sierra jumpsuit

December 2018.

Sewing pattern by Papercut Patterns.

I was so excited when this style was released. I really do love a great jumpsuit pattern, they can be challenging and I can honestly say I’ve attempted a few different ones over the last 6 months. I made them all up in cheap fabrics and decided the fit alterations required were not worth re sampling and I lost interest. These were all big 4 patterns.

To note:

I am 164 cm tall and a New Zealand ready to wear size 10/12 – USA size 8/10

At a guess, this style would be ideal for someone with a height of around 170cm – 175cm tall.

I purchased the fabric stores heavy weight linen in silver grey for this project. I found this fabric very weighty, for this particular style. In hindsight, I would have preferred a lighter fabric with more drape. There is a fair amount of excess fabric around the front bodice / pant area and the heavy linen just doesn’t sit that nicely in this area.

I did a test garment in an old bed sheet and required the following alterations:

Bodice

Underarms required raising, I moved these up (including the facings) 1.5cm, as my side bra was visible.

Bodice length was long. I didn’t shorten this on my final garment, but wished I had by about 1.5cm.

I also found that here was a lot of room at the front of the jumpsuit, both in the bodice waist and pant front, but not enough at the back. I could actually slide the jumpsuit down with a bit of a wiggle, without unzipping.

I did shorten the zip to halfway down the pocket opening.

Bottom half

I made the wider cropped leg version

I always struggle with Papercut pant patterns. Their crotch shapes are never fantastic on me and I have to carry out a fair amount of changes to correct them for my shape. I added some width, to the back pattern area as well (see below brown area below image) there really wasn’t much siting room.

The pattern would possibly be fine if you have a flat derriere!

I then had to extend the length of the back crotch curve, because I added to the width across the buttocks, this alteration made the crotch length too short.

Back crotch depth was ok, but the front was really low on me. I used another pant with a crotch shape I liked and redrew this on to my Sierra pattern.

Pockets, I extended to the waistband and cut a facing for the under bag.

I also shortened leg length by 8cm.

Overall, the Sierra Jumpsuit is a stunning style. This style may require some tweaking for a great fit and I would recommend making a trial garment. Not only for fit, but also as a sewing test run. The sewing instructions are vague, especially towards the end and could be very frustrating. They were for me and I wouldn’t class myself as a beginner! I am very visual person and following written instructions is not one of my strongest skills. If the sketches are not that clear, I can struggle.

I would make it easier if Papercut had better notches marked on their patterns and also more information written on the pattern pieces.

On a further note

I am super fussy about fit and if a garment is at all uncomfortable I won’t wear it. I also have many years of industry experience fitting garments so what I notice and adjust, the sewer with less fitting experience may be perfectly happy with.