I’d had my eyes on the Burnside Bibs by Sew House Seven for a while. And, indeed, after a good year or so of instagram stalking this pattern, I was pretty confident that I hadn’t seen a bad version of them.

I mean, seriously, there’s a bit of pattern magic going on here – the Burnside Bibs seem to look good on everyone!

And so, it was time to give them a go. Their lounging potential, combined with their summery vibe, gave them that double duty appeal – working from home appropriate plus looking forward to being able to enjoy the sunshine again soon…

And, as for my version, well, I gotta say that I’m a bit smitten! I feel pretty great whenever I wear these.

Except for when I have to go to the bathroom…

More on that later!!

My Burnside Bibs

My Burnside bibs are a straight size 16. I have sewn version 1, which is more fitted in the pants and includes a side zip, together with the straight bib. The pants leg here is the cropped length.

It’s made out of a striped linen which I picked up in person at The Fabric Store’s Adelaide store in February 2020. I can’t seem to find the exact fabric in the online store.

Since I can’t resist a bit of stripe play, I have also added in the bib pockets from the Jenny Overalls by Closet Case Patterns.

How do you guys decide whether to try a new pattern or tweak something you already have?

I absolutely love my Cone Denim version of the Jenny Overalls that I made a while back. They were, however, always a little on the tight side and subsequent weight fluctuations have meant that they’ve needed to move on to a new home.

There are, obviously, a lot of similairites between the Jenny Overalls and the Burnside Bibs. I could have remade the pattern I already owned in a bigger size. However, I think the fact that my Jenny Overalls had always been a bit too tight meant that I never really associated them with comfort and all-day wear.

Whereas every version of the Burnside Bibs I had seen seemed to be calling to me, saying, I’m comfy and stylish but in no way restrictive. Come, be my friend…

Well, how could I resist such a call.

So I decided to try the Burnside Bibs, but I added in the Jenny Overalls pockets as a bit of a tribute!

Sewing the Burnside Bibs

I experienced no issues sewing up the Burnside Bibs. I found the instructions very clear. Although it used a construction order that I found a tad unusual, it was very well laid out and easy to follow.

These Burnside Bibs actually leave me wanting to try out more Sew House Seven patterns. I’ve only made a few others, the Tea House Dress and the Toaster Sweater, but I’ve found them to be of a consistently high quality.

The one word of practical advice I have, which is sage advice anytime a back pocket is involved, is to check back pocket placement of the Burnside Bibs on your own butt before committing to anything.

Cuz nothing can ruin a garment more than a poorly placed back pocket. Seriously, one day when you don’t have anything better to do (yeah, sure!), stand in front of the mirror and pin pockets onto your butt in different placements. The visual difference it can cause is amazing.

I find that on my body, keeping back pockets fairly close to the centre (wide back pockets make by butt look even wider) and with the bottom of the pocket centred around the curve of my butt, is pretty much where it’s at.

Ok, I think that’s more words than I have ever previously devoted to an analysis of my butt.

Now, where was I going with this?

Ahh yes, I found that I actually needed to place the back pockets of the Burnside Bibs a full three inches higher than the recommended placement marked on the pattern piece in order to best suit my body.

Now, I can hear you saying, what damn back pockets are you talking about?

Because, yes, after painstakingly getting my back pockets situated at precisely the correct point of curvature, I took the final last minute decision that, actually, the Burnside Bibs looked best on me without them.

After all, with those huge front pockets, it’s not as though I needed them for functionality.

Plus big back pockets are always a bit of a risk factor. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a telephone fall out of them when pulling pants down for the bathroom. And that’s a moment of distraction at which you would rather not have small and expensive objects fall in a downwards and backwards direction.

Strap ’em up

Which brings me onto toilet woes.

Don’t worry, I’m dramatising – it’s really not that woeful!

But I somehow hadn’t realised until sewing it that the straps at the shoulder of the Burnside Bibs extend all the way down to the waist and are then threaded through those belt loops to create the distinctive slouchy gathering at the back. I guess I just hadn’t really thought it through, but I’d somehow thought there was both a waist tie belt and the straps, not that the two were one and the same.

So, maybe I’m just an idiot, but it seriously takes me a while to get into these Burnside Bibs. I have to dress in front of a mirror to make sure that I am crossing the straps over and then threading them through the loops. There may have even been a day after getting the straps twisted a million and one times that I had a little toddler tantrum and made my husband do them up for me.

Just saying it may have happened.

When going to the bathroom you don’t have to undo everything, it’s more of a loosen and slide situation, but you do end up with long dangly straps to worry about and, afterwards, I’m never really sure if I’ve slipped them back on without twisting.

None of these things are deal breakers but I do just find myself having to make an effort to pay a little attention when wearing my Burnside Bibs.

You have been warned!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.