I love a good collab, and I have to say this one is pretty special. Me and Mandi from Make with Mandi, became friends in the beginning of the year after realising we were at a similar stage in our Indie pattern making journey. We have shared so much of the process and I love having Mandi to talk to about things that basically only she understands.
This post is a short description of how we mashed up our two patterns the Bolt culottes and the Frankie Tankie to make a jumpsuit!
A couple of notes before going into the details:
We made our jumpsuits with not opening/closure as it is quite loose fitting. This will not work for everyone; something my mum let me know when trying this out. She opted for a side seam zipper, and a sew on popper on one shoulder to make it easy to re-tie quickly. I have also cut a version with a keyhole opening in the back neck and will report back on that process when I’ve sewed it (These instructions don’t feature an opening, we’ll work on that in the near future and add to this hack).
We finished the top using the facing option of the Frankie Tankie pattern.
The Bolt pattern must be sewn with 1.5 cm seam allowance, and the Frankie Tankie with 1 cm seam allowance. Sew using 1 cm seam allowance at the waist seam.
I will do illustrations to go with this post once my move to Sweden is done and dusted (flying out in two weeks eek!!)
To pattern business:
The most important thing to remember when creating a jumpsuit pattern is that you need extra length in the rise to make it possible to sit down when wearing the jumpsuit. You simply won’t be able to sit down if the measurement is too short between the shoulders and crotch.
To make my jumpsuit, I raised the waist of the trouser 10 cm (4 in) and used the lengthen/shorten line on my Frankie + 2.5 cm (1 in). All in all that means I added 12.5 cm (5 in) total to make my jumpsuit, like this:
For the culottes, I did the pattern changes while I was cutting out. So with the pattern on the fabric I just continued the side, centre front and back seams with a ruler and chalk 10 cm (4 in) up. Then I measured and marked 10 cm (4in) on the fabric up from the waist all along the edge to guide my cutting. Redraw the slant pocket line to raise the pocket.
On the Frankie Tankie pattern, I measured and marked 2.5 cm (1 in) below the lengthen/shorten line on the pattern and folded the pattern piece there before laying it on the fabric and cutting out.
You can play around with the position of the waist seam as we all prefer different things. I prefer mine quite high whereas Mandi prefers her waist lower on the body. Do this by adjusting the proportion of how much you add to the trouser and how much you add to the top.
I wear both my jumpsuits loose or with a belt, Mandi sewed narrow elastic into the seam allowance of the waist on one jumpsuit and wears the other one loose.
Sewing:
1. Follow the instructions for each pattern but don’t hem the top and don’t do the waistband on the culottes.
2. There will be ease/gathers in the culottes waist line, so sew two rows of gathering stitches all along the waist.
3. Turn the top inside out, and lay it right sides together with the culottes at the waist seam.
4. Match and pin the side seams, and then pull on the gathering threads on the trouser to gather it lightly. Match the waist seams all around and pin.
5. Sew this seam and overlock/zigzag to neaten.
That’s your jumpsuit done!
To get the discounted pattern bundle with both patterns click here. If you already own one of the two patterns, we have added a 25% discount for you on the other pattern. Please send one of us your confirmation email/proof of purchase and we’ll send you the discount code!
Please bear with me as I work on illustrations and a version with zip/keyhole closure. If you have a Frankie Tankie made up, try stepping into it to check if you can do this hack without an opening.