This month I thought I would try something new. The Atelier Brunette summer fabrics had been delivered and looked tantalising in their plastic wrappers, so I picked out Shade Cactus as perfect for a lockdown summer. It is quite a brave print for me as it's quite busy, but inspired by the new pot plant in our kitchen I thought I would give it a go.
I chose to sew a pattern from Slow Sunday Paris, which is available as a PDF on their website with English instructions. I don't stock this brand on Stitch and Stash (although I would love to) as their print patterns are only in French, and my French n'est pas bien.
The jumpsuit is the Ischia, with an eighties-inspired silhouette. The raglan sleeves are batwing, with piping at the shouders, bias binding to the back of the neck and large patch pockets.
The legs are described as carrot-shaped, which means they taper to become very skinny at the ankles. Ooh la la.
This is the first pattern I have ever made as a toile first, using a cheap lining fabric, because I was concerned about the length of the body to the crotch seam. Having made the toile I found it fitted perfectly and there was no need to have made it. Typical.
I found the instructions quite difficult to follow because although they are in English they differed to English pattern instructions. I would therefore say you have to be at least an intermediate sewer to know how to make this jumpsuit - you have to pretty much know what you are doing already and just use the pattern instructions as a rough guide.
The fabric sewed really well and it irons blissfully. However, it really frays. My overlocker ran out of thread halfway through so I had to construct the top half with French seams, so I wouldn't like Patrick Grant running his eye over my trouser seams, but it's not that bad.
Because the fabric was enormously popular I ran out and had to make the belt out of numerous scraps. However, because of how well the fabric irons I managed to get a high level of finish to the belt despite the numerous seams.
Overall, I'm delighted with it. It's the perfect jumpsuit for lazy (slow) Sundays, sadly not in Paris, or working from home in the summer. It's comfortable, a bit edgy thanks to that eighties detailing and the pattern is brilliant. Rather than being busy and overwhelming it looks fluid, cool and very summery.
Another happy make!
