I made my first peppermint jumpsuit just before my birthday last year in a very light blue silky Chambray. Once made, I knew I wanted to make more versions including one in denim for a simpler take on dungarees.
I can’t believe I have not got round to making that second pair until a year later! Finished in time for my birthday again, using a medium weight blue denim from myfabrics.com (£8.95 p/m). However, I had decided after my first make that I wanted a bit more room, and therefore cut out a size C.
Difficulties
#1 Zip closure
The first time round, I messed up the back zip closure because there is a small error in the instructions and I didn’t work out the- what turns out to be simple -solution to get it right.
Specifically, it was step 17 where you sew the back facings to the centre back seam, sandwiching the zip between the layers:
Confused about what to do, I stitched my line to the outside of the zip, encasing it within the facing. This wasn't too much of a problem because for some reason my zip also started lower down than it should, and therefore I could still zip it closed all the way. Because of the way I sewed the facing, it changed the shape of the back and pulled the facing towards the outside. Recently I decided to tidy it up; I realised I had done such a bad job of the not-so-invisible zip (I hadn't actually looked up how to install one, and hadn't even used an invisible zip), so I re-inserted one properly and neatened up the V neck shape by resewing the inside. I looks better now, but still not as neat as the actual way which I worked out with Jumpsuit 2.
I paid close attention to this step this time round, determined to get it right and to do it well. Because the pattern instructions are actually wrong, I hit the same wall (it's reassuring that it wasn’t just me). After thinking it through I realised the instructions just meant to say that the line of stitching should be on the right/ inside of the zip, rather than the left/outside like it is drawn. This simple change corrects the issue. This glitch was partly so confusing because literally no one else had mentioned it in the blogs/instagram posts I had combed through.
#2 Burrito method
There is nothing wrong with this method per se, it just didn't make my denim happy. I had unbelievable difficulty carrying out the burrito method to attach the facing to the body. What was difficult was pulling the chunky jumpsuit back through the very small width of the straps; I think I must have spent 45 minutes sitting on my floor for each side of the facing. I was pulling the jumpsuit so much I was so worried I would destroy the fabric, especially the delicate v neck which gets pulled in all sorts of directions, I had to be so careful with what part of the jumpsuit I was pulling. In the end I did get it through without too much damage, but at several moments I honestly didn’t think it was possible.
#3 Low crotch
Having sized up, I stupidly did not check the that the length of the torso was suitable, and after spending all this time making sure that I nailed the zip closure, when it came to trying on nearly finished, the crotch was so low I knew it would not be wearable. Not only the crotch was low, but it created a weird flat mass it in front of my thighs when I moved.
I asked Instagram for suggestions on how to change this, and some lovely people got back to me. I had thought about chopping out some of the jumpsuit and making a waist seam, but was hesitant until another sewist said they did this exact thing and their tie covers up the seam.
Although planning to make the tie, I was thinking I’d also wear it a lot without, so was conscious about having the seam in a place that didn’t look strange. At this point in time I was so frustrated that I had made such a big mistake after all my hard work with the zip and straps, that I just couldn’t face the idea of taking out my invisible zip and destroying the nice finish I was finally pleased with. I was thinking about making a seam quite far down the body, under the zip so that I didn’t have to take it out, but this would have been a very strange location.
I left it a couple of days to cool off my frustration, I'm so glad I did, meaning I could make the best decision and not the laziest. I decided to cut the jumpsuit in two, taking out some of the torso length to raise the crotch, and I would place this seam on my high waist, the location where I would tie the tie but also somewhere where it makes sense visually to have a seam.
I folded it under while wearing it, checked what it would be like by pinning and this seemed to be okay for the crotch fit and positioning of the seam.
I worked out how much fabric I wanted to take out by doing this and subtracting seam allowances. Taking my time and trying my best to just enjoy the process, I slowly unpicked the zip, took out my added in-seam pockets, and cut it in half. I cut out the section I had marked.
I then needed to rejoin the top and the bottom, right sides together, however having taken out part of the middle, the width of these pieces no longer matched. I therefore unpicked a fair length of the side seams of the trousers and tapered them towards the top to match the width of the top, making sure I left the gap open where the pockets would go. I then pinned them together and sewed the seam.
However, when I tried them on, to my dismay they felt a bit tight on my crotch! I couldn’t believe it… I unpicked the new seam and re-sewed it with a much smaller seam allowance to give myself as much leeway as possible. What I realised from making this adjustment, which pulls the trousers up to sit higher on the body, was that the trousers were much too cropped now for what I usually like. They fall mid-calf, and therefore makes them only suitable for warm weather really *sigh*, there’s little more I dislike in sewing than when you make something with practical limitations...
Feeling that the crotch was still tight, I made a final adjustment to lower it. Thinking about how I was going to do this was really confusing, because usually when you increase a seam allowance you make things smaller… not when it’s the crotch seam! Because the more you eat into the fabric, the lower you go on the verticle axis, the crotch will therefore sit lower and create more space above it.
I put the legs inside each other so that I had access to the crotch seam, and pinned a curve that tapered into the front and back seams and tried it on, adjusting again. I’ve realised that one adjustmenet I should have made to the pattern is to scoop out the back crotch and give my bum more room, so I tried to do this a little here. I sewed my new seam and afterwards re-trimmed the seam allowances. The fit is better than it was, and it’s so much better than the low crotch, but strangely it could be even lower. How much have I even ended up raising the crotch in the end…! It seemed so low to be begin with, but I evidently didn’t take into account the amount of give I needed.
Result
I fit the pattern in 2m, with a small amount left over. The tie however was a bit shorter than the pattern and this means I can’t quite tie it round my body twice, but I like the resulting look anyway.
It was far more enjoyable making this with denim than Chambray, so much more stable a fabric. However, the lack of drape is noticeable in the fit, especially when I wear the tie. It means the folds of the fabric are far stiffer than they are with a lighter weight Chambray, and this ends up looking strange around the bum.
Third time lucky, the next version I will hopefully get all these points right and make a better fitting jumpsuit. This time it will be linen. Maybe I will make this into an annual tradition, as I have quite a few other jumpsuits I’d also like to make….
Since making this jumpsuit I have lengthened the legs because after hemming them they were just too short for comfort, I felt silly. I was really worried another seam in an odd place would not work, but luckily for me I had leftover fabric (from the section I cut out!) and the seam is barely noticeable. As you can see, I added quite a bit to the end, which goes to show how cropped they became.
Pattern: Free In the Folds’ Peppermint jumpsuit pattern
Fabric: Denim from My Fabrics
22 inch invisible zip