Monday, January 30, 2017

Momentarily Obsessed

From Fantasy Linen

I came across this picture a week ago and fell in love with these loose linen overalls from Fantasy Linen. They remind me so much of an over-sized loose linen jumper dress I received in a clothing swap during college. They are so similar in construction except that these finish in culottes instead of a full skirt.

Yoko overalls

I went searching for a similar pattern to avoid having to draft one; which to be honest, considering my current sewing queue, would be a long way off. The first one I found was the Yoko convertible overalls by Hana Patterns. However, they are made in two parts and the bib is detachable while I prefer the seamless design of the inspiration piece.

Rachel overall

Another possibility is the Schnittchen Rachel overall which has the voluminous pant legs but it would require creating a bib, eliminating that center button placket, and creating an opening on the side.

I then thought a better source of something similar but with a looser fit might be a 1980-90s maternity overall pattern. Remember those? That was a time when women looked like over-sized toddlers in huge figure-hiding rompers with their ankles and wrists usually ending in gathered cuffs. Basically the traditional clown costume (see last image). While there were the 80s horrors we remember, there were some more wearable variations, such as the two below.

McCall's 8164
McCall's 7551

In the very first page of search results, I found McCall's 8164 from 1996 and it's incredibly close! Lengthening the bib straps and enlarging the width of those pant legs below the hips might be all that needs to be done. Even closer is McCall's 7551, which definitely has the correct legs, I would just need to drop the crotch an inch or so, like in the inspiration garment. This one could be a real contender.


Traditional patterns for or dungarees are on trend right now so those types are easy to find. Most are designed to be much more figure-hugging than what I want but I found Kwik Sew 3897 to be a bit looser at the waist and hips. It has a two-piece front but that seam line could be easily eliminated. The sides are constructed traditionally with buttoned placket openings that match the construction of my fave jumper.

Hyssop culottes

I also decided to check Japanese sewing patterns but knew that would be hard considering I can't read the language and wouldn't know how to describe what I wanted. Then I came across Japanesesewingbooks.com and discovered that what I was looking for may be called a salopette. After using that as a search term I found the Hyssop culottes from Tamanegi-Kobo, which has perfect legs but again would need a different bib.

If you see anything else out there that would work in replicating the Fantasy Linen overall, please let me know!

Oh and because I just had to pass this along, here is possibly one of the most misguided maternity patterns I came across. I love how they tried to make it all "disco fabulous" with the cherry red blusher and the wet-look lip gloss, but I just don't think it succeeded.

Butterick 4820

2 comments:

Diane said...

OMG, that maternity pattern is disturbing! That short yellow number is just creepy!!

Summer Flies said...

No words. Your inspiration jumpsuit is nice. Hope you find a good pattern. I like both McCalls ones.