And here, my friends, is my TRUE holiday outfit – the By Hand London Holly jumpsuit. Continuing the tradition from last year with my Anna dress, the moment I laid eyes on this pattern, I was in LOOOOOVE!! I immediately purchased a good length of sumptuous navy blue silk duchesse which for once went right into use rather than lingering in my stash LOL. Holly did not let me down – like my beloved Anna, she was a joy to sew as well as to wear. I was suspicious of her wily ways at first, knowing full well I would have to make alterations to the pants bit, but she surprised me by fitting perfectly with just the slightest waist adjustment – beauty!!
I also did an FBA as per usual, and because I have to do a fairly big one, instead of rotating the extra bits into the cowl, as suggested, I chose to keep the bust dart. Super glad I did this, as it works well for me, and I would prefer not too much extra fabric draping around the girls.
The only little thing I would do differently next time is to finish the whole bodice top the same as the front cowl – with a turn, press, turn and catch stitch. The pattern calls for a bias finish where the bias turns into the straps but a) I found this far too fiddly for my taste, and b) sorry, but a bias strip isn’t nearly wide enough a strap for my chest LOL. I would prefer it to be just a little wider, so I would draft and sew separate, slightly wider straps next time I make this.
Which there WILL be another time, in fact, I love the fit of the pants so much that I am going to be making a pair out of a lovely lightweight grey wool suiting. I am going to try and drop the waist and draft a new waistband though, as I prefer my trousers to sit below the waist. Will let you know how it goes.
Speaking of trousers, I finished up my first real pair of wool trousers today and I absolutely LOOOOVE them – will get to posting those in the new year – in the mean time, Happy New Year’s everyone, and hope you all have a wonderful, safe evening!! (and pancakes for breakfast tomorrow of course! ^__^)
January 1st, 2015 at 2:25 am
Wit woo! This looks fab Amanda. Hope you had a good night!
January 1st, 2015 at 9:19 am
Aw thanks so much!! ^_^ Yes we had fun… but not TOO much fun lol
January 1st, 2015 at 1:34 pm
Gorgeous! The colour is spectacular on you. Happy New Year!
January 1st, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Thanks Tia!! Happy New Year to you as well! ^_^
January 2nd, 2015 at 3:56 am
Killer color and fabric and the fit is lovely! I’ll bet all eyes were on you at the party! Now this is why we sew!
January 2nd, 2015 at 9:39 am
thank you Mrs M – youre so right; this IS why we sew 🙂 Nothing beats the feeling of wearing something thst looks AND feels good – plus you never have to worry about running into someone wearing the same thing as you! lol
January 6th, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Ooh la la, what a fancy party outfit! I haven’t seen any Holly Jumpsuits in the blog world, but I have been doing a terrible job of keeping up with blogs as of late too. I can’t believe you made an entire outfit from silk. Does it feel amazing? It looks amazing!
January 6th, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Thanks Annabelle!! ^_^ Yes, it feels lovely – i was pretty excited it was comfy enough to eat pasta in too – ha! ^_^
January 7th, 2015 at 12:58 pm
Fancy!!!! And silk!?!?! You’re awesome!
January 8th, 2015 at 8:58 am
Aww thanks Erin! Silk is definitely a big part of my wardrobe haha ^_^
January 21st, 2015 at 2:59 pm
[…] on my to-do list. I have so far made a pair of Burda trousers, a BHL Holly jumpsuit (blogged here) and a subsequent pair of Holly trousers (not blogged yet) as well as a pair of Named Jamie jeans […]
January 26th, 2015 at 4:38 am
So you did a jump suit too. And how sophisticated in navy with skinny straps. Lovely fit in the trouser area. I agree that you should do this again in grey and I also think you made the right decision on the darting rather than turning up the cowl volume. Nice work….
January 26th, 2015 at 8:50 am
Thank you so much! It was nice having something a little different to wear for NYE 🙂 I did end up making trousers as well; i will try & post them soon 🙂
March 24th, 2015 at 3:17 pm
[…] I was hooked!! Next came my Holly jumpsuit. Armed with my new knowledge, I had little trouble fitting this one, and was pleased with the […]