This pattern sold out so quickly when Minerva Crafts brought Deer & Doe’s Sirocco jumpsuit, I felt I needed to see why.

The answer is this is a very quick jumpsuit to sew on an overlocker. The seams are 3/8 inch and this is perfect for overlocker sewing. This jumpsuit has pockets! That always get a big tick from me.

The v-neckline can be as low or as high as you want it to be. A simple size 0 snap is all I added as the closure for the neckline. You don’t need to add a snap. I do so I feel more confident to wear this faux wrap neckline.

The fabric – crepe knit

This crepe knit feels lovely and soft against my skin. I didn’t feel it before I ordered it so I was really pleased that it feels so soft.

The crepe texture does mean that there will be blue dust on your machine as you sew. I keep a craft paintbrush next to my sewing machine to sweep away the fabric dust build-up.

The crepe side is what I chose as the right side of the fabric. The colour on the crepe side is a slightly darker blue and that helped me as I cut the fabric out at night.

This knit is more fine than medium weight so it does curl as you use it. This meant I did have to sew the fabric in short bursts so the fabric didn’t curl into the seam stitching.

Using the overlocker

I still go back and use the overlocker instruction manual to check the recommended stitching for knit fabrics. It’s also handy to go back to the instruction manual to use it for other purposes such as rolled hemming. I did consider using a lettuce edge on the sleeve hem, but I decided to use this hem finish for another time.

Construction changes

The beauty of using the overlocker meant that I could change the order of construction.

I followed the Deer and Doe instructions for the bodice only. Then…

1. I overlocked the front bodice, waistband, pants into one piece.
2. I did the same for the back pieces.
3. I overlocked the sleeves in flat.
4. Then I overlocked the side seams from the sleeve through to the ankle.
5. Before I hemmed the jumpsuit, I overlocked the inner legs and checked the trouser hem length.

 

Pattern adjustments- pants

Earlier this year I made Style Arc Brice jumpsuit so I used this to check the leg length for this jumpsuit pattern.

Leg length:

I took out 6 cm from the Sirocco leg length.

When I was ready to hem the legs, they were still too long. I had to remove another 5 cm from the hem.

There are some schools of thought that recommend you shorted the leg length at the knee. When I took a good look at the leg shaping, I really didn’t want the ankle width to be too skinny. That’s just my style preference so the ankle width on my version is definitely wider that the pattern provided.

Tummy length:

I know that I am shorter from at the centre front on the pants so I took out 5 cm across the mid-tummy area on both the pants and the pocket pieces, so these would all match.

Sway back:

I also know I have a sway back and a gravity affected behind so I took out 5cm from the mid-sway back side seam to match the front pant through to 0cm at the centre back seam. This effectively gave me enough coverage for my ‘sway back’.

I also lowered the centre back curve for gravity.

Pattern adjustments – Bodice

I’ve graded the bodices with size 38 at the bust and size 40 at the waist. This is the shape I am at the moment.

Front:

I took off 1.5cm off the shoulder seam as I have two shape issues.

1. forward shoulders. I remove 1.5cm from the shoulder point.
2. bust gaping on V necklines. This means I have to take out 1.5 cm from the neckline.

When I was prepping the pattern, I simply took this off the pattern piece.

Where the v-neckline markings are on the bodice, I placed the neckline neckband seams at this point so the neckline would sit more securely on me. This worked out well. I did add a size 0 snap on the neckband so the neckband will stay put!

Back:

I added 1.5 cm to the height of the shoulder point.

I also added 1.5 cm to the hem of the back bodice to give me enough wiggle room to curve with my sway back shape.

There was a few moments when I cut the pattern out that I thought ‘will this work?’

It took me Saturday morning to slowly sew these adjusted jumpsuit pieces together.

Pocket reinforcement

I love garments with pockets. However I’m very aware of ensuring to keep pockets in the shape they were drafted. What I mean is I tend to think through how to keep pockets reinforced so they don’t’ eventually look like hip ears.

I have this tricot tape to reinforce seams when I sew knit garments.

I used this tape on the pocket seam to provide the shape I want the pockets to always have.

I have friends who have the pockets sewn closed on their ready to wear garments because they want to keep the trouser shape as is.

Winter version

I plan to make a long sleeve version for Winter soon.

Thanks again Minerva Crafts.