Work-ready pyjamas anyone?

Of Deer and Doe’s most recent pattern release, the darling was surely the lovely Sirocco Jumpsuit. If instagram is anything to go by, I’m certainly not the only one out there who felt this way. It was a pleasure to see a jumpsuit which looked work appropriate, yet comfortable.

And, in a sea of wide legged pants, the tapered trousers seemed to look, well, a little bit grown up and sophisticated…

I liked it at once but I wasn’t sure that it would suit my body type. So I waited a while. Then versions which were simply beyond beuatiful started popping up everywhere. Like this one from @sweetshardxo. And this phenomenal one from @everdream_s_couture which is, clearly, a very strong point of inspiration for mine!

With this kind of Deer and Doe Sirocco eye candy popping up everywhere, I could no longer resist…

My Sirocco Jumpsuit

My Sirocco Jumpsuit is a size 40 at the bust, immediately grading out to a 44 at the waist and hips. I added an extra centimeter or two of length at the torso . I also did a full bicep adjustment, without which these sleeves would never have fit me!

The overall sewing experience for the Sirocco Jumpsuit was great, with the instructions all pretty straight forward. I sewed this in one weekend (keeping in mind that, with a 4 year old, “a weekend to sew”, actually means a few scattered hours here and there, not an actual entire weekend!).

I found the construction order a little odd, towards the end. The instructions call for attaching the front pants to the front waistband, then the back pants to the back waistband, then sewing the side seam and attaching the sleeve in the round.

Well, yeah, you could do it like that.

But I found it much easier to first construct the entire bodice with waistband, including sewing the sleeves in the flat (thanks for the tip @emmas_atelier). Then, once the pants were fully assembled, including the side seams, I just attached the top and bottom half together.

I found this much easier because, in some earlier fitting and pinning, it had become clear that my bodice was fitting fine but I was worried the pants might be too big. Finishing the top and the bottom separately, made it much easier to first test out the fit of the pants and make any needed adjustments.

Plus who wants to sew a sleeve in the round if you really don’t need to!

The only other little tweak I made was to add clear elastic into the shoulder seam for some extra stability.

How low can you go???

As is evident, the v-neck is very low on me. I currently have to wear this with something underneath. It was already sufficiently snug around the waist, however, that I couldn’t afford to overlap it any further.

I will probably need to find a more long-term solution to this problem – sewing in a little button on the inside of the neckband or a genius magnetic closure like @chloemontrose has done here.

Fabric love

A quick moment of fabric talk. The Deer and Doe Sirocco Jumpsuit calls for a stable ponte with at least 60% stretch.

A combination which I was worried would not actually be all that easy to find!! (Although judging by all the crazy awesome prints people seem to be sewing the Sirocco Jumpsuit in, it’s probably not as difficult as I imagine…)

The striped fabric is a fabric market find which I’ve had in my stash for a while. I’ve been a bit rebellious here because it’s actually not quite stretchy enough. It has about 45-50% stretch. I would emphasise, for anyone else who is thinking of playing around with the boundaries of acceptable stretch percentage for your Sirocco Jumpsuit, that this is only JUST, barely OK.

In fact, I think it only works because the neckband is a contrasting, more stretchy fabric. If I had done the neckband in the same striped ponte, I think there is a significant risk that I wouldn’t have been able to get this Sirocco Jumpsuit on and off without having added a zip.

Given the way you put on a jumpsuit, it really is the bodice and waist that must be in the stretchiest fabric of all (you could probably get away with a slightly less stretchy knit in the pants).

So, moral of the story, don’t mess with stretch percentages too much.

Instead, go for something super stretchy and stable and wonderful like my navy fabric: a textured tencel ponte jersey from Meter Meter. It actually has more than the required 60% stretch, making it even more onesie-like in terms of comfort. It is a delightful combination of being quite weighty and substantial (i.e. cosy) but still drapey.

I’d actually never sewn with a tencel-based jersey (this is 60% tencel, 30% nylon and 2% elastane). As soon as it was released, I emailed Meter Meter, asking whether it would be appropriate for the Sirocco Jumpsuit. To which they replied that they were already sewing their own out of it!

It really is a gorgeous weighty ponte and a delight to wear.

The waist band is a 1 x 1 ribbing, also from Meter Meter.

Sirocco Jumpsuit: The Verdict

Overall, I feel that perfect mix of “put together” and “pyjamas” when I wear this.

But, I do have a confession to make that I haven’t given you a single all-important rear view photo because I couldn’t get a shot that I was satisfied to put on the internet. That’s really not a reflection of the pattern. A combination of not-great lighting on my only day to take photos + the fact that I am not feeling so great about my own body changes right now have conspired against me.

So, I’m sorry. I’m being vain and silly and not at all useful to sewists who want to see how patterns look on real bodies. But, if I find better light and a better mood, I’ll try to take a behind shot and add it to this post later.

Moving on to things that I am prouder of, kudos to me because I realised at the beginning of this project that I had seriously LOST MY UNPICK!! I had no unpicking device whatsoever in the house. And so I forged ahead with the most careful of sewing (and a bit of handsewing) and got there in the end.

Making this, probably, my only me-made garment which has never seen an unpick.

Now that has to be worth something!!

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.