A slightly less successful project this week. Back in 2018, I saw this beautiful denim star jacquard on Emma One Sock and I immediately knew what I wanted to make with it.
I had recently acquired Simplicity 8447 - a 1940s reprint - in a sale at JoAnn's and it and the denim seemed like a perfect match.
After I got the fabric and pattern, however, this project sat for several years. Even once I felt confident enough to tackle it, I had several false starts.
When a designer drafts a pattern, they make certain choices about the body they're drafting for. How tall is the person? What is the ratio between their waist and hips? How sloping are their shoulders? And when the finished garment is meant to fit closely to the body, how similar your body is to these assumptions can make a big difference to your final look. For me, the alteration I almost always have to do is an FBA (full bust adjustment). Most patterns are drafted for a 2" difference between the upper/high bust (essentially the circumference around the back, under the arms, and above the chest) and the full bust (the circumference around the body at the fullest part of the chest). [Note that this is not the same as bra sizing, which is predicated on the difference between the underbust (the circumference of the body under the chest) and the full bust.] My upper bust - full bust difference is about 5". If I were to select a pattern size based on my actual measurements, it would be baggy under the arms and around my upper back and chest. This is especially obvious in sleeveless garments, where the armholes are so big they gape open.
Doing an FBA can be confusing depending on the shaping used on a garment. For a bodice with the standard two darts (one at the bust and one at the waist), it is pretty straightforward and lots of tutorials exist to walk you through it. This one from the Curvy Sewing Collective is the one I refer to most often. Tutorials exist for some other common bodice configurations, but the general premise is always the same - start with the size that matches your upper bust measurement and then add width and length to accommodate your fuller bust.
The bodice of the Simplicity 8447 overalls is not a shape I had done an FBA on before. There is no waist dart (it has likely been shifted over to the side seam) and the bust dart has been rotated from the side up to above the bust. My first attempt at an FBA was a complete disaster - to the extent that I put the project away for about 6 months before trying again.
When I picked it back up, I used this tutorial (also from the CSC) as inspiration and made a mock-up I was happy with. [This sounds simple, but I had done quite a bit of research and thinking in the meantime.]
Behold, the very un-glamous world of late night toile fitting! I thought about only posting the much prettier pictures below of the toile in daylight on my dressform, but I want to be honest - and honestly a lot of my sewing is done after work in what I'm going to call loungewear. Also, with hindsight I can tell you that I should have seen that excess fabric under the bust and known to add back in a waist dart.
Once I was happy with this toile, I got to work on cutting out my fabric and putting together the overalls. I don't remember having any difficulties with the pattern, although having worn the overalls a couple times, I don't love how the facings are done. If I was going to make this again (spoilers - I won't), I would change those up.
More un-glamorous fitting photos. As you can tell, the pants are quite baggy - which was emphasized by the fact that they were much too long even with the cuffs rolled up. I ended up both cutting off some extra length and putting quite a lot into the cuffs.
Finished photos. I had to really pose to keep these from just being a dark blob in the photos. It is difficult to capture how cute the stars on the denim are in person.
Some detail shots of the totally non-functional front pocket, and my silver buttons. These are lightened to show the denim pattern a little better.
In the end I'm proud of these overalls (the fitting, the top-stitching, all the flat felled seams), but I can't say I like them very much. They feel really bulky when I'm wearing them - I just don't think the wide legs are my style. I'm often drawn to retro styles, but I've had very few of them make it into my everyday wear. I may have to write them off as the kind of thing I like on other people, but aren't my personal style.
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