Intergalactic Mechanic

I've seen boiler suits pop up all over the place recently, and thought that was a trend I could get behind! I don't think I've ever made a jumpsuit before (dungarees don't really count) apart from a romper that has long been gone because of being too big. I liked the idea of all the possible details on a boiler suit, and went looking through my stash of Burda magazines (I try to look at those first before falling for a shiny new pattern since I feel like I don't sew from them often enough... The problem is that it takes a while to leaf through all of them before I - maybe - find what I'm looking for). Burda didn't disappoint, and I found a pattern in the February 2016 issue that ticked all the boxes: sleeves with little tabs to soll them up, shoulder tab things, a collar, lots of buttons, a fitted waistband (for some shape) and pockets. I made a muslin and then dove into my fabric, which resulted in this:

Burda patterns tend to fit me really well, although the back tends to be a little too wide for me. I chose a size based on my waist and hip measurement since there seemed to be enough ease around the bust, and the muslin fit almost perfectly! There was just a little excess fabric in the back of the shirt part, and I fixed that by removing some of it and making the back pleat a little less deep.

My fabric is a plain black linen/viscose, but you might have noticed that I added a few details. I've done almost the exact same thing to two other garments before, but none of those get worn that often anymore (the first one had become way too big, the second one indecently short after a washing incident... I should hem that and make it into a top). I cut out my pattern pieces and then used stencils and some fabric paint to add the stars. This seemed like a good way to not end up with stars in awkward places! After constructing I added more smaller dots to tie everything together, and make a sort of Milky Way across the body.

Sewing this was a lot of fun! I enjoy patterns with lots of small details, and this had loads of that and some topstitching to keep me busy. Burda instructions are notorious for assuming you know everything already and don't need any actual explanations, but this was pretty smooth sailing (maybe because none of the techniques were that new, I've made both shirts and pants before... The only step that had me stumped were the sleeve plackets, and I think there might even be a few mistakes in there, actually. I read that part ten times, still couldn't make sense of it, looked up a few tutorials and figured it out on my own. Boom.

I didn't really change anything about the pattern, apart from leaving off the waist ties (I thought it would look too busy and I didn't have enough fabric anyway) and slightly tapering the leg instead of adding an elastic cuff. I think I could have done a bit more tapering since the hem is still pretty wide, but it looks fine rolled up.

This was also the day I discovered the edgestitching foot that came with my machine, and OMG. My old machine had a similar foot but it was less sturdy and not as neat, so I usually didn't bother. But this thing makes topstitching both fast AND accurate, and it has resulted in what might be my best cuffs ever. On a garment I'll usually wear with the sleeves rolled up.

I wore this for a day in Charleroi, at the Papier Carbone festival. Was it way too cold for a linen jumpsuit? Admittedly, yes. Did I wear leggings and my warmest undershirt hidden underneath all this? You bet. I loved wearing this and even got a big thumbs up from a girl working there who asked me if I'd made it myself.

I'm not sure if there is room for another boiler suit in my wardrobe, but this one can stay.