
Quite a lot has happened here since I last posted. I had Covid, fortunately a mild dose, I’ve been on holiday, and the normally cool and wet UK is having a record-breaking heatwave. While it’s been a couple of weeks since the peak it’s still very hot indeed where I live.
I finished my 80s wardrobe but wearing any of the pieces is unbearable, even just for photos. So they’re sitting in the wardrobe and I moved on to making a (checks notes) denim jumpsuit. Maybe not the ideal choice. But I’ve been doing a bit of wardrobe tracking and the garment I wear the most in normal times is my Closet Core Blanca flight suit. It’s comfortable, practical, and I think it reads as quite put together, at least when I put on lipstick. And it was great for wearing on holiday in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where it was a lot cooler than England.
Here’s the line drawing. As before I made view A, with the long sleeves and legs and the zip pockets. This time I went up a size from the recommended one as I used a less stretchy fabric than before and wanted a more casual fit. I always have to lengthen bodice, arms, and legs on patterns by 5cm, and for this version I added an extra 2cm to the legs and 1cm to the bodice on top of that.

The Blanca has some thoughtful features that help in getting the desired fit without necessarily making a toile or doing a lot of unpicking. I found the back was a bit baggy at the waist this time around, but the hips felt too tight due to the lack of stretch in my fabric. The side seams are sewn last and the back waistband is constructed in such a way that it’s easy to run elastic through it to pull it in. I unpicked the side seams, added the waistband elastic, and resewed taking a smaller seam allowance below the waist.

I added a patch on the arm. Why a TV test card? I like the colours with the grey denim, and the technical vibe of the design.

The extra 1cm in the bodice turned out not to be needed and isn’t easy to remove once the garment is in a state to be tried on, so I left it, but I’m glad I added to the legs.

The fabric is a denim from Fabric Godmother. I originally wanted a stretchy denim and sent off for a few samples from that category, of which this fabric was one. Compared to the other samples I got it barely stretches at all, and I notice it’s described as a cotton and spandex mix but no percentage for the spandex is given. I liked the colour and weight so much I bought it anyway. I also happened to have regular, overlocker, and top-stitching thread to match the grey, which was handy.
For comparison here’s my black version of this pattern, in much stretchier fabric and one size smaller.

Now I’m impatiently waiting for the temperature to go down so I can wear both of them some more. I’m not done with the pattern yet either…I have some more stretch denim lined up for it. Thanks to my husband for the photos.
