HACK || Rowan Tee & Olli shorts Jumpsuit || by Fleur

September 18, 2018

Today we’re welcoming Fleur, a Misusuperstar who I’ve had the pleasure of working with during several pattern tests. Being used to her high level of craftsmanship and creativity, I wasn’t surprised at all that her entry for the Misusu FREEkin’ Sewing Challenge left everyone in awe! She cleverly combined our free Olli summer shorts and Rowan Tee into an amazing jumpsuit and the crowds cheered for a tutorial. Well luckily for all of us, she was happy to oblige! Thank you Fleur for inspiring us all and sharing this tutorial!

The lovely Fleur Sebregts

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Jumpsuit hack

I’d like to thank all of you for the nice comments on the jumpsuit! So here’s my tutorial! The idea of a jumpsuit started to form, when my daughter came back from her gymnastics camp this summer and requested a jumpsuit. In the past I have made several jumpsuits for her, but she wasn't completely satisfied with any of them. She wanted a comfortable jumpsuit with short legs & sleeves and an easy center front closure. In the meantime I saw all the amazing entries for the Misusu FREEkin' Sewing Challenge passing by on social media. And with her request in the back of my mind, the idea of this jumpsuit, using some of Misusu's free patterns, slowly started to take shape.

TOP PART

For the top part of the jumpsuit, I chose the Rowan tee. From sewing one up earlier, I knew the fit was great and roomy enough to be suitable for a jumpsuit, so I didn’t have to alter much. I shortened the front and back bodice by 3 cm (1 1/4"), to make sure the waistband and the shorts would sit in the right position. Normally, you’d cut the front bodice on the fold. But in this case I added 3 cm (1 1/4") to center front of the pattern to create the facing for the snap button front closure. Next, I cut the pattern twice and mirrored from the fabric - now you have 2 separate mirrored front parts. On the wrong side of the fabric I reinforced the center front plackets with fusible interfacing 4 cm (1 1/2") wide. Next, I pressed the facing 2 cm (3/4") to the inside and pinned it in place.

 For the next steps - closing the shoulder seams, finishing the sleeves and side seam - I followed the instructions from the tutorial. I finished the neckline with a rib knit neckband. I calculated how long the strip of rib knit needed to be, by measuring the neck width including the placket facing and taking 80% from that measurement. The height of the strip I used was 4 cm (1 1/2"). I folded the facing back out and pinned the neck band to the neck area, dividing the neckband width evenly over the entire neck width, starting and ending at the raw edge of the center front facing.

Next, I finished the raw edge of the neckband and facing with a serger. Alternatively, you can also use a big zigzag stitch on your sewing machine to finish the raw edges.

I folded the facings back in place. At this point, I attached 4 snap buttons evenly over the front placket, this way also securing the inside facing to the front bodice. I finished the entire bottom raw edge of the bodice with a serger.

SHORTS PART - OLLI SHORTS

For the shorts part, I used the Olli summer shorts. I decided to size down 1 size - because of the shorts baggy fit I knew combining it with stretch fabric would make them too big. At the top of the front, side and back legs, I removed 2 cm (3/4"). I also shortened the side pocket by 2 (3/4") cm and added a rib knit pocket band as a fun detail (you can use the same calculation method as used for the neckband).

Next, I sewed up the shorts by following the instructions of the tutorial. I finished the raw edge of the top of the shorts with a serger.

With the right sides together, I placed the top inside the shorts, 2 cm (3/4") down from the top edge of the shorts. I attached the shorts to the top with a 1 cm (3/8") seam allowance from the bottom of the shirt (so in total 3 cm below the top of the shorts - see pink dashed line). This will become your waistband tunnel in the next step.

I pressed the seam allowance open - the 1 cm (3/8") seam allowance of the top part is facing up, the 2 cm (3/4") seam allowance (which will become the tunnel) of the shorts is facing down. On the right side of the fabric, I top stitched above the seam on the top part. I temporarily folded the 2 cm (3/4") seam allowance up and determined the center front placement of the eyelets on the shorts, below the seam. After attaching the eyelets, I pressed the 2 cm (3/4") tunnel allowance back down and I pinned it in place. I closed the tunnel by topstitching it on the shorts, but I left a small area open to guide the waistband elastic and cord through.

Guide your elastic and cord through the tunnel and close the last open area. I finished the cord with a small piece of Snappap (sew-able paper), to make sure they wouldn’t be pulled back into the tunnel (yellow palm tree jumpsuit version). I did a final fitting with my daughter and as per her request, shortened the shorts 3 cm (1 1/4").

And that’s it! The jumpsuit is ready!

Thank you for sharing this tutorial Fleur! Do you want to see more of Fleur’s makes? Check out her instagram account: @fleursebregts. And please tag @misusupatterns and @fleursebregts when you make your own Rowan tee + Olli shorts jumpsuit hack!

Happy sewing!

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