chebe | Project Alteration; playsuit

One day, some time ago, I found myself in London, on a rather hot day, failing to find the shop I was looking for. I popped into a second-hand shop, for a little respite. And stumbled upon this unusual item that seemed like a cross between a playsuit and a jumpsuit. An item I would not normally wear. But the print of the fabric called to me. And the prospect of expanding my warm weather wardrobe seemed like a rather urgent one. I tried to try it on, but failed. The waistband, that looks like it's shirred, is actually not stretchy at all. The width of the item seemed to fit me, but I couldn't get into it to check. I figured I just needed to put in a zip, and bought it.

Before, front
Photo by chebe

Before, back
Photo by chebe

But when I got to take a closer look at it, I found a few changes were needed.

Deconstruct

First, I opened the centre back seam, down to the middle of the seat. This revealed that I couldn't get my calves through the petal hems on the legs.

So, I opened up the in-seams from the bottom of the legs, until I could fit, which turned out to me just above my knees. I drew a straight line across, to make a new hem, and cut off the excess fabric.

Then, I found out that the bust would need to be let out a bit. And opened the side seams down to the waistband.

Bust Adjustment

I pinned some spare calico at the now open bust side seams, to figure out how much I needed to add.

Calico pinned into open bust side seam
Photo by chebe

I turned those calico markings into a pattern piece, and cut out two from the fabric I had cut off from the legs.

Pattern piece pinned ready for cutting out
Photo by chebe

I overlocked/serged all raw and open edges to finish them. I pressed under the seam allowance on the new inserts. Then I pinned the pieces in place, and sewed. Hand sewing the awkward edges.

Bust insert pinned and ready to be sewn
Photo by chebe

Then, turned under the top seam, top-stitched to blend in. And pressed.

Finished left bust insert
Photo by chebe

Finished right bust insert
Photo by chebe

Centre Back Adjustment

When I opened up the centre-back seam I discovered that the various sections of the original garment didn't line up cleanly. So first thing I did was cut out little rectangles of fabric (and finished the edges) to line up the waistband with the lower body, and stitched them in. (Above the waistband is open with a tie-back, which didn't need to be changed to fit.)

Then I applied strips of soft knit interfacing to the edges where I wanted to put the zip.

Open centre-back seam, prepared for zip insertion
Photo by chebe

I inserted the invisible zip, hand finished the awkward edges, and pressed.

It's not the neatest job. The area around the waistband is the worst, but the lower part is pretty good. (I had a bit of an argument with the zip installation, which is why there's some top-stitching at the waistband section.) It is a real pity how obvious the mis-alignment of the tie-back pieces are now with the slightly widened gap.

Centre-back seam, with zip inserted
Photo by chebe

Finish

Only thing left to do was to turn up the new hems, stitch, and press.

Now I have a playsuit I can wear. Was it worth it? It was an interesting exercise, for sure. But with the mis-alignment in the pieces at the centre-back, and my alteration there, being so obvious, I think this is excluded from counting as 'good' wear. The above-knee length also conveys a more casual vibe than the original legs. But, if the weather aligns, this could be a cute post-Pride outfit.

Finished, back
Photo by chebe