Hello there, I’m back!  Work has been so busy lately, with lots of travel.  There hasn’t been a great deal of time for sewing and even less time for blogging – something had to give!  I’ve now got a couple of weeks break, so am hoping to get my blog back up to date.

This Blanca Flight Suit was sewn in conjunction with De Linum linen, who provided the fabric and pattern. Jumpsuits, overalls and coveralls have been big in the sewing community for a couple of years now, but I’ve always been slightly hesitant. Other than the obvious ‘will I have to take the whole thing off to go to the loo – and the answer is of course, yes’ aspect, I always worry that I will feel definite dad-in-his-coveralls vibes, since dad often did wear coveralls in his workshop, he was around my height, and I look a lot like him. I wasn’t sure if that was the vibe I was going for.

Well yeah, it does have rather definite dad-in-his-coveralls vibes to me – and I have embraced that! It’s actually a rather nice feeling to have that connection. Mind you, his coveralls were never in linen and were never this clean!

This is an involved sew. It’s not hard, but there are lots of pieces and many steps in assembling it. I found the instructions to be very clear, and just took my time over a number of days, fitting it in around other commitments.

The linen was superb to work with. Before sewing the Flight Suit I sewed a dress for Clare in polyester satin (still to be blogged) – so sewing with linen was especially pleasureable! It is 250GSM French flax linen in the colour Spiced Clay and was the perfect weight for this type of garment. I wore it yesterday, which was early spring with a top of 19 degrees – and I was comfortable throughout the entire day and evening. De Linum suggest that fabric of this weight is suitable for tops, skirts, dresses, shirts, loose jackets and pants – very versatile.

You really do need the long zip for this garment – don’t be tempted to try a shorter one. Otherwise it will be just too hard to wriggle in and out of! I would have preferred something heavier weight, possibly with metal teeth, but couldn’t find a colour match. The buckle came from Jimmy Buttons. This pattern has a few different options for pockets, sleeve and pant length, and belt.

I had just enough fabric for the long sleeved, long legged version. Luckily for me I’d been able to try on a friend’s version of this pattern, and although she is a much smaller size than me, it helped me to get an idea of how the Blanca might fit and what changes I would need to make. In the end I didn’t really make many changes. I chose to sew size 16 from the 0-20 range, but cut the armholes and shoulders and collar as size 14. I removed one inch from the bodice depth – I am quite short-waisted – and removed three inches from the longer leg length. The pattern has shorten/lengthen lines which makes it pretty easy to do. For reference, I am 158cm tall.

I used printed cotton voile to line the pockets. They’re never seen, but they are very smooth to slip your hands inside and the voile reduced any bulk.

The topstitched pleat that runs down the back is a nice touch. Actually, this pattern is full of nice touches. Closet Core Patterns describe it as follows: The Blanca Flight Suit is a semi-fitted, highly customizable boiler suit pattern inspired by vintage workwear. With multiple sleeve and leg options, it can be made in a variety of fabrics and can easily be styled up or down. Blanca features a center front zipper, patch pockets that double as belt loops, an optional tie belt or buckled belt, a traditional shirt collar and a unique pleated back design. Customize your flight suit by adding a long sleeve, tapered sleeve with a snap button, or short sleeve. The leg is cut straight, with the option to crop it or taper at the hem with a leg tab. In addition, choose between a classic breast patch pocket or zippered pocket for added detail.

The only thing I wasn’t happy with was the lack of finish along one side of the zip. The zipper tape is completely exposed on the left side. The right side has a long fly piece underneath to protect the body from zipper teeth, which also has the effect of creating a more finished effect. If I sewed this again I would use some sort of binding to finish the inside of the left zip that would cover the zipper tape. It would be relatively straightforward to do this and catch it in the topstitching before adding the collar – but I don’t fancy trying to do it as a retrofit.

One tip with this garment is not to over-fit. It’s all in one and you need enough room for movement and for sitting! Fortunately for me I got the body length just right.

I’m even going to share a side-on photo (my least favourite angle) to show you how the Flight Suit works on my shape. It’s pretty comfortable! In this photo you can also see that the sleeve is sewn in two pieces; the sleeve seam lines up with the shoulder seam and is another opportunity for top-stitching.

There is plenty of top-stitching in this garment, so if that is something that you enjoy doing it’s an excellent choice! This time I chose to topstitch in a matching coloured thread, but if I sewed it again I’d be confident in using something contrasting for additional detail. I’d also consider trying the adjustable tabs and buttons that would make the legs and sleeves narrower. But maybe I’ll try a short-sleeved version with cropped legs.

There is a detailed sewalong for the Blanca Flight Suit, and I suspect that there are many reviews around. I even found a live stream on YouTube for sewing this pattern.

You may have noticed that I tucked a couple of Kylie and the Machine labels into this project – the one on the back pocket says ‘you can’t buy this’ and the one on the front pocket says ‘bespoke’. They make me smile.

I really do love sewing with and wearing linen!

You might remember the first garment I sewed as part of my partnership with de Linum linen, where they supply the fabric and pattern of my choice in exchange for a blog and instagram post.  Here’s my June project, finally blogged one week into July!  Whoops.

This is the Style Arc Anais woven dress. It is described as follows:
Long line shirt dress featuring long sleeves, shirt tails, collar and pockets.

Product Description
Shirt style long line dress
Shirt tail hemline.
Easy fit.
Raglan sleeves with fold back cuff.
Inseam pockets.
Left breast pocket.
One piece collar.
Buttoned front.
Slight hi-low hem line

Fabric Suggestion
Washed linen, rayon, crepe, silk.

I chose to sew my dress in De Linum‘s Khaki Green self-check linen. It’s a french flax linen, 143 GSM, and has a beautiful pattern of squares woven into it. Just lovely.

I sewed size 12, but folded 2 inches out of the body length at the shorten/lengthen line. I also did a forward shoulder alteration – very simple in a two-piece raglan sleeve like this. It was pretty much the alteration described here. After wearing this and having seen these photos, I am going to alter the over shoulder seamline to flatten it out a bit. My shoulders are much more sloping than squared, and at the moment there is too much curve along the top of my shoulder. They would accommodate raglan shoulder pads nicely, if that’s your style.  Fortunately for me, removing some of the curve at the top of the arm will be an easy fix.

The pattern page has this dress styled as an outer layer, so I gave that a go and popped it on over a knit jumper, pants and boots, and wore it out for lunch with friends. I really like the look, but linen really isn’t warm enough as an outer layer for Melbourne winter! That said, it opened my eyes a bit to the versatility of a button front, collared dress. Generally I wear my clothes ‘as is’. I don’t really play around with them all that much, and tend to just wear them in the most obvious traditional ways. Maybe I can change that up a bit! There’s plenty of volume as you get closer to the hem, which was nicely highlighted by the wind.

There are side seam pockets. I like the way that Style Arc had me construct the pockets, with one pocket bag sewn to the front of the dress, then the other pocket bag sewn to the first. This is in contrast to the common method of sewing one pocket bag to the front and the other to the back then matching them up when the side seams are sewn. I just think that they sit more nicely done the way that Style Arc suggested, although you do have to be extra careful when sewing the side seams that the pocket opening isn’t inadventently stitched closed.

That long seamline along the shoulder and outer arm allows for better fitting (as I’ve already mentioned, something that I need to go back and do). The cuff can be worn straight, pushed up, or folded back. I interfaced the cuff and one layer of the collar, but the amount of interfacing that you need really depends on the weight of your fabric and the look that you are going for. The metal buttons were from a local op shop – I was very pleased to find them in my stash! Buttons with two holes can be easily sewn on by machine, which was appreciated considering there were 8 of them. My machine has a manual four step buttonhole, so I have to pay attention when stitching. I reckon that I got them pretty even.

This dress is likely to get quite a lot of wear. The colour goes well with my extensive shoe, scarf and necklace collection, and the temperature is appropriate for long sleeved linen for at least half of the year. It’s hard to go wrong with linen.

I have my third de Linum project picked out – can you guess what it is going to be?

You might remember the Tessuti Rae dress that I recently sewed from de Linum linen. Since then I have agreed to be an ambassador for de Linum for three months, with my choice of fabric and pattern for each project. What a no brainer for me – I love sewing with and wearing linen! So here is my project for May.

The pattern is the Style Arc Florence woven top. As you know, Style Arc is not a departure from my usual style, but the colour of the linen is!

The colour is called Musk Rose, and it’s a 132 GSM weight which is light to medium. I have found that with my hair greying I am gravitating to more toned down colours. I rather like this one on me! The linen was lovely to sew with. Yes, it wrinkles quite quickly in wear, because, linen.

I sewed size 12, with the only alteration being the elimination of the centre back neck opening. I just sewed the whole thing up; I have a fairly small head and it’s rare for a neckline to not fit over it.

This pattern has lovely details. Those shoulder pleats, centre front and back seams with topstiching either side of the seamline, hem band, and double layer shaped cuffs forming the lower sleeve. And it’s an easy fit through the body, which is something that I always look for to better accomodate my belly and waist.

De Linum stock patterns that work with their linens – which makes sense! So if you like to sew for linen, and are wondering what might be good in a particular fabric, it’s easier to pair them.

This was also quite fast to sew – I think that I made it in an afternoon (not counting cutting out time). Construction was on the sewing machine, with seams finished on the overlocker.  You could really go to town with contrasting topstitching if you wanted to, or could take advantage of all the pieces and seamlines to do colour blocking.  This pattern and fabric combination is a definite winner for me!