Striped Jumpsuit Inspired by Ace and Jig

So this make I am totally in love with. 

Lately I've been admiring the designer team Ace and Jig, and their gorgeous textiles and easy styles. In particular, this jumpsuit got stuck in my head:

Then, Emmaonesock got in a lovely yarn dye, linen blend stripe. The yarns it is woven from vary slightly in weight, giving it a subtle texture. 

The pattern I used was a mash-up of the Kalle shirt (top) and the Amy Jumpsuit, both by Closet Case Patterns. I made a wide partial placket, cut on the cross-grain to the shoulder, then hugging the neck in the back. I added sleeves from the Kalle shirt long sleeve pattern. 

It was very tight fitting my pattern on my 3 yards. Then I had a total screw up-- I had cut the big pieces on the table at work, then took the scraps home to cut the small pieces on the weekend, and I cut up one of my front pieces thinking that it was a scrap! 

When I realized what I had done, I had to take a long step away to vent my frustration, then I got down to the business of piecing together a new front piece from my VERY meagre scraps. There are about 4 horizontal seams in one of the front pieces. Let's just call this a quirky design element. Interestingly, the stripes (which I very deliberately matched!) actually do a good job of camouflaging the mistake. 

The belt is also pieced from about 8 scraps, and the back of the belt and the facings are done with leftover burgundy linen. I also hemmed both the legs and arms with facings, also due to a lack of fabric, but actually I sort of love the smooth finish and slight structure of a hem done with a facing. 

Without a belt, it looks sort of pajama-y, so it is likely I'll mostly wear it with the belt. I sort of love how the long, wide belt lands just at the hemline, which was a total accident. 

I thought I wanted it longer, but this length is perfect with boots! 

I have a very strong desire to buy more lovely, striped yarn dye fabrics that might or might not be hand-woven. Where oh where should I look?

No More Fussing: Zadie Jumpsuit in Burgundy Linen

I really, really want to love the Zadie by Paper Theory as much as the rest of the sewing blogosphere. 

I spent far more time on this than you can probably even believe. I made a muslin, and shortened the bodice by an inch or two. I drafted a facing, since I'm pretty sure bias tape on this wrinkle prone linen would be begging for a pressing every time I washed it, and that is a route to the very back of my closet. 

Then I made it up, wore it a couple of times, but the linen relaxed after a few hours of wear and the crotch was hanging halfway down my thighs and the backside was voluminously baggy. So I chopped off another 3 inches at the waist seam, which involved rather a lot of fussiness putting the facing and ties back together again. I think the back view is significantly improved, and it is still plenty loose in the crotch.

Sadly, I still don't really love it. I'm not sure exactly why. I chose burgundy because it I was hoping it would NOT look like a pair of scrubs, but I still sort of feel like it looks like a pair of scrubs. I find the waist seam has a tendency to wiggle out of alignment with the skinny ties, with really bugs me, and I spend the whole day fussing realigning the ties. I guess belt loops would help, but I feel like I'd need about 10 of them all the way around to make a proper guide for the belt. I also end up fussing quite a bit with the belt, since if it get too loose there is the danger of exposure, and it always seems to be either too tight or too loose.

There is nothing really wrong with it. It is plenty comfortable. Coverage is actually quite acceptable for a wrap. It doesn't even look half bad in these pics.

I keep trying to think of ways to alter it that would make me love it more, but I'm not sure it's worthwhile in this case. What do you do when you make something you just don't love?

Wiksten Kimono + Amy Jumpsuit in Black Linen

The Amy Jumpsuit is such a quick, fun sew that I had to make another, ASAP. I loved wearing my first one dancing, and I'm not totally opposed to wearing it to work, but such a distinctive pattern is more of an occasional wear item in my wardrobe.

This one is in black linen. I just love black linen... I want to make EVERYTHING out of black linen. Especially this lovely smooth fine-weave linen. I was also hoping that I'd feel that this jumpsuit was more work appropriate, since it is so comfy that I want to wear it every day!

However, I don't feel quite comfortable with the narrow straps and bare shoulders at work these days. I just want a bit more coverage, for modesty and also for chilly AC. Fortunately, I had just obtained the Wiksten Kimono pattern, so I sewed up a quick sample with some leftover pieces of black linen. 

I wasn't really sure that I needed another kimono pattern, but there is something about the proportions of the Wiksten Kimono that are quite elegant and feel very "now." There is a version of this pattern that you can download from Making Magazine, but I decided to go with the newer version from the Wiksten blog and store. By all accounts, the shape is just a bit more refined, and the sizing is a touch less oversized. My scraps amounted to a little over a yard in pieces, so I sewed a small (I measure a Medium), no lining, with shorter sleeves. 

Since I wasn't lining it, I faux flat felled all of the seams. I only realized after cutting that the seam allowance was only 3/8 inch, so I borrowed an extra 1/8 inch from each seam and made narrow seams. Next time I'll add another 3/8 if I intend to flat fell. 

For the collar, I would have used a medium weight interfacing... but I didn't have enough in my stash. So I used the heavier weft interfacing that I usually use on coats and blazers. I actually rather like the structure it adds to the collar. 

To get a clean finish on the collar, I pressed the seam allowance on the collar and topstitched from the front, catching the pressed edge. The sleeves and hem are just turned up and stitched.

I drafted a new pocket just for fun, adding a curve to the upper edge and finishing it with a facing.

The Amy Jumpsuit is the same black linen. I added 1/2 inch to the back crotch curve, to give a bit more bum room. I also ended up shortening the straps 2 inches... somehow this jumpsuit ended up hanging lower on the bust than the last one, and I also wanted a little tiny bit of extra coverage for work-appropriateness. All seams are frenched, including the side pockets. 

All said and done, this one is a bit of a wiggle to get into, and I fear stretching out the neckline when I do it. Sort of wishing I had gone with the zipper-- but not so much that I will go back and add one. Maybe on the next one? 

I did fuss around a bit with trying to cross the straps... but as I feared, such a modification is not trivial since the design relies on drape. On the plus side, though, the straps as drafted mostly stay on my shoulders, which is actually quite remarkable. 

It's been ages since I wore anything to work other than collared shirts and shirt dresses, so it is very fun to have a new silhouette to play with. 

Closet Case Amy Jumpsuit in Italian Cotton: A Pattern Review

Hello all! I've been a bad blogger lately. We're renovating our bathroom, and it has caused all kinds of chaos around here, not to mention the usual juggling act that is my life. Quite honestly, if I have a few minutes, I'd rather sew than blog right now!

However, something came along that I just had to share. One of my colleagues showed up in the most amazing jumpsuit the other day. I've been ignoring the jumpsuit trend-- no adult onesies for me, thank you very much. But hers was elegantly loose, totally unstructured waist, just a bit strappy... so perfect. All the sudden I was browsing the available jumpsuit patterns, and drawing a complete blank. The closest was the Peppermint Magazine Jumpsuit by In the Folds. It's free! But I'm not sure how I felt about that narrow leg, I thought maybe I'd hack it and widen it.

And then, what jumps into my inbox, but Closet Case Patterns' Amy Jumpsuit announcement. Heather Lou is psychic. Just what I wanted!

That was Wednesday-- bought, printed, assembled. Thursday, late late, it was done. Friday pics.

Having sewn many other Closet Case Patterns, I was pretty sure it would fit. So I made no muslin, and jumped right into a precious piece of fabric.

I was going to go for a nice sedate black linen. But... then I remembered I had a gorgeous and special fabric in my stash from my first trip to Italy, nearly six years ago. It's a light weight cotton, finer than a quilting cotton, but with just a bit of cotton crispness.

I had 2 meters, minus a small chunk that I had used to make a shirt yoke, so it was a bit of a struggle to fit the HUGE pattern pieces onto my fabric. I decided to cut off-grain. I know-- sewing sinfulness. Well, I thought I might just get away with it in this case.

All other pieces (facings, pockets, straps, ties) are cut from black linen.

Everything is french seamed. Sewing inseam pockets with french seams is something I've always avoided, but I used the various online tutorials and it went beautifully. I don't know why I have always avoided this technique.

Construction went beautifully. Having the straps as separate pieces makes sewing the facing a breeze. And I skipped the zipper.

Basically I didn't try this on until I finished it... and it fits beautifully. My only reservation is that the straps feel like they are going to slide off my shoulders. I'd love to find a way to cross them in back on my next version.

I plan to wear it dancing, tonight!

Happy Sewing!