Are Those Pants???

Over the weekend, we took my mother out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. At one point during the evening, I went to the restroom. As I walked in, I saw a woman peeking out from behind the door of a stall. She said, "I am so happy to see you. Can you help me?" With that, she walked out from behind the door and I could see that she couldn't get the center back zipper of her jumpsuit pulled up. She said that she had been struggling with it for quite some time, and was so aggravated with herself for having worn the outfit. I told her that she wore the outfit because it was cute, which seemed to calm her down a bit. I felt so sorry for her. Poor thing, struggling so to try and get her zipper up. 

A few weeks before Becky of Trail Balloons and I started our August pant challenge, she sent me a note and said that she was putting a little package in the mail for me and thought that we could use it for our challenge. I was quite delighted when I opened the package as it contained not only fabric, but some of the most wonderful vintage buttons, and some lovely lace trims that were handmade. Such treasures!

When I saw the fabric, I immediately thought of making a jumpsuit. Becky had initially thought, pajamas. No, this fabric needs to see the light of day.

Becky is quite tall, with lovely long legs, the kind of legs that I always dreamed of having :) But, just as I said about round bottoms and flat bottoms...those of us who have round bottoms think the flat bottom girls have it made when in reality they struggle with fit just the same as those of us with round bottoms. And so, the girls with long legs also struggle to find pant legs that are long enough. Becky shared that she hated having pants that were just a little too short. But, the style of late is to have a pant leg that shows off the ankle. So, with a little bit of hesitancy, Becky jumped in and made the cutest jumpsuit with a cropped pant leg.

You can see her full post HERE. Be sure to take a look as she used 2 patterns, and then did a bit of drafting to put it all together. The back is absolutely adorable!

Once I received the fabric, I left it laying out so that I would see it multiple times a day as I knew that I wanted to make a jumpsuit, but what kind of a jumpsuit? I finally settled on a self-drafted piece, but then as I was looking for something totally unrelated, I came across the Amy Jumpsuit pattern from Closet Case Patterns.

I had intended to make it over the winter in a light weight wool, and wear it with a turtle neck sweater, but then I broke my arm :/  Oh well. I looked at the yardage requirements, 3.75 yards of 45" fabric. I only had 3 yards, and the print is a directional print, so every piece had to be cut in the same direction. Well, I wasn't going to give up that easily! I carefully laid the pieces out, 1 piece at a time, and low and behold...I could just make it happen!!! Well, the facings were cut with the print upside down, but who's looking?! ;) In the end, I literally had just a small pile of tiny pieces left over. I rather love it when that happens!

Here's my version of the Amy Jumpsuit. It's like wearing a jumpsuit, a pair of culottes, and a dress all wrapped into 1 little garment.  

My thoughts for the next time I make the piece:

1. I will lengthen the crotch 1". I have always had a problem with jumpsuits being just a bit short in the crotch. This garment is fine, but a smidge more room would be nice. 

2. I took about 3" out on either side of the waist at center back. The jumpsuit does have a side zipper, but it is only a 7" zipper, so it opens the garment to allow one to get into it, but not enough to have a closer fit. The garment is meant to be rather free and breezy, but the next time I make it, I will put a longer zipper in the side seam. This will mean working around the pocket, but that's doable. What I took out does not keep me from being able to comfortably get into the garment, but for a closer fit, a longer zipper will be needed.  

3. For a future garment, a belt would be great. I just didn't have enough fabric left to squeeze out even a strip of a belt. I love the Sobi Belt from Pattern Union. You can find the pattern HERE along with more pictures of the belt.  

Before I go, a funny story...

I got the jumpsuit to a point so that I could try it on. Rather than open the garment up between the 2 straps, and slide into it from the middle, I tried to squeeze in from the zipper opening side. I thought, "how am I ever going to get into this garment?!!!" Then it occurred to me that all I had to do was slip in from the middle. I felt like a nitwit ;) 

And 1 last word of advice...

Try not to put a zipper in the center back of a jumpsuit. You just might get stuck in the bathroom, and I may not be there to help!!!

Our final challenge is a fun one. Stay tuned:)

Rhonda