Made by a Fabricista: Inspired by Ready to Wear

Do you see cute clothes in stores or online and think to yourself "I can make that!"? It happens to me often! I was a pretty big clothing shopper before I began sewing. And though I still buy clothes when I find a great deal, I usually end trying to recreate the outfit instead of buying. That is what happened with this jumpsuit. This black and white jumpsuit leaped out to me when I was scrolling through the gram. If you know me I love black and white, stripes and jumpsuits, so it's no surprise this was love at first sight.

When I saw this Be Stripe Back Jumpsuit by Kiomios I immediately thought of McCalls 8047 as the overall shape is similar. I sewed the bottoms straight from the pattern. Yes, I could've added slant pockets like the inspiration photo, but I didn't want to add any bulk. I did however alter the bodice to achieve the looser fit of the RTW outfit. I made the following changes:

added 1" at the center fold
added 2" to the hem
added 1.5" to the side seam using a curve ruler to grade the curve to the underarm seam.

This pattern piece served as the new front and back bodice. I also created cuffs to the sleeves by cutting 4" strips the length of the circumference of the armhole (18"). I sewed the short ended together then folded the strips lengthwise and sewed to the sleeve hem.

A critical part of this making a copycat version was finding a similar striped fabric. I needed a vertical stripe knit with two way stretch as the fabric is used both against and with the grain to achieve the horizontal bodice and vertical pants. Additionally the stripe pattern needed to be uneven, with the black stripe being wider. This double brushed jersey had everything and was on sale for just $3/yd! Sadly it's already sold out, but try this red and white stripe or cream and mustard brushed jersey.