Jumping for joy Cressida

Goodness, it’s been a month since I last posted, how time flies when you get the front of your house ripped apart. You’d think, given my sewing room is at the back of the house I could continue unabated. But constantly wiping dust off EVERYTHING, deciding on things like door furniture (yes, it’s a thing) and secretly bitching about having to spend a couple of grand replacing the circuit board (alright yes I know it means the house is about 98% less likely to burn down but still, that’s a LOT of fabric people!) Most problematic of all? WHERE TO PUT THE CAT DOOR???*

So we can confidently say first world problem Kristina, build a bridge love. In my defense we are having Christmas at ours this year, my sister & her partner will be coming from Oz, hopefully my nephew from the UK so I want everything to be lovely . We were supposed to be visiting the UK over Summer, but as with most home reno’s the “nice bit of decking off the lounge” has morphed into “well I need feature lighting for the sculpture area & did we really spend over a thousand dollars on screws for the deck???”*

So how on earth does all this relate to a woman standing in her garden wearing a snake print jumpsuit you may ask? When I was contacted by Jules at Sew Me Something asking if I’d like to write a review of her new pattern I was torn. A jumpsuit? Me? Really? I wont lie I was tempted by the Zadie jumpsuit that’s all over social media, but the idea of a wrap top made me nervous. Could a button front be the way to go?

 

After several weeks of chaos I just thought bugger it, if I can survive inhaling my body weight in wood dust every day, I can certainly manage a jumpsuit!

Very pleased I did. This is a great pattern! Not too complicated to sew (I’ve made several  of Jule’s patterns before, her instructions are excellent), so easy to wear. I decided to go with a slightly more formal version I could wear to work, using a drapey rayon from Spotlight. The pattern is for a pant that hits above the ankle,  but there are lengthen lines so I added 4 cm/2 incs to the leg. Because I have a VERY short waist I chopped the same amount off the bottom of the bodice that attaches to the pants. As you can see Im still belting higher than the waistline, so next time I would shave off another couple of cm. I’ve done this with other patterns, if something is going to sit on my waist, I need to adjust for the fact my waist is darn high!

The buttons make for an easy in & out when necessary (the bane of many a jumpsuit). The pockets are magnificent, nice & deep. I didn’t turn the sleeve cuffs over, I was happy with the sleeve length and I think the plain hem is a little more dressy. Because my belt is made from flimsy rayon it twists up very easily, next time I would add some interfacing for a bit of body. I made the size 20 but I think I could size down to an 18 next time.

So despite my reservations, a perfect work/going out outfit , ideal with the cropped black leather jacket I have in a cupboard somewhere just waiting for me to find it again…

I will definitely make this pattern again, I’d like a gorgeous linen version to wear with sneakers of sandals when it warms up , linen for the winnin!

In the meantime, according to my husband I look “great… and also if I need to parachute into Western Europe on a moments notice I’m perfectly dressed!”

Thanks hon…

So when I haven’t been whipping up jumpsuits or dusting what else has been occurring?

When your Mum comes to visit bearing oranges from her neighbor & a bag of sugar? You make marmalade of course, I don’t have Seville oranges so this one also includes limes from our tree for some bite,  delicious. Mum can’t have grapefruit, so this marmalade is a wonderful alternative, how pretty does it look?

We had a crafters lunch last weekend and lovely Lesley turned up with this gorgeous hottie cover for me, isn’t that colour magic! The wool is alpaca, I can confirm it is one of life’s joys to slip into cool cotton sheets in winter & have this beauty to warm your feet on (I cant abide electric blankets!), bliss!

Apparently some crafters take it next level…!

Have a fabulous week

Kristina xxx

*Yes, we got a fancy new front door & put a big hole in it to install a cat door. My Mother was almost as appalled as my builder 🙂

*Yes, that really is how much we spent on screws. Yes, I needed a lie down.