I’ve never worn a jumpsuit before.

Never even dreamed of wearing a jumpsuit before.

I’d always just put them in the “can’t pull that off” basket.

But when my sister gave me Vogue 9075 this Christmas, it was the jumpsuit that spoke to me.

The combination of two of my favourite things – a princess-seamed bodice with wide-legged pants – was, ultimately, impossible to resist.

Although, by virtue of this colour-blocking, I guess I’ve actually made the sewing antonym of a ‘ faux jumpsuit’.

But small steps. For a jumpsuit virgin, you can’t expect me to go all the way ‘head-to-toe-floral’ first time.

Maybe next time…

Back in Vogue

I only very recently sewed my first ever Big 4 pattern. The experience piqued my interest enough that I’m back again. This time around was infinitely easier thanks to Diane over at Dream.Cut.Sew who pointed out to me where I can find  the finished garment measurements on Vogue Patterns.

For any other indie-only junkies like me, the finished garment measurements are printed on the individual pattern pieces!

Armed with actual finished garment measurements to guide my size choices, the whole ‘big 4 ease’ problem was no longer a problem at all!

My jumpsuit is a size 12, but graded out to a 14 at the waist and biceps. Which are pretty standard areas to grade for me.

This is, obviously, view B, of Vogue 9075, the jumpsuit version. There is also an option for a gathered skirt, if jumpsuits aren’t your thing.

The Fabric Store Linen

This Vogue 9075 is made out of The Fabric Store’s lightweight linen in Vintage Blush and Slate. I have to say that before this fabric arrived, I never even knew that linen could be so soft. And full of drape. And smooth. And did I mention absurdly, ridiculously, butter-soft?

It’s only been relatively recently that I’ve started to get over some childhood memories of linen as being rough and scratchy and thick and dowdy and developed, instead, a new found obsession with All.The.Linen. I feel as though this is now the only fibre that I ever want touching my skin. And with all the pretty colours available, it almost seems like a feasible objective: wearing nothing but The Fabric Store’s linen for the rest of my life…

Put simply, I couldn’t be happier with the fact that this Vogue 9075 jumpsuit gives me the chance to totally cover my entire body in this lightweight linen goodness.

Pretty as a Princess

So, on to Vogue 9075 itself.

This was a mostly positive sewing experience, with nothing major to gripe about.

One thing that I am a big fan of with Vogue 9075 is that the bodice is princess-seamed all the way up to the shoulders, rather than just the bustline. I think that it creates a lovely shape. One that I think is quite flattering on those of us who are less well-endowed.

Vogue 9075 – Up Close and Personal

But can we just talk crotches for a moment?

From ‘sewcialising’ about Vogue 9075 before sewing it, I saw that lots of people strongly recommended some appropriate lengthening to avoid any ‘camel toe’ concerns.

Heeding this warning, I lengthened the bodice by 1cm. Then I effectively lowered the crotch by adding 2 cm into the ‘rise’ part of the pants. Then, after basting the bodice and pants together and realising I was still firmly in wedgie-ville, so I sewed the waist seam right along the raw edge, buying myself another crucial centimetre or so.

So my version has, in total, about 4 cm added in at various points between the waist and the low-point of the crotch. Which makes it wearable. But when I have to raise my arms above my head, it still definitely pinches!

I know what you’re thinking.

No big deal, you don’t need to raise your arms in the air all that often.

That’s what I thought too, at first. Until I realised that every single time I need to go to the bathroom, I have to raise my arms up to undo the zipper…

As if using the bathroom in a jumpsuit wasn’t awkard enough…

So my one word of advice is: don’t be shy adding in the necessary anti-camel toe length. Unless you are extremely petite, i think any adult human needs to lower this crotch curve significantly! I knew I needed to lengthen but I really thought an inch or so would suffice!

For the record, I’m not every tall (167cm, and I’ve also never found myself to be particularly long in the torso). So, just go all in on the lengthening. Really.

Your lady bits will thank you for it…

Zippety Doo-Dah

OK, enough talking about lady bits.

The only other existential crisis I had while sewing Vogue 9075 was what colour invisible zipper to install with this colour-blocking.

Should I match the bodice or the trousers?

Of course, in theory, I should be able to install a fluorescent green invisible zip and it would be, well, invisible.

But I definitely don’t have that kind of faith in my skills!

In the end I decided to match the trousers.

Although there is a longer length of zip in the bodice, making a strong case for matching there, the ultimate decider for me was that if there were going to be any odd dashes of contrasting colour, I would prefer that to be up top, rather than in the butt area. Let’s not draw any attention there!

So I matched the zip colour to the trousers.

Another lesson learned while sewing this Vogue 9075 is that if you are colour-blocking in this way, it is absolutely imperative that  your waist-seam lines up perfectly along the back zip. Luckily, the whole, ‘snip-in-the-zipper-tape’ trick worked a treat. Don’t have any photos to illustrate that clearly for you though, you’ll have to take my word for it.

I still haven’t managed to shift my ‘winter kilos’ this year and, gotta say, really not enjoying looking at back view photos of myself at the moment. Wish I didn’t feel that way but hey …

And a new friend

But, on to happier subjects, this Vogue 9075 was my first make on my brand-new  (well, new-to-me) sewing machine!

I recently blogged about some of the challenges of investing in a high-quality sewing machine. Shortly therafter on markplaats (it’s like Dutch Ebay), I found this Bernina 807 from 1975 available for around 100 euros.

I decided that, at that price range, I could give it a shot to see whether I like the way Bernina mechnical sewing machines feel.

When she first arrived, I couldn’t believe it. She was so shiny and sparkly. I mean, she’s older than me and literally didn’t have a scratch on her. She’s almost all metal except for a couple of tiny plastic bits – one of which was the only thing that was actually broken – a little plastic switch for turning the lamp on and off. No worries, I can live with the light permanently on until I can super-glue the switch back into place.

Even going beyond skin-deep, she’s still been a really impressive find so far. She’s quiet, it’s like she just purrs at me. And the stitching is consistently neat and even. She just feels solid and powerful and strong, even if I can’t necessarily explain why.

So this Vogue 9075 jumpsuit was the first make sewn almost entirely on her. I say entirely because she only came with a couple of feet, so I switched to my old machine for invisible zip installation. I think that the feet for a modern Bernina 1008 can be used on her, but I have had the chance yet to confirm whether that’s the case and consider what feet I really need to invest in.

So, while the idea of a single high-quality sewing machine remains on the cards, the addition of this old Dame to my sewing corner has definitely reduced the urgency of that task.

And, I have to say, that this tiny little foray of dipping my toes into the ‘vintage’ sewing machine world has totally made me understand how collecting beautiful old machines could very quickly become an obsession.

Oh and this machine gave me such a proud moment recently. At a fabric market I came across a leather-seller. I started chatting to him about whether you could sew leather on a home machine. His first question was – “is it a new machine or an old one”. I was so damn proud to say “it’s a 1975 model Bernina!!!!!”.

Still haven’t tested her mettle on that leather yet though.

Too busy jumping around in my Vogue 9075!