Minimal cord jumpsuit

Cord jumpsuit

I’ve waxed on before about how much I love my Roberts dungarees and they’re a total wardrobe staple for me, so more jumpsuit type things have always been in my sewing plans. I’ve made another set of overalls since, but they were a wearable toile and while they certainly are wearable I wanted to rework them with a few tweaks.

Cord jumpsuit

I used the same vintage pattern, McCall’s 9077, as a basis, but traced it out, removing nearly all of the design details and refining the fit a bit. The fit still isn’t perfect around the top; next time I’m going to pivot the straps inwards as they are too wide-set and like to slip off my shoulders.

Cord jumpsuit

I used a fine pin-dotted cotton corduroy from Miss Matatabi. I had 2m and it was only 41″ wide so I had to do some very creative cutting to make the long pieces fit onto my yardage. I added a back waist seam, one of the back legs is cut on the cross-grain, the crotch is pieced, and the upper back is pieced in about 4 pieces. Luckily none of that shows up in real life or photos, though I quite enjoyed pointing it out to my colleagues.

Cord jumpsuit

I wanted bigger pockets but this was literally all the yardage I had left, so they are tiny useless pockets that fit nothing.

Cord jumpsuit

I didn’t feel like doing facings or binding (and had no fabric left) so all the edges are finished by simply turning and hemming, which worked surprisingly OK.

to sew board

On a tangent, I had a couple of comments on my post about swatching for spring that it’s interesting to have a peek into how I plan what I want to make, as well as the projects themselves. And to be honest I spend far more time on the planning/dreaming phase than the actual making, so it’s a nice thing to write about.

pinterest

Pinterest is obviously a great tool for collecting inspiration. I have boards for each type of garment (dresses, tops, bottoms, jumpsuits) along with some more general boards with ideas for outfits and wardrobe planning. Recently I also started a To sew list to extract all the things from the various boards that I want to make imminently. Generally I’ll only add stuff to my to-sew list board when I have a good idea of the fabric and pattern I want to use. My first make using this system was actually my Melilot blouse, which was based on this pin, and this is the second!

jumpsuits

Up next, I want to make a floatier culotte-leg jumpsuit based on this pin, and I have some perfect chambray-coloured linen mix in my stash. It’s really nice to have a list of things I want to make that I know are going to work in my wardrobe, so when I sit down to sew I know I’m going to get something useful and highly wearable at the end.

11 thoughts on “Minimal cord jumpsuit

  1. Ellen

    Thank you for an insight into your sewing planning 101. I feel a pinterest session coming on! Also, love your jumpsuit series and knowing that when push comes to shove you cut cross-grain too!;)

  2. Elle

    I love this! You are making me rethink jumpsuits :) How clever of you to be able to squeeze this out of the yardage you had! Fabric tetris DTW!

  3. Alessa

    Your style is always so urban and fun at the same time! I love how the slightly whimsical needle dots work with the pattern, and how contemporary it looks despite being a vintage pattern!

  4. Jenny Brand

    This is exactly the shape of jumpsuit I’d love. It’s gorgeous. Can’t find the pattern anywhere! 😂 I will keep searching. Your blog is invaluable!

  5. Emily Levine

    I’ve scoured the internet for a pattern for this exact look – I LOVE the way yours came out! Any tips on finding this pattern somewhere?

    1. Katie Post author

      I’m not sure, sorry! Try searching ebay and etsy for vintage/80s jumpsuit patterns generally, something similar might pop up.

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