This may be the most pajama-y thing I have made recently. It’s SO COMFORTABLE. It’s basically like being draped in soft glorious swishiness except that it also looks like a real outfit. This is my (very!) wearable muslin of the Closet Case Patterns Amy Jumpsuit. I have another one cut out already but, you know, Deer & Doe released the Opium coat and it was a queue-jumper for me. I finished the exterior shell this weekend on my Opium and just have to do the lining now. I’m already in love and hopefully will be able to show it to you soon! Back to this jumpsuit though. It’s funny because I had a few photos saved on my computer of jumpsuits that were really similar to this and was going to try to hack a pattern to get what I wanted, but then the Amy was released and it was exactly what I envisioned!
It’s the epitome of Secret Pajamas. I made this in a 100% rayon that I got from Fabricville on sale for probably $15 total, and I liked the fabric but wasn’t so attached that if the jumpsuit was horrible I would’ve been heartbroken. I have had problems with Closet Case sizes in the past. I love the company and all the designs, and it’s so strange because I fit EXACTLY into the measurements for a size 10 but have had issues with the size 10 in the past. I made a size 10 in Ginger Jeans and ended up having to go in a bit on the hips and also cut a smaller waistband. I made a size 10 in the Nettie bodysuit – which reminds me, I need to make a couple more of those – and it fit very well. (But now the shoulders/arms are too tight because I’ve been doing a lot of bouldering and have gotten strangely a bit buff? It’s foreign to me but I think I’m into it.) So I went with the size 10 on this jumpsuit and tried to have trust. I rationalized that jeans are a different category of thing because there are so many tweaks you can make on them, and luckily I was correct. The jumpsuit fit pretty well without any crazy alterations, although I did make a couple which I’ll tell you about below.
I ended up shortening the straps by 2-3″, which makes sense because I am only 5’4″. I will note that the instructions specifically say NOT to try to just shorten the straps without adding length to the bodice to compensate because things will end up discombobulated. But in this case, the darts on the bodice were too low for me, and the crotch was too low, so it really was just a matter of pulling it up by shortening the straps. The other issue I had was a strange excess of fabric in the middle of the front at the top. It was almost like my boobs were closer together than expected, which surprised me because I’m not particularly narrow on top. But I ended up taking a wedge out of the front and the facing inside. I think it was about 2″ at the top and I tapered it down to nothing about 4-5″ down from the top edge. I transferred these markings to the pattern pieces, but I didn’t write down the measurements while I was doing it because I just pinned it, sewed it, and measured afterward. And now it fits great! I was worried that just willy-nilly taking a dart out of the middle front would impact the shaping of the neckline with the gentle V, but luckily it still has a good shape.
Oh! And before I forget. I left out the side zipper. It says in the pattern that if you are making a straight size, you could probably get away without the zipper. I was a bit antsy about this, but the antsy-ness did not outweigh my desire to sew this up quick and dirty and plus it was a muslin. I figured if necessary I could go back in after and add a zipper. There was a bit of trepidation once I had to take the wedge out of the front – I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get it over my hips after narrowing the top of the bodice like that, but luckily I can still get it up and over and it’s just a little snug for a second. Nothing drastic though. It’s nice to have something that doesn’t have any closures so that there’s nothing detracting from the softness of the fabric.
The final thing I want to mention is the big roomy pockets! I hate when patterns include small pocket pieces that you can’t fit your whole hand into. If I’m sewing my own clothes, I will DEFINITELY include pockets, and I will definitely not settle for ones that are barely functional! These are dreamy. I’ll hopefully get to sewing the other one up once I’m done with my coat, but I’m finding it hard to balance working on Christmas gifts with sewing for myself AND doing school and work. I have a bunch of knitting projects lined up for gifts, and multiple sewing projects, and I think I might need to sew some of those things to alleviate my worry that I won’t finished in time for the holidays. Which I realize seems absurd because it’s not even November yet. But these things take TIME. Does anyone else hand-make all their gifts? I also want to show you all the progress I’m making on these things because I’m really excited about them, but it has to remain secret. Alas!
