Gardening overalls

The spring has finally arrived in Finland and I am starting to think about things to plant in my garden this year. As the weather this week still has been on the cool side, I decided to use the time well and sewed myself a nice set of overalls. These will be handy not only in gardening but also when doing other chores. I found a suitable pattern on Etsy.

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About the pattern and the fabric

I decided on the Julia overalls pattern by Georgette Patterns on Etsy. This was a new pattern company for me, but I liked the look of the pattern. Julia overalls resembles a boilersuit or a flight suit. It has loose fitting bodice with a snap closure, elasticated waist and fitted trousers that a slightly cropped. There are two side pockets and fake breast pockets with flaps. The pattern came in PDF format and included separate pattern sheets for sizes 34 to 46.

The separate pattern sheets for each size makes it easy to cut the right size but harder if your top and bottom halves are different size. I looked at the size chart and decided on size 40. The pattern was designed for a person who is 168 cm tall. However, I would have preferred if the back length had been stated as the back length is an important parameter when fitting overalls. My back is notoriously long, and I usually have to add more length to sewing patterns.

I bought my fabric from my local Eurokangas fabric store. I chose sturdy cotton twill that didn’t have any stretch to it.

Fitting the pattern

The original pattern is quite tight fitting, especially at the trousers. For a more functional pair of overalls, I made some changes. I suspected that my long back needed extra space so that I could crouch comfortably. I added 3.5 centimeters to the bodice.

The first fitting of the trousers was too tight for the relaxed look I was after. Therefore, I sized up and cut the size 42. Then, I did some changes to make the fit more relazed and to lengthen the cropped look to full length. This is better explained by pictures. I first cut the front and back trouser pieces along five lines:

I separated the front and back pieces for about 2 cm along the upper horizontal line. This drops the crotch and makes crouching much more comfortable. Then I lengthened the cropped pant legs to full length by separating the pattern pieces by 7 cm at the knee . The last but not least, I cut along the fly and angled the fly part more straight. This adds a bit extra tummy room.

The original sleeves were too long, and the cuffs were pretty wide. When I noticed this, I had already finished the sleeves, so I ended up shortening the slits in the sleeve hems and narrowing the cuffs. This removed 5 cm length and fixed the sleeves.

So many pockets!

The pattern had fake breast pockets and two large side pockets. This was way too few pockets for me, so I added 6 extra pockets! First, I made real breast pockets. Then I drafted two back pockets and sewed them on.

Then I started thinking that I needed a protective pocket for my phone and something to hold a pen. So, I added a hidden breast pocket to the inside and attached it to the seam of the right-hand-side breast pocket. Finally, I added a pen pocket to the left-hand sleeve.

What did I like about the pattern besides the look? The instructions were written clearly with good images. I didn’t really need much help, but I do appreciate the effort. I did notice that one thing was omitted. The top part is wider than the trousers so some gathering was needed to fit them together. The instructions just told to sew the pieces together, and a beginner might have got confused here without more instructions. I, however, mentioned this problem to Gina, the owner of Georgette patterns, and she can now fix it.

Otherwise the pattern came together beautifully. The collar went in its place without any struggle. The sleeves are dropped from the shoulder and the sleeve cap curve is low so I didn’t need to use gathering stitches to gather the sleeves on the armholes.

I also liked the way the wide elastic was used to stabilize the waistband. It is not visible, but the elastic goes the whole way around. The gathers are formed by sewing the elastic in place about 10 cm from the centre front, but the elastic continues to the front opening.

The finished overalls

I’m super happy with how these overalls turned out! These are exactly what I was looking for, and now I can crawl around in my garden comfortably.

This is the look from the back.

And the side:

Now I can start working. The first thing to do is to get all the dried leaves and fallen pine needles away from my back garden. I was happy to see that my grapevine had once again survived the winter. Even though I feel like a fool trying to grow grapevine in cold Finland, I know that some varieties can survive in a good place. Then I can start planning what to grow. Tomatoes, cucumber, gourgette, chili, herbs, spinach,…

Thank you for reading and check out the Georgette patterns on Etsy. See you later and happy sewing!

Katja