I have emerged from my mask-making cave (hopefully) for good! I just finished another ~120 of them and felt the urge like I did last time to sew something fun that was just for me. So I made another Zadie jumpsuit! This time in this really fun clementine rayon designed by Melody Miller for Ruby Star Society that I’ve been holding onto since sometime in 2019! I was really inspired after seeing Kelli’s Zadie in a rayon and thought it would be a great opportunity to use this stash fabric.
It’s funny how a different fabric can change a pattern so much! My first Zadie was in a mid-weight linen, and this is a lovely 100% rayon. If you want to get your hands on it, I’ve seen it around online in a few places so if you search up “clementine rayon Ruby Star Society” you should be able to find some! I used the same pattern pieces as before, so the same fit modifications were in place (you can read about those in the post I wrote about my first Zadie). The only change I made was to trace off the front and back leg pieces and then taper them at the bottom. This is a change that Kelli made, and I loved the silhouette so I decided to go for it. I took 1.5″ off the side of each piece, which reduced the circumference of the leg opening by 6″ total. I’m happy with the amount I took out, and if I was going to make another with the tapered leg, I’d use the same pattern pieces again. One tip is that I drew a line at the hem line in order to reduce the width at that point instead of the bottom raw edge. I connected that point to a vague point higher up along the edge of the pattern piece, not really keeping track of where, just eyeballing where it seemed to make a smooth-ish connection point. It was likely near the hip level or slightly below, if that helps. The reason I took it from the hem line is because if you taper all the way to the cut edge, when you go to hem, the folded up fabric will be a narrower circumference than the leg at the seamline, so it won’t behave as nicely. To avoid uneven fabric amounts at the hem, taper to the hem line, and then fold up along that line and trace the new side leg lines mirrored back onto the paper below the hem line. I hope this makes sense! That will be your new cutting line. Because I did that, I pre-serged the raw leg edge prior to hemming so that I didn’t have to double fold it.
I found the binding edge much more finicky on this clementine jumpsuit than on my linen one. I think it’s because the fabric is so lightweight that I couldn’t just slide the binding over the raw edge in the same way as the linen, because it would bunch up. I had to go a lot more slowly, and sort of lay the raw edge in against the fold on the bias tape and then gently fold it over while holding it securely. I found it helped to have it laying on a flat surface while doing so. As well, I used a LOT of pins. The part where you have to curve around the tie location was an adventure. I still missed the backside of the tape when stitching in 4-5 places, so I went back and hand-stitched the inside edge down so I didn’t have to do any seam ripping.
As you can see, I didn’t bother to do any pattern matching. The only place where I think I could’ve have gone to the trouble is the center back seam of the bodice. The rest, I think it’s either not noticeable or I’d be concerned about accidentally matching a perfect clementine right at the middle of my butt crack. I actually have another cut of rayon from this collection that I initially was planning to use, but it’s the Daydream one from the same collection in the Sky colourway and it’s a MASSIVE print. I decided that I should ultimately save it for something that doesn’t have so many pattern pieces dividing up the print so that it could shine on its own. I think these clementines are a better fit for this garment anyway, so it all worked out!
Is anyone else feeling the urge to wear big, bold summery prints lately now that the weather is warming up in this hemisphere? I think this is a bit on the wild side, but I don’t THINK it’s too over the top. At least, I hope not! It feels like major pajamas, even more than the linen version, and having this clementine print on me head to toe brings me so much joy! Definitely going to be wearing it lots as summer fully develops. I’ve still managed to avoid buying any new fabric since isolation measures started. I’ve probably said this before, but it’s so satisfying to sew only things you’ve got in your stash already. I also haven’t purchased any new patterns. I’m finding I’m much more likely to sew “special” fabrics like these clementines that I’ve been holding onto because I have more time to figure out the perfect pattern to use, and it feels like I’m shopping from a very exciting store that has lots of things I like and doesn’t charge any money!
