On becoming the daddy of princess seams

The Vogue V9075 has been doing the rounds for a while now and for good reason. It’s a ‘Very Easy’ pattern, the trickiest parts being the princess seams and the invisible zip. If you want to master princess seams, this is the garment for you. The front and back have these lovely flattering seams, then you get to do it all over again for the lining, so by the time you’re finished you’ll have done no fewer than 8. Bosh.

The jumpsuit uses a lot of fabric because the trousers are enormous. Seriously, they’re huge, and for my first bash at this I used some black and white viscose (I think?) from Fabrics Galore; it’s that magical kind of fabric that’s floaty but not slippery so it was gorgeous to sew with. The pattern has a fully lined bodice, but out of sheer laziness I decided to forgo this and bias bound (bias binded? Bias bindinged??) the neckline instead. This was a bit of a mistake! Possibly down to my bias binding abilities, possibly because I should’ve just followed the bloomin’ instructions, but the neckline doesn’t sit totally flat. It’s not massively noticeable, but it’s one of those things that’ll bug me because I know it’s there.

The dreaded ‘Big Four curse’ (just made that up) hit and the garment came up huge! I had to take in more than 2cm either side of the zip and it’s still very roomy, but it’s nothing a belt can’t sort. Lastly, I took 6cm off the length, and I’m 5ft 6, so if you’re on the short side you can save yourself some fabric and cut the legs shorter to begin with!

I love this jumpsuit so much and I’ve got so much wear out of it, so I decided to make some more variations. After sizing down the pattern I made some culottes with some blue dotty cotton I bought from Crafty Mastermind a couple of years ago. It’s so subtly beautiful, no in your face print, just a gorgeous shade of blue with tiny dots all over, but until now I’d been crippled by fear of not doing the fabric justice. I’m so glad I held out for these culottes, they’ve become a wardrobe staple that I wear all the time! However, they are still a teeny tiny bit too big on the waist!

Third time’s a charm…

I took the waist in another size, which was pretty scary when cutting directly in to the pattern rather than tracing (and nice fabric without making a toile). I used some floral cotton lawn from Sewalicious, which I got around this time last year. It’s lightweight and ever so slightly sheer when held up to the light so this pattern works really well for it – the bodice is lined so there’s no risk of boobage, and there are so many pleats and masses of fabric in the trousers to avoid any risk of pantage.

I got to enjoy the beauty of 8 princess seams, and went sleeveless for this version, as it’s a more summery fabric than my first one. I had THE FEAR that I’d gone a bit too gung ho with cutting a size down but…it fits like a dreeeam!

If you’re thinking of getting in on the jumpsuit trend that’s swept the nation, I highly recommend this pattern. It’s comfortable, versatile (- so much scope for hacking), and you feel awesome swishing about in those voluminous legs. I’ve got another pair of the culottes on my sewing list, and I’m going to use this huge floral Lady McElroy cotton that I got from the Sew Me Sunshine pop up at The New Craft House a while back. You can never have too many big swishy trousers, right?