Simple Sew: Cara Jumpsuit

Early in the summer I made a jumpsuit by another pattern designer and surprised myself by really liking it, so when it came to choosing the last of my Simple Sew makes for 2018, I thought that I would go for the Cara Jumpsuit and make it in a rather nice dark teal stretch velvet that I already had in my stash - perfect timing for party season.

The pattern would have been pretty straight forward to make up had I not changed several things while I was making it. I did note that there is no information on the pattern envelope about requiring bias binding. Luckily I read the instructions before I planned to start so was able to to go and get some the next time I was in town.  If I had started this without reading the instructions first, it would have been very frustrating.

Because of my choice of fabric some parts were trickier than they would have been in a thinner fabric. Turning the tubes to create the ties was the first thing I did and turning stretch velvet in to tubes is not to be recommended!

Turning tubes

 Attaching the bias binding also took a while and I didn't want visible stitching on the outside of the garment, so I did a lot of hand stitching on this step.

Different stages of  applying bias binding

At some point in the construction I thought it might be a good idea to have some pockets, so I used the pocket piece from the Lapwing Trousers to create in-seam pockets.  I cut the pocket pieces from some lining fabric and then spent some considerable time trying to sew the pockets in. Because of the nap of the velvet and the slipperiness of the lining fabric, every time I tried to sew in the pockets they shifted.

Baste fitting

When I did a baste fit of the whole garment the pockets ended up too far down my leg every time and I must have done them about 4 times!  I decided that that was enough and just cut them out and sewed the side seams up as I should have done in the first place! They were such a disaster that I didn't even take any photos of this bit. In retrospect I should have altered the pocket pattern piece so that it would attach at the waistband as well as the side seam, then there would have been less shifting down the leg.

During baste fitting, I also decided that I didn't  like the length or shape of the bodice on me and decided to separate the top and bottom again. The easiest way to do this was to just cut the waist channelling off  - no faffing about trying to unpick overlocking on this fabric!

cutting off the waist channel

I finished off the trousers by creating a waistband for elastic from some spare fabric - basically just a rectangle of fabric that was the same length as the waist on the trousers, double the width of the elastic I wanted to use plus seam allowances.  I joined the rectangle at the short end to create a loop, folded the loop in half along the length and attached the raw edges to the trousers leaving a short section unsewn so that I could feed the elastic through. Having fed the elastic through the waistband and got it to a comfortable length I joined the ends and then finished sewing the waistband. Again, no photos of this bit, but the waistband technique is detailed in the True Bias Hudson pants sew along.

I then tried the top on on its own and decided to take the sides in. I basted this step a couple of times until it looked how I wanted.

taking in bodice side seams

 
So this ended up being a two piece outfit. I will wear both pieces together as a faux jumpsuit, but I thought the versatility of separates might mean that it got worn more.

I had thought, at one point in the construction, that I would be able to wear this to the New Craft House Christmas party but that wasn't to be. I have yet to wear this as it turned out too fancy for both our Christmas and New Years celebrations, but I have plans for the Dressmaker's Ball in March!
For now here are some finished photos in multiple locations trying to get decent lighting and representation of colour...

Simple Sew Kimono Dress

This month’s Simple Sew make is the Simple Sew Kimono Dress - a wrap style dress with a large tie at the waist, except that mine is not going to be a dress. When we were asked for fabric and pattern choices for this make we were in the midst of an extremely hot summer and I had been sweltering in my winter dressing gown in the mornings, so I decided that I would like a summer ‘robe’.

 

The fabric is a beautiful Lady McElroy cotton lawn very generously supplied by Doughty's Online. It sewed beautifully,  ironed really well and feels lovely on.

I cut a size 12, but kept the length of the size 20 - I like my dressing gown/robes to be quite long. This style has grown on sleeves which means that sleeve and the body are all one piece. I quite wanted longer sleeves but the front pieces are quite big due to the wrap and the sleeve, so a longer sleeve would have meant that the piece wouldn’t fit on the fabric.

I also wanted pockets so having sewn the shoulder seams together,  I pinned the side seams, tried it on and worked out where I wanted to add the in seam pockets.  My winter dressing gown had large patch pockets, but I felt that wasn’t the look I wanted for this. I used the pocket piece from the Lapwing trousers and placed it roughly where I wanted my hand to rest.

 

Having put in the pockets and sewn up the side seams the robe was looking pretty good. The instructions have you finish the edge of the front, then turn and stitch down.  I thought this would not give the finish that I wanted, particularly around the neckline  - and this is where this project started to take its time -  I decided to make some bias tape to finish the edge.  I have recently taken out of use a duvet set that was the exact pinky lilac colour of the flamingos. I used a tutorial by Colette for continuous bias binding. This technique is a bit fiddly but I find it much easier than joining lots of strips of fabric. I didn’t think to take pictures of what I did so have included the link.  Quite a small square of fabric makes a surprisingly long piece of bias tape! I machine stitched the bias on to the edge, then folded it over and hand stitched  all the way around the front. Having done that, I then hand stitched the sleeve hems and the hem of the garment.

I used some the bias tape to make a rouleau and used it to make a couple of ties for inside the robe to help keep it closed.

I added belt loops to stop the belt from falling off and I also made a hanging loop so that it can hang on the bathroom door

I am very pleased with it and a little bit disappointed that the weather has become much cooler, so I won’t be wearing this properly until next summer. It is a very easy sew and would be quite quick if you didn’t add bias tape and hand stitching to the mix!

Simple Sew Lapwing Trousers

This time I bring you the Lapwing Culottes. This post went live on the Simple Sew Website a little while ago, but life seems to have got in the way of posting on here for a while.

After some confusion mostly from me I think, I received my pattern and fabric for my culottes. The fabric is a lovely linen from Rainbow Fabrics.  I had thought that I might wear them as pyjama bottoms as I could do with a pair for summer, but the linen is a bit crisper than would be suitable for bed wear and will make a nice pair of trousers.

Again I managed to cut out quite economically and may have enough for a little top too.

These trousers have lovely capacious in-seam pockets.  I have sewn in-seam pockets many times but I have to say the instructions for these were not as straightforward as they could have been.

It took me a while to get my head round the instructions for some reason and I feel that they don’t sit quite as well as they could, but it is not annoying enough to do anything about.  In order for them to sit a bit better, ie keep the pocket facing towards the front of the trousers, and to add some strength at that point, I sewed a horizontal line above and below the pocket where they join the trouser leg.

Because linen has quite a loose weave, I was a bit concerned that the stitches might pull on the back crotch seam. I used a tip I picked up at Camp Workroom Social last autumn and used stretch stay tape along that seam. I placed it along the seam stitching line and sewed as normal.

I had decided to use elastic in the waist instead of a drawstring as the pattern shows. When I tried on the trousers, I decided that the crotch length was going to be a bit short for my liking if I followed the instructions. I decided to add a facing to create a channel for the elastic and to keep a bit of the crotch length.  

I trimmed the seam in side the channel very carefully with my new duck billed scissors - they were a recent birthday present and it was the first time I had used them properly.

Once I had got the waistband and elastic sorted, I tried them on to assess the leg length. As cut, they were comically long! They would have looked amazing with very high heels, but as I seldom wear such heels, I knew I would need to lop quite a bit off. 

I initially pinned them to be a floor skimming full length, but inspired by all the cropped trousers I have seen on the internet and in my girls wardrobes I thought I would try the cropped length.  

This is the finished length - having been very unsure about them whilst making them, I am now very pleased with them. They are lovely and cool in this extraordinarily hot weather we are currently having in the UK.