Posts
Things are settling down.
My daughter's MS diagnosis has been finally definitely confirmed and all that stuff they say about the new normal is in fact true. She is strong and smart and her medical care is excellent. We are going to be fine.
During this period in my life I have sewn a lot for everyone else. It has been a way of keeping myself on an even keel and of, without words, a way to say to people I loved them.
So this has meant that my writing as had its busy times and its quieter times while I have sewn instead. And because many of the things I was making were "surprises" I didn't show them or talk about them here.
I have decided however that sharing things on the blog with other sewing people is different than sharing the real thing in person. As a result I am going back to show and tell as I make things, while the process is clearer in my mind.
So here we go.
My daughter-in-law's birthday is in June, but I will be seeing her in Nashville next week. So I asked Maddie what she would like to me to make her for her birthday. She sent back a picture of a jumpsuit she had just bought and a note that as a mother of an infant, she really liked the pockets. Here is my version:
My daughter also is interested in jumpsuits (never thought I would see those again in my lifetime) so I had a pretty good idea what was out there. In this case the pattern I found that looked most like the picture Maddie sent me was the Yari jumpsuit by True Bias.
Here is the pattern picture:
Maddie's choice was not belted so I didn't do that but otherwise made the pattern as per instructions.
I used a linen with some rayon added that I washed and dried on a low heat because I knew this garment would be going into a household where that made the most sense.
This was an interesting pattern.
It has a lot of long pattern pieces, front, side front, back side and back, seamed. This meant a lot of long but easy seams and a lot of top-stitching but I kind of enjoyed that. The big and useful pockets were easy to do of course because the sides were contained in those seams. They are nice and large.
The only issue I had was with the bottom of the front placket.
Always these days now my daughter is sewing too, very competently as she does every thing, I eye instructions wondering if a newer sewist would find it hard to do.
The bottom of this placket, depending as it does on some pretty precise clipping, really is a potential Danger Zone. I managed, but even while doing exactly as instructed and it turned out as it was supposed to, the many layers of fabric in that small area make a bit of a lump that shows up under the soft linen more than I would like. I pressed as much as I could, to the point that more pressing might make it worse, but mentally figured out a better way to do it.
I think your eagle eyes will be able to pick out what I mean in this shot - no mistake here but the layers do distort. (I am thinking as I write this that this is exactly what every sewing person does - only see what they are not happy with first in any garment).
I am pretty interested in plackets at the moment. I have been reading a lot of old sewing books and am amazed at how many really nifty ways of sewing plackets, in the days before zippers were always the default, there are and how many of them are so easy to do - much easier than the technique used in this pattern.
I think I would have used a placket that was more of a patch than and clip, twist, and turn for this linen and probably will next version I make. (I know I need to do some blog posts on some of the cool techniques I have unearthed!)
All that said I am really happy with how this looks. Who would have thought a jumpsuit would look elegant?
Well maybe not on me but on Maddie this will look elegant.
My daughter has added two more jumpsuits to my queue so there will be more of these coming up.
