumpsuits with slightly adjusted sleeves.  Seasonally inappropriate perhaps, but yes, destined to be another jumpsuit!

Do you have a favourite jumpsuit pattern?  Will jumpsuits take off like culottes?

FINISHED! Turia Dungarees/overalls

I am bombarding your inboxes this week but I have another fun finished outfit to share and I couldn't wait any longer. I've been lucky enough to once again test for Pauline Alice.  Last year I tested the Carme blouse and this time around it's a pair of overalls / dungarees the Turia!

Pauline has style. Seriously! I didn't realise I needed a pair of overalls in my wardrobe until now.  I I love these overalls, they are cute and just so so wearable and they make me feel like I'm back at university :)

Let's talk about the details. I had a week to sew up this test version so I bought some chambray from Addicted to Fabric (yes the leftovers went into my Top Victor).  I was a bit nervous as I haven't made that many pants and there is a lot of topstitching on these, including new to me flat felled seams.  You know I love to hide my sewing in print, but I knew that if I wanted to make something that I would want to wear after testing (assuming they worked out) then they would have to be in chambray.

 

I made a size up to what I usually make (I was worried unnecessarily about the fit at my waist). The fit is spot on and there is a nice bit of room in the waist. The overalls close with a normal zip on each side (but you could easily do an invisible if you wanted - not me!) but I only need to use one for getting in and out.  I didn't make any other changes to the fit.  During testing I made a minor suggestion that the pockets could be a bit bigger on the bottom.

Overalls look like a complicated make, but I was surprised at how easily they came together. There are a few pattern pieces, lots of topstiching  but it was methodical and actually a fun make.  And I was pretty excited as well to hammer on my first bit of hardware.

Many of the seams are flat felled and the pattern comes with some simple instructions on how to do them. I found getting the stitching nice and even difficult on the flat felled seams, even with my edge stitching foot, but overall I'm pretty proud of the make and the stitching is pretty good. I used a twin needle whenever I could on the pockets.

The only area of issue was in the crotch stitching of the flat felled seam...but no one is going to see that.  Oh and I stupidly cut a small hole into the front seam of the pocket as I was flat felling. Doh.

I really like this pattern  and I'm so happy that this version worked out. I've already braved cold weather to wear these a few times with my boots and I am getting them ready for a high spring rotation. By far my favourite combination is the Pauline Alice double: turia overalls and carme blouse! 

FINISHED! Victor Chambray

This pattern is the latest of the PDF offerings from Republique du Chiffon, the Top Victor.  Roobeedoo just posted her finished Victor which looks great on her.  She added 5cms to the length which seems to be a common adjustment.

It is a very cropped style with optional detailing (using fabric paint). It caught my eye straight away for the fun boxy shape and before I knew it I was racing ahead, sewing it up with some left over chambray.  It looks like a simple make doesn't it? It is and it isn't.

Unfortunately I don't really enjoy attaching pieces (like bias binding), you know sewing one side then turning over and top stitch (like a waistband). Which is a problem when it comes to sewing as this is a pretty fundamental technique! It just has the potential to be a bit messy for me.  The sewing level of difficulty on this particular make was increased further due to the extremely visible yellow top stitching I decided to attempt.

The sleeves went in well (only unpicking the top stitching once or twice) and I was loving how it was looking.  I stumbled however at the collar, which I installed twice then unpicked not liking the results.  I worried then that it was probably too short and wondered whether I should put a band on it.  The top then sat in the cupboard while I pondered it's future.

Saturday we had social sewing, and I decided to look at finishing it and I unpicked the collar again. Sage advice from Jen suggested that I leave the bottom alone and so I hemmed it with bias binding (cut lengthwise in half) and attached at a scant 3- 4mm from the edge.  The collar went on much better the 3rd time, but again I laboured over the top stitching. It's sounding painful isn't it! (I also have another make waiting to be blogged that has an enormous amount of topstitching.  I must get a dose of prints soon to bring the levels back to normal.)

Now that it's finished, it's ok but I don't love it. I'm not really not sure how to style it  to get the right shape and silhouette (I'm not up for showing lots of skin).  These trousers are very old RTW but it struck me that they might be fun together and I like the slight bagginess of the trousers (except for when I've got my hands in my pockets !!) although the odd way that this style cross at the front is marginally annoying so it's not perfect.

I do love chambray on chambray and denim on denim which may account for the silly photos. If I grow to love this top I might need to make a matching pair of papercut pleated pants.