Saturday 12 May 2018

Back in time - Mila Dungarees

Everywhere I turn at the moment, people are wearing dungarees. While I've been wearing my Cleo dungaree dresses for ages, I haven't taken the plunge with full dungarees yet. When I saw the Mila pattern by Tilly and the Buttons, I decided to give it a go. The last time I wore dungarees was to youth club disco when I was about 13, so these are definitely a blast from the past!

I bought some amazing pineapple print stretch denim from the Denim Company to make a dress a while ago. However, I decided to repurpose as soon as I saw this pattern. Pineapples and dungarees seemed like the perfect combination. The pattern is designed to be quite fitted, so I decided to make a size up as I wanted them to have a looser fit. I managed to cut them out with quite a lot left from 2m - planning bags/hats from the remainder. 

As usual, the instructions from Tilly are fantastic. The first parts of the construction (front and back bibs, pockets and straps) reminded me of making the Cleo dress. I opted for black topstitching rather than the yellow I had initially planned. I was pleased with this decision, as it doesn't detract from the design of the fabric.  Although the instructions were clear, I made a right hash of the waistband. I stitched the inside bands on the wrong way twice and spent a lot of time unpicking. I've been feeling ill, and this project was mainly completed in short bursts as a way of trying to make me feel better. My concentration hasn't been great, so I'm blaming the mistakes on that!

Once I got my head round the waistbands, the rest came together quickly. I finally used some silver buttons I bought for another project years ago that was abandoned. The fit of the bib and waistband was spot on but the legs, especially around my hips and thighs was huge. I increased the seam allowance on inside and outside legs to remedy this. I'm pleased with the final result, although it feels weird to wear dungarees again after all these years. About half way through completing these, I got another dungaree pattern free with a sewing magazine. I might tackle that pattern next. 






1 comment:

  1. I've just bought the Cloe pattern x can't wait to make it (pink needle cord). Reckon we must get the same sewing mag cos I've the dungarees pattern too

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