Zadie for Summer

Recently I’ve been sorting through my sewing stuff, sorting out my patterns and notions and especially my fabric. I spent a weekend sorting through what I had, taking all of my fabric stash out of it’s bookcase and refolding what I wanted to keep and setting aside what I wanted to sell at the next Fabricabrac. It was a really useful exercise for me, not only did it feel good to have a clear out and a tidy up, but it reminded me of some of the absolutely beautiful fabric that I’ve let sit in my stash, some of it for years! Sometimes I’ve just been waiting for the right pattern, but sometimes I’ve just held onto lengths of fabric because they’re special- I’ve bought them on holiday, or got them from a friend, or some other sentimental reason. I’ve had to give myself a bit of a talking to, I’ve bought this fabric to make clothes with, I’ll love it even more as a garment than folded in my shelf!

This fabric is one of those special pieces, I bought it from Raystitch in London when we were over in the UK two years ago. It’s a Sevenberry indigo dyed Japanese cotton, and I just adore it! I bought two lengths of Sevenberry fabric at Raystitch, the first piece became a V1247 skirt shortly after we came home, but I was just not sure what to use this piece for so it’s languished in my stash ever since.

It’s a lovely weighty cotton, with a fairly crisp hand but which also has a slubby, gorgeous texture. I’m definitely going to buy more if I see it again! I also really love the cross-hatch pattern, it’s one of the few patterned fabrics that I can imagine wearing top to toe like this.

The pattern is, of course, the Zadie Jumpsuit, darling of the indie pattern world this year! This is the second time I’ve made this pattern, the first one I made using a lightweight brushed chambray with sleeves, which got a lot of wear through autumn and then again this spring as a layering piece (technically this is actually the third time I’ve used this pattern, I also made a top for Frocktails using it!). I wanted to make a short sleeved version of Zadie for summer, but I was initially thinking of using a linen or a drapier rayon or something. I didn’t think I would have enough of this narrow width fabric to squeeze a jumpsuit out of it, so I kept dismissing it as an option. Finally I decided to just lay it out and see if I could squeeze it on, and I was stoked when I just about managed it!

I wanted to use the facing pieces I drafted for the neckline of my denim version, which was just as well because I’d never have managed to cut the matching bias tape to finish it otherwise! I couldn’t squeeze the whole pocket pieces onto the fabric, but I was able to cut a pocket facing in the main fabric to sew onto a pocket bag made in another cotton, which has worked out pretty perfectly. I ended up with only the tiniest pile of scraps left over from my 2.5m of fabric, which was very satisfying but also slightly disappointing, as I was hoping I would be able to squeeze a zippered pouch or something out of the leftovers! I made exactly the same adjustments to this one as I did my first version, cutting the back bodice on the fold and shortening both the bodice and the rise of the trousers to fit my short body.

I absolutely adore this jumpsuit, it’s ended up being such a perfect pattern and fabric match. The weight of the cotton and the amazing drafting of the wrap front means that it feels perfectly secure, and I’m not worried about it shifting around on me while I’m wearing it. It also shows off the great shape of the trousers! I can imagine it getting a huge amount of wear over the summer, it’s already taken me to a social sewing cocktail evening and my work Christmas lunch (I’m really not ready for Christmas stuff yet!). I’m so glad I finally cut into the fabric!

Zadie Jumpsuit for Autumn

So this is something that had leapfrogged over not just everything in my sewing queue, but everything in my blogging queue as well! You might have noticed that I’ve been into one pieces in a big way this summer, and I really wanted a simple wrap front jumpsuit. I couldn’t find quite what I wanted, as was considering drafting something like this one that Katie made (and wrote a tutorial for!), but then Paper Theory came out with the Zadie Jumpsuit and I didn’t have to! It even had sleeves, which makes it the perfect pattern for autumn…

I was pretty wary of the amount of ease in this pattern, I didn’t want to be swimming in it, but its definitely not supposed to be tight! Helpfully, Paper Theory includes the final garment measurements in their instructions, so using those I was pretty confident about cutting out a size 8, even though my measurements fitted neatly between sizes 10 and 12. I also shortened the pattern pieces an inch at the lengthen/shorten line on the bodice, and again by an inch at the lengthen/shorten line across the crotch. I think both adjustments were spot on, the wrap hits just at my waist, and the crotch curve is just the right length! I do wish I had added that inch back onto the hem though, I’d like the trousers to be just a touch longer…

The pockets are so good! They’re a great size, and sit really nicely behind the pleat at the waist. I also really like the drop shoulder/sleeve combo, even though I’m getting the above bust wrinkle that I tend to get with a dropped shoulder seam. I’m not sure what the deal is with that, if I need more room in the bust or not, but its something I see in this style of sleeve a lot!

I didn’t realise until I looked at these photos, but I’ve got a bubble of fabric above my bum which I think could be fixed with a sway back adjustment. Next time I’d take a wedge out of the back waist seam at the centre back, tapering to nothing at the side seams. But I think it’s fine on this one, I can’t see behind me so it isn’t going to worry me! I cut the back on the fold instead of having a centre back seam, I’ll always cut down on the amount of seams I have to sew if I can.

The other change I made was to draft a facing for the neckline and wrap front instead of finishing it with bias tape as the instructions suggest. I just don’t love bias tape, I often find I get it wrinkly and it annoys me! To made the facing I just added a 1cm seam allowance to the neckline and the wrap edge (on the bodice AND the trousers, I very nearly forgot about the bottom part!), then overlapped the bodice and trouser pieces to get rid of the waist seam allowance and traced off a 3cm wide facing. then I just stay-stitched the crap out of all the edges, and sewed the facing on and top stitched it down once the rest of the jumpsuit was assembled. The only problem I had was putting the ties in, I positioned the 45 degree angle at the end so that it matched the angle of the wrap edge and sewed everything down…only to flip the facing into place and realise that the ties now pointed straight down, at 90 degrees to where they should be. I should have read the instructions more closely! 20 minutes of unpicking and re-sewing later, and all was put right.

Finally, the fabric! I picked up this lightweight denim from The Fabric Store, its brushed on one side (I used it as the inside) so it’s really soft and comfortable. I really like the utilitarian look of this pattern in denim, it means the design details really stand out! I’m looking forward to wearing it with some of my bolder jewelry and shoes, it’ll be a good canvas! I also think it’ll work well in colder weather with a merino tee underneath it, though I’m struggling to figure out what shoes to wear with it once it gets colder…I’m not sure I’ll like it paired with boots. I’ll need to have a trying on session to figure out how to extend it’s wearability!

I’ll need to figure that out soon, it’s become very cold and wintery here all of a sudden. It was almost too dark to get photos today, so sorry that they’re a bit dim! I just really wanted to get it documented and up here, I’ve got a disgracefully long list of posts to write and limited patience to write them…