Goldenrod Yellow Denim Jenny Overalls

Overalls are my work-at-home wear of choice. Comfy for endless online meetings and presentable in a casual setting, my linen, striped, and denim Jenny's have been in constant rotation.

Seeing everyone putting their sewing skills to use as part of the civic response makes me feel slightly guilty for engaging in selfish sewing. However, I'm fortunate to be in a situation where our jobs and schools can continue online, so I'm busier than ever trying to be a full time working and homeschooling mom. Therefore I need sewing to maintain my sanity, which is definitely being put to the test!

I've been curious about Cone Mills Loomstate denim, so I looked to see what Threadbare fabrics had and immediately fell in love with Goldenrod. The fabric came at LIGHTENING fast speed! Which made me very happy, and I threw it into the wash immediately upon arrival. I've read about the theories of shaping unsanforized denim to your body, but that isn't really what I'm interested in right now, so I washed and dried it 3 times to make sure there would be no shrinkage in the finished overalls. It washed up to a lovely denim-y texture with a surprising amount of mechanical stretch for a non-stretch denim.

I used my altered Jenny Overalls pattern (Closet Case Patterns) that has tapered legs and side buttons. Since this was a non-stretch fabric, I went with the original Jenny overall pocket bags rather than the pocket stay that I had drafted. On my last pair of Jenny's that I made in stretch Cone Mills denim, I did the french seam backwards, and I'm reminded of it every time I stick my hands in my pockets and feel the seam. This time I nearly did the same thing, but I realized it before sewing the second seam and ripped and fixed it. French seaming pockets is particularly confusing because you want the right side of the fabric on the inside of the garment AND you also want the part of the french seam that is usually on the inside of the garment, on the inside of the garment.

For the pocket bags and facings I used a cotton fabric that I've had in my stash for many years. It is a fun fabric with great colors, but I haven't been able to envision wearing it as a shirt or dress... but I decided that it might make a great lining since the purple seemed to be a lovely contrast with the yellow.

This is my fourth pair of Jenny Overalls! It's funny though how each pair turns out quite different. On this one I narrowed the hips quite a bit... I am wondering if the fact that jogging is my exercise of choice lately is changing the shape of my body. I also impulsively cut 5/8 ths off of the height of the rise since I've felt that it is a bit high on my other overalls... but then I regretted it after I sewed it all together and tried it on, I think I like it better where it was. But it's probably fine, really. The biggest change was that the back waistband was gaping on these, so I had to rip everything apart and add a seam to the center back waistband to remove an inch. I also removed a wedge from the center back seam. I don't remember having this problem with any of my previous versions, but they were all stretch fabrics, and in some I added waistband elastic to the back seam... so perhaps this has always been a problem. Looks like the waistband still isn't perfect in back, but trust me it is better than it was!

I thought I had some overall hardware... but it turns out I had used it all up. I did have these super cute floral jeans buttons though from a mixed box I bought on Amazon awhile back. So I opted to add buttonholes to the straps, so that I can add hardware later if I want to. Actually I'm sort of liking the buttonhole method, the look is a bit more casual, but the overall hardware sometimes catches in my hair whereas the buttonholes are very low profile.

I'm wearing these today and loving them. I want ALL THE OVERALLS... I have more planned! I'm wearing them with my plum blossom blouse in these pics.

Plum blossom blouse

Lately I've been really into stripes and solids, but this print was just irresistible. As soon as the first taste of spring hit, I pulled it out and set to work.

Here is a closeup of the print of plum or apple blossoms, with a hand drawn pen-and-ink and watercolor look. It was from emmaonesock, printed on a light and floaty cotton voile.

I made a Liesl Classic shirt, with my usual modifications... no bust dart, extra ease.

I did tweak the sleeves for a slightly romantic vibe. I added lots of extra ease by slashing and spreading, then gathered it in with pleats at the binding. I left off the cuff and tower placket and added a bias bound sleeve placket and bias bound the sleeve with a loop for the button closure. 

The buttons are mother of pearl buttons that I dropped in some intense pink dye when I was dying fabric awhile ago. They might have a very slight pink tint... or that might just be my imagination!

The other change I always make with the Liesl shirt is to round the curve of the hem at the side seam so that I can bind it with one continuous piece of bias binding. I find this the easiest and cleanest way to hem my shirts.

A floral woven shirt is actually a first in my wardrobe. Can't wait for the plum trees to bloom so that I can camouflage myself in a tree ;).

Not to mention the fact that shirts are about all one gets to show off in the many zoom meetings that now comprise my life. A new one is a fun change.

My daughter broke her arm this weekend! She's a trooper... and it is probably the most exciting thing that has happened to her since the schools closed.