Flower Power Denims!

The Age of Aquarius has dawned with this bit of clothing fun! I am not sure what to call it. Is it overalls, culottes, a jumper, a culotte jumper? You tell me. I'll stick with a Flower Power Denim for now!  It started out as a  mashup of two patterns, and ended up like this:

Then I went back to just one of the patterns and redesigned it to work for what I had in mind.  A  light bulb moment then reminded me I had a perfectly fitting wide strap bodice on another pattern and I dug that one out for the top of the garment.

I had to really lighten the above photo so you could see the topstitched seams  and detail. Hubby and I both agreed it looked better with the sash. I tried a leather belt, no belt, and a self sash. I like the sash as well. 

I cut these pant legs extra wide and long and love them. They skim above the floor a bare half inch. I know  the trend is for a cropped version and I wanted that to work but several who I asked for opinions told me straight out NO and to go long and I agreed. The proportions were just off with my shortness and shape. Picture the above about 6-9 inches off the ground. I don't think so and you get it. The pants are VERY comfortable with all their space and I may make more just in a pants version, no top. Here are more details. 

Pattern:

In the end I used Burda style 6408, a spaghetti strapped, no waistline divided pant dress and New Look 6866 (the Dandelion Dress) was used for the bodice. I did the scooped neck bodice. I relocated the dart to the neckline and gathered it. Don't you love rotating darts? It is just one of the best sewing tools you can have in your tool box and offers so much creativity.  You can see the closed dart and the open pleats on the tissue below. 

I also ended up adding to the sides seams and inseams to get more width into the legs. I did later alter the top of the side seam.  I brought it in an inch and moved it out gradually to meet the waistline. The muslin looked much better with that adjustment. In the pic above you can see wide straight neckline put in with tissue. I ended up taking this out as well and going with the scoop. Here was the final pattern, committed to oak tag as I will make this again. 

Something else I did, after cutting, was to further lower the armscye.  This gave it a more casual look.  I also did not add the back waistline darts. I wanted this pretty loosey goosey. 

Fabric:

For this project I used a midweight 100% cotton denim, washed twice. The front bodice and some of the hip and leg were stenciled with a simple floral design in various colors. I was going to use the same flower repeatedly but found the various sized flowers much more interesting. I experimented before I put any thing on the denim. I've washed my samples and the paint is in there solid as a rock. I used simple acrylic craft paint, whichever brand had the right color and traditional stencil brushes. There are no facings, or interfacings used here.  You can find more info on the fabric painting here. 

Construction:

Getting the actual pattern made required playing with three different patterns,  two muslins and lots of experimenting with paints and technique. Now I have a really simple pattern that I can use again without much thinking. 

All seams were stitched on the machine, then serged together with a 4 thread. They were pressed to the side and topstitched with the triple stitch, the one people foolishly  call a stretch stitch. It is basically a mock flat fell  jeans seam. My topstitch length was 3.5. 

The facings were serged and simply turned in and topstitched. I banged them with a hammer where layers made bulk before attempting to topstitch.  That really helped a lot. The denim had enough body that the lack of facings did no harm. The hem was serged and turned an inch and 1/2 and topstitched as well, all really simple sewing. I used a neon pink for my topstitching.  The back of the garment has an invisible zipper and a v neck, very easy to get in and out of. 

If you take away the fussy topstitching, the fabric painting and the mashup attempts with three different patterns, this is really a simple easy pattern. I am talking the original Burda Style 6408 here. 

I keep thinking of making this up in a chambray for the summer with the more drapey flowy look that you see in the pattern. Love these wide legs! Highly recommend. Just look how flowy and drapey this is in the khaki color.  It is a really simple construction. I've had really good luck with New Look patterns lately!

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My husband and I will be going to the Azores this summer, a celebration of our milestone anniversary and a gift from our children who asked where we would like to go. Right now I am studying climate and what we will be doing and needing. Do the words "vacation wardrobe" ring a bell?  If you've been to the Azores in late July early August please let me now about clothing needs or anything else, thanks so much.............................Bunny