Beachy Jumpsuit

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get on the jumpsuit bandwagon.  Possibly because this is the sort of clothing I used to wear in my teens / twenties...you know, not taking on the fads the second time around.  Anyway, I should have got there sooner because I love wearing this jumpsuit.

There are plenty of jumpsuit patterns to choose from, but non of them was quite what I wanted.  I thought it would be just as easy to start with a trouser patter that I already had, and make the required changes, as it would be to buy a new pattern and make alterations.  Both options would require a muslin.

I didn't want patch pockets, because they never seem to sit right once you fill them up.  I didn't want in-seam pockets, because they flap about.  I wanted curved inset pockets, which would necessitate a waist seam, at least in the front.  

I started with the Jalie 3676 Vanessa Pants, and made the following changes

- I added an inch to each side seam (ie total 4" added ease)

- I lowered the crotch by 3 cm (just watch me flit between metric and imperial)

- I added 5 cm to the waist height, which is the same height as the Jalie Vanessa waistband.  I kept the back darts, extending them up to the new waist seam.

- I increased the height of the pocket pieces 5 cm to match.  I also made the pockets a bit deeper, as the ones in my Vanessa pants are a bit shallow for my phone

- I created a bib shape for the front and back, with a bit of trial and error.  The side curves on the bibs are quite low.  They are actually are as high as I can make them without having to add a side opening, being pear shaped and all.

- the tops of the bibs are folded over.  The side edges are finished with self-made bias binding.

- the straps are just rectangular tubes.  They might have looked better a bit skinnier.  I went with ties instead of buttons, because I thought the button holes would drag with the weight of the jumpsuit in this linen.

- I cropped the leg length and sewed a deep double fold hem that can be turned up as a cuff.  Not that the cuffs stayed up on my walk to the beach.  I might have to stitch them up.

The fabric is a beautiful linen twill from Tessuti.  It has a thin white stripe running through at about 5 cm intervals, but that is not showing up in the photos.

It turns out that having a big red blob in the middle of your photo creates some fun filter effects, so here are some more photos for you.

Green Hoodie and more

In all my years of sewing, I have never made myself a regular, zip-up hoodie.  Once I decided that was what I wanted, I trawled through my pattern collection to find a pattern.  I landed on Ottobre Family 7/2018 pattern 11.  I bought this magazine for the great selection of men's patterns, but so far the only pattern I have used are the elastic waist pajama bottoms.

Anyway, back to the hoodie.  I knew that I wanted to add stripes.  Deciding what colour stripes was the tricky bit.  In the end, I went with the other fabrics that were already out on my cutting table.  

I made a couple of alterations to the pattern.  The pattern looks like it has princess seams, but when I lay the pieces beside each other, it became clear that the seam lines were for colour blocking, rather than to add shaping.  My usual alterations are square shoulder, narrow chest, broad back and small bust.  I decided as I was doing these alterations that I would add a small bust dart into the front panel, similar to a Kathmandu fleece jacket I wear all the time.  This hoodie is not as fitted as the Kathmandu one, so probably the dart wasn't necessary.  Next time I make this up, I should raise this dart by ~2cm, as well as broaden the back.

I changed the design of the pockets.  With the placement of the stripes, the pocket area was getting all a bit bulky, So I made a pocket opening facing, and then just used one layer of fabric for the pocket back.  You can see the facing stitching in the above photo.  I then changed the shape of the pocket to a rectangle so that it would be caught in the front and hem and not flap about.  I used the top-stitching of the strips to secure the top edge of the pocket.  

I bought the wrong size zip (because I was in the shop for something else when I saw the zip and knew it would be a good colour match and just guessed the length).  Rather than shorten the zipper, I decided to lengthen the hoodie by 5 cm.

I used some green tape, that I dyed for a project years and years ago and never ended up using, to finish the inside neck edge.  It was a great colour match.

I used the leftover green French terry fabric to make my daughter a jumper using Jalie 3355.  I added some stripes to the sleeves to get it to fit on my remnants, but I like the stripes better than a plain top anyway.

 

I used some of the left-over ribbing to finish the neck and sleeves of a t-shirt for my son.  Sadly, I think the sizing is off (it's a bit short...again, using up remnants...thought it would be okay) so he may not get a lot wear from it.

I used Ottobre design pack 301 for the t-shirt.

Now, just to cram a few more garments into this post.  The pink fabric in the stripes was a bamboo jersey that I used to make a pair of True Bias Hudsons.  

I then used the last of this bamboo to make a pair of sleep shorts.  I used a pattern that I made as a rub-off from some running shorts years ago.  

Now I've had a good clean-up of my sewing room, cleared off the cutting table, and am ready to start on a new match of fabrics.  

Happy sewing xx

All the layers

I normally only talk about one garment per post, but earlier this week I found myself wearing layers and layers of unblogged garments, so I am going to throw them all together into this post.

The neck cowl was made by arm-knitting.  Fadanista showed me how to do this.  She assured me that I would have a completed garment before I left, and to my surprise, I actually did.  Not like all my other started-not-completed knitting projects.  The other fun part about this project is that you don't actually have to use yarn.  I used a remnant that I got as part of a bundle that I didn't think I would use for another garment.  I stitched the slevedges of the fabric together and then cut strips in a continuous loop.   The coloured bits of the scarf are bamboo and merino scraps that were lying on my table from making t-shirts.  I didn't take photos of the process, but you can see a little on Sue's instagram account.  .  

The jumper I was wearing was made by modifying the Jalie Mimosa t-shirt pattern.  I changed the sleeves to have rib cuffs.  I then cut 5 cm from the hem of the shirt pattern, so that I could put "cuffs" on the hems.  This is actually a good way to avoid sewing regular hems in a rib knit, which often end up wavy.  I then straightened the hem curve just by ruling a traight line from the top of the split to the intersection of my new hem line and the curved split.

The striped tee is made in a linen knit from Knitwit.  I used Jalie 3352, with a couple of changes.  I added hembands to the sleeves.  I also reduced the waist shaping, as my previous versions (any many versions that I see online) seem to have pull lines from the underarm area to the bust.  Making the side seams less curved seems to have solved this problem.

And finally, my singlet, which would probably never have made it to my blog on its own.  It is a merino sinlet, made using Jalie 3245.  I have made this pattern a lot, and always lower the underarms by at least an inch, for comfort.  My merino binding wasn't working out, so I cut my losses and bound the edges with a bamboo knit.  I have made 8 merino singlets this winter and am almost always wearing one....as a base layer, as pajamas, for exercise.  Probably the only time I don't wear one is when I go for a swim.  Come on, summer.

My pants are the previously blogged stylearc ethel pants.  The bra peeking out is greenstyle creations power bra.  

All the red merino

A few weeks ago, I batched sewed a heap of red merino garments whilst my machines were threaded in red.

First up is Jalie 3667 Marie Claude.  I took this one in at the side seams, but looking at this photo, I think I took it in through the chest area a little too much.  Something to remember for next time.  This merino was from The Fabric Store and is a lovely quality.

One change I did make to the pattern was to swap out the cuffs for the cuffs in Fehr Trade's activewear sewing book.  I've tried a few different ways to sew cuffs with thumb holes, but have not settled on a preferred method yet.

Next up was a running tank top, my own pattern.  This merino was also from The Fabric Store and does not feel as good quality as the previous fabric.  It is a little on the sheer side and recovery is not as good.  Pretty colour though.

Turns out that I bought this same fabric twice without realising.  Does that ever happen to you?  Stash storage issues...

I made up a t-shirt with the next length of material, using the pattern I drafted for this shirt.  Only, I forgot how clever I was when I first drafted the tee, and so forgot that the sleeve seams do not line up with the side seams, so first time I inserted the sleeves they were rotated about a quarter of the way around.  Took me a few minutes to work out why they looked so strange when I tried it on.  Bummer.  Anyway, some quality time with the seam ripper and now they are inserted correctly.

I made my hubby a shirt using Jalie 2918.  I used the pattern I traced off years and years ago, but it turns out he likes his t-shirts closer fitting these days, so he is finding this shirt a little loose.  Next time I will have to remember to trace off a smaller size.  

Another singlet for me, this time using Jalie 2568.  This one was not intended for exercise, but I must have been getting late on in my washing cycle the day I wore and photographed this.  

I combined the scraps from both fabrics to make one more singlet, this time using Jalie 3245.  It is a little snug around the hips because I didn't have quite enough fabric.

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And finally, you have already seen the Jalie 4014 Coco sports bra I made using the very last of the scraps.  

I have been really appreciating these merino garments the last few weeks with the cooler weather (except the sports bra, which is too big).

Jalie Coco Sport Bra

I get excited when Jalie launches their pattern collection each year.  Normally I select all the ones I want and get them all in one go to minimise shipping.  Shipping to Australia has been disrupted lately, so I decided to go ahead and download the pattern that I was most excited about, and I will order paper copies of the other patterns later.  First up is the Coco Sport Bra.

I've come to realise lately that my collection of Jalie patterns is under-utilised, largely due to sewing the wrong size first time around and not taking the time to sew a different size or make the necessary fitting changes.  This time I was determined to stick with the pattern until I got it right.

Version 1

My first version is made out of the merino scraps on my sewing table after sewing a bunch of merino tees and singlets.  I have read blog reviews of merino bras and been curious to try them, but not wanted to pay the RTW price tag.  I started with Size V.

I didn't have enough merino for the whole thing, so the straps are from a wicking sports fabric.

My cover-stitch machine struggled with all the layers to attach the band.

I have only worn this for one run so far.  The merino is more comfortable than I expected, but overall the bra is too big.  It might be good for hiking in cold weather.

Version 2

I went down a size to U for my second version.  The outer is supplex and the inner is a wicking cotton.  I have put an extra layer of power mesh in the front cups.  I used the same mesh for the inner centre front panel.

When I was trying this on, before adding the band, I decided that there was too much length in the bra overall.  Instead of cutting off this extra length, I decided to add the elastic directly to the bra and fold it to the inside, which you can see on the inside shots.  This elastic does not have as much give as regular elastic and has a fluffy side which sits against the skin.

This one is comfortable to wear but it feels like the straps are a bit long.  I am happy to finally have a bra to match my leggings in the same fabric, as sherbert orange / yellow / pink is more difficult to match that you might think.

Version 3.

For my third version, I removed 2 cm of length from the bottom of the pieces for size U.  I also removed 2 cm from the straps.  The outer is from supplex scraps and the inner from lightweight cotton knit.  Again, I put an extra layer of power mesh in the cups.

I skipped the coverstitch machine and used a zig-zag stitch on my regular machine to attach the band.

Here is a photo of the bra on me (sewing in my pjs!)

I wore this for a run this morning and it worked well.  I am unsure whether I should go down another size.  With the pools shut, I haven't been swimming for a while now, and I have lost a couple of cm circumference across my back, so I think that this will be the right size if I take up swimming again. 

For all of these, I used a narrow 6mm rubber elastic in the seams.  

I'm glad I took the time to play around with the fit of this bra, as it is a great pattern for using up scraps.

All the blue things

I had to make the most of the overlocker being threaded in blue after my recent projects.

First up, another pair of Trigg shorts in the leftover linen.  I think I am up to 7 times using this pattern now, so definitely a winner.

Then a Jalie 2805 t-shirt in the leftover Liberty jersey.  I'm sure this fits better in real life than the photo shows.  It has got cold here since I made this, so I have hardly had a chance to wear it, and then I got a quick photo snapped in the dying light one evening.  I went up several sizes in the t-shirt to get a looser fit than the pattern photo and I changed the V-neckline  to a scoop neckline.

When I was rummaging around looking for possible options for neck binding for the above t-shirt, I came across a Fehr Trade VNA top that I cut out of merino 6 years ago when I made one for a friend.  I obviously never got around to making up my own.  I didn't want to fuss with the corners  / binding, so I re-cut the armholes and neckline.  This is perfect for wearing under my new blue shirts.

 I was hoping to get a blue sports bra made whilst the blue thread was in the overlocker, but another project became more pressing.  I don't mind though, because since then, Jalie have released their new patterns and now I have a new sports bra pattern to try out.  Usually I buy a heap of Jalies when they are released, but I don't know how international shipping to Australia is working at the moment, so I have just bought the one pdf for now. 

Now my overlocker is threaded in red, and I am sewing all the red things. 

Happy sewing & stay well xx

Greenstyle Creations Tempo Athletic Tights

I have a new favourite legging pattern ...the Tempo Athletic Tights by Greenstyle Creations.  There are a few reasons for them being my favourite.  Like all the Greenstyle leggings patterns, the fit is great and it is easy to grade between sizes for waist, hips and legs.  I prefer my leggings to have large thigh pockets, because I always run with my phone and if I am away from home, also my car keys and my glasses.  I don't like my waistbands too tight, so pockets on the back of the waistband just drag my pants down whilst I am running.  The other reason I like them is because the legs are shaped.  Many leggings patterns have straight leg seams.  On me, straight seams usually means they feel too tight on my calves and are baggy on my ankles.  The shaping of the leg panels means these fit both my calves and my ankles.

These have a wide waistband with two rise options.  I chose the high rise option.  I was impressed at how well these stayed up during my run, as I usually reserve this style of waistband for lower impact exercise.  I have since made a second pair in a softer lycra, and they don't stay up well enough, so I'm going to have to take the waistband off and make it smaller or put in better elastic.  I'll blog the second set after I alter them.

There are lots of seams in these and plenty of options for colour blocking, but I made this pair fairly sedate by choosing black for all except the ankle panels.  It is hard to tell in these photos, but the contrast panels add a bit of bling, being made of spandex covered in rose gold foil sequins.  I adore this fabric and used it to make a matching sports bra.

It is hard to see the seam lines in this black fabric, but this photo shows you the large side pocket.

I used Jalie 3247 for the sports bra.  My underband elastic is wider than recommended, which pulls the armholes and neckline down lower than the pattern design.  I don't mind this, but thought I would point it out in case somebody is looking for reviews of the pattern and would otherwise be misled by my photo.  

These photos were taken in a bush reserve near my house where I run most weeks.  It is pretty quiet, which makes it a good spot for running whilst social distancing. 

Happy sewing & stay well xx