Hi. I’m Lena King and I’m delighted to be sharing this guest blog post with you.
I’ve been buying fabric from Sew Me Sunshine for a while now and I love them for their gorgeous colours, great prints and good quality. When I was recently looking for some linen to sew a jumpsuit, I was spoilt for choice by what they had to offer. I knew I didn’t want a printed fabric and I don’t often stray far from red and orange tones, so I opted for the coral enzyme washed linen.
When the fabric arrived, it was a little lighter than I had expected, I totally get how hard it is to capture true colour on camera. After a few days of holding the fabric up to my skin and pondering if it would really work for me, I decided to dye it.
I was much happier with the results. But it wasn’t long before I was wondering if I had done the right thing! I remembered a coral linen shift dress I wore to death over a decade ago and how lovely it looked on me. Oh well, moving on.
The pattern I chose to make was the Lin by Selkie Patterns. The pattern is for a jumpsuit or playsuit with a couple of sleeve options, and short, cropped or full-length leg. There is a zip at the back, which I chose to expose in a contrasting colour, generous pockets and a wide tie- belt. It has a lovely vintage feel to it.
This was a really lovely make. I’ve never used a Selkie pattern before, and I enjoyed the process. There was a gentle feel to the instructions and the construction was beautiful. The bodice is fully lined, which in my opinion always elevates a garment. I found it a bit tricky to gauge which size to make, my measurements spanned 3 sizes and because I am now overly cautious about making clothes which only just fit and am still too lazy to make a toile I opted to go for the larger size – a size 14 bodice, grading out to a 16 at the hips coming back to a 14. I think it’s turned out a little big, the fit is relaxed, but at least now I know that my next Lin can be a size 12 bodice, grading out to a 14. That said, I still love it very much.
I wanted to add a little detail to the square neckline and the sleeve hem band so I machine embroidered a trailing leaf design.
This is only my third time working with linen, I’ve avoided it because I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with ironing. I love clothes to look well ironed but don’t enjoy ironing. But I’m learning to lean into the crumpled look because this jumpsuit is so worth it. The linen feels like quality, it’s heavy, not scratchy like some linen I’ve worn in the past and it actually doesn’t crumple as much as I thought. It really is a lovely make that I know I’ll be wearing a lot. I wondered if the zip at the back would be a bit of a faff when nature called! But it’s proved no more of a faff than a button-up jumpsuit so far.
I wore the jumpsuit recently to the Stitch Festival and I was quite overwhelmed by all the comments I got, people were loving it as much as I was!
It looks lovely 😊
The jumpsuit looks wonderful on you. The colour is great. We’ll done.