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.
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.
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.
I wanted bigger pockets but this was literally all the yardage I had left, so they are tiny useless pockets that fit nothing.
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.
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 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!
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.
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!;)
It was a risk with cord, but luckily it doesn’t show!
This is a super cute jumpsuit! Love it!!!
This is great Katie – I love how you’ve really streamlined it. Do you just step in and out of it?
Yup, no fastenings required!
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!
Thanks! I’m a total jumpsuit convert – fun to sew and so nice and easy/comfy to wear!
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!
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!
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?
I’m not sure, sorry! Try searching ebay and etsy for vintage/80s jumpsuit patterns generally, something similar might pop up.