Zadie jumpsuit

I love jumpsuits, and have been eying the Zadie jumpsuit (Paper Theory) for a while. I love all the people who takes the time to comment on the patterns and the alterations they made, it makes it much easier. I could see that most people found that sizing down 1 size in the top and 2 sizes in the bottom worked well for them. I was hesitant to believe this, so only sized down in the bottom at first but had to cave and size down on top as well 🙂

This pattern was easy to print and assembly, layered file making it easy to grade and only print the sizes you need, and it came beautifully together. I highly recommend it, also for a beginner.

I measured between size 10 and 12 in the bust, 12 in the waist and 14 in the hip. After reading a lot of reviews, I opted for a size 10 on top, and 10 from the waist down, but after trying it on grading it down to 8 at the top. In my muslin I also removed 1″ from the raise, as people said it was very long. Well, I could not sit down in my muslin, so I had to add it back again. I am pretty tall, 178 cm/ 5’10”, and usually have to add to raises, especially in jumpsuits. For my next version I added an additional 1 cm to the raise.

Alterations I made:

• 2 cm swayback, pant only.
• Staytape added to neckline + pocket openings.
• Overlocking the side seams of top before sewing together
• Adding 10 cm/ 4″ to the leg length.
• Making the pleats on the back into darts, both top and pants, as there was a lot of fabric puffing in the back. For my next version I also made the pleats on the top front into darts.
• I added 1 cm to the sleeve length, and turned 1 cm under, pressed, turned 1 cm under again, pressed and stitched for a neater finish. I also did this before combining the top and pant.
• Added topstitching.

On the left, before darts and top was size 10, right side, darts in the back and graded down to size 8 at the top. I could probably grade down to size 8 at the pants too, but – I love the roomy, comfy feeling!

After the initial muslin I made a quick version in a pretty stiff cotton. I made it with short legs, as that was the amount of fabric I had. I think (hope!) the jumpsuit will drape in a more flattering way when I sew it up in gauze and rayon/ viscose.

To me, the difference is huge with small changes I made, from the front as well; left: No darts + size 10 at top, right: Darts + size 8 at top.

Also, no gaping! I love this! I can use this even using my bike.