Queue-jumping sparkly jumpsuit

Hello sewosphere, feeling Christmasy? I have been accused several times this week of being the Grinch – my husband even suggested I use some of the green paint from my Wicked Halloween costume to fit the part better :). So this is definitely not going to be in the spirit, although there is a bit of sparkle to be had.

This year I made two jumpsuits (a halter neck here and a culottes suit here), plus two playsuits (a beach-y one here and a silky one here). I clearly took that Jumping into June challenge serious. Btw, Chris is hosting a Jeans January themed month, which I have a feeling might kick off my jeans making obsession.

Anyhoo, this jumpsuit here was a quick and easy make for post our UK wedding party, which was in a pub, and then we headed to Garage in Highbury & Islington (a really classy joint, I know…). I had made my wedding dress for our Carribean wedding here and I had also made a ‘reserve’ dress, in case something goes wrong to the real dress and I’m 100 miles from the nearest needle or dry cleaner or my luggage ended in Jamaica. The reserve dress actually got two wears, at the wedding dinner in the Caribbean and at the UK wedding party.

It will end up on the blog too at some point, but I just did not have the guts to go outside to take pictures in this weather. I really did not intend to make this jumpsuit, but somehow, it just jumped the queue between work, my family and friends arriving and the actual party. I was literally sewing until 10 minutes before I left the house for the pub, and I almost ended up putting in the elastic on the tube over. It has the worst hemming ever, but hey ho, it was dark and no one actually noticed. I went back and sorted some issues afterwards and what do you know, 2 months later it actually made the blog.

Pattern: McCalls 7099, view D, but with 3/4 sleeves; I cut a size 10 for the top and graded to 12/14 for the bottom, but that was really not necessary, I ended up taking that out in the end.

Fabric: It’s a sparkly knit from Classic Textiles in Goldhawk Road. This was one of those ‘oh, just popping to get some thread for this other project’ and I ended up with 6 metres of fabric I had no intention of buying to begin with. In my defence, it was something ridiculous like £3/m and I used it right away, so no lingering in the stash. Plus I genuinely have almost no jersey at all in my collection, so I feel I can justify it (a little bit).

Notions: just about 70 cm of 1/2 elastic

Modifications: I usually add 1.5/2 cm at the back crotch, as I like my waist really high. Looking at the pictures probably could have used a bit more, but hey ho…

I also ended up unintentionally cutting into the back with the overlocker when I put in the collar and had to take in the centre back by 1.5 cm. I think it actually was a good thing, I usually end up taking in the centre back a bit, I have quite a narrow back.

As I said, I had added a good 4 cm at the hips, as I had seen some pretty tight versions and didn’t want to be bursting at the thighs. It turned out to be unnecessary, as I took them all out, the bottom was waaaay too baggy. I had to shave a bit from the centre front of the bottoms to much fabric made me look like I could hide a handbag in there. I also felt the crotch was hanging quite low, so took in about 2cm to raise it a bit more.

Listing all that here, it feels like it was quite hard to fit, which I didn’t really take in in my panic to finish on time. I have a tendency of over-engineering, especially when it comes to trousers, as I’m always worried my thighs will end up looking like sausages (that’s usually my problem in RTW buys).

But the fit issues were completely overshadowed by how quickly it all came together with the overlocker. I started cutting the entire lot at about 7 PM and by 10 PM I had finished the top, including setting in the sleeves. Minus the ovelocker/chewer incident, it was glitchless. I really liked the collar/ front band, so so easy to put in, plus the detail at the back is really nice.

Trousers were theoretically really easy too, but I had to unpick quite a lot to sort out the fit issues.

When I sewed it all together at the waistline, I showed it to my husband and he totally vetoes it, but I still wanted to wear it, so I put in the elastic in a very inelegant fashion, overlocked, turned and stitched the hems and swiftly out the door I went. Needless to say, everyone else really liked it at the party, though I almost died of heat, the fabric turned out to be really warm.

I wore it once again at a work do, in its subpar state but a few weeks ago I actually got around to sorting out the waistband like it was supposed to be. It still needs some proper cover-stitching, but I didn’t get a chance before I took the pictures, so let’s just imagine that it happened for now.

Final conclusions: It’s quite easy to wear, but probably not the most suitable fabric, as from the versions I saw about on the internet, it does benefit from a bit more drapy-ness.  Let’s keep this as a winter version and I’ll find some lighter jersey for a summer option, maybe sleeveless. I think I’d also want to reduce the centre back a bit more if I make it with sleeves again, as the shoulders feel a bit too droopy.

Let’s see how much more wear it will get in the meantime!

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To end, Happy holidays to you all, have fun, eat, rest and indulge to your heart’s content, with your loved ones or however else floats your boat!

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