Earlier this year, I decided to embark on a number of sewing challenges. One of those was the new to me the ‘ABC Sewing Challenge’ encourages participants to undertake 26 different sews finding a pattern that starts with each letter of the alphabet.
To challenge myself further, and let’s face it to keep ‘The Gram’ feed tidy. I decided to undertake this challenge in reverse order so the first pattern I would need to sew first was one starting with Z.
After searching the Internet and checking out many recommendations I kept coming back to you the Zoe and Zeke overalls pattern by Made for Mermaids.
The pattern, available in both adult and youth sizes, is designed for knit fabrics. I found the pattern to be quite versatile with a number of different options, including shorts, both short and long skirt, or capri or cuffed, jogger. There a number of different finishing options too with the straps, including hardware, button, ruffle, or tie and a number of different pocket options as well.
Initially I was planning to sew this for myself however my little fashionista Miss 6 soon saw the pattern and found what she proclaimed to be the ‘perfect fabric’ in my stash and requested the outfit for herself.
It turned out that whilst her fabric choice was indeed the perfect print she had choosen a piece that had come as part of a scrap bundle and was only 30cm x WOF…no where near enough to complete the sew. Using my projector I mapped out the pattern pieces and worked out that with some create colour blocking for the pockets, waist band, straps and inside front and back bib I would be able to bring this creation to life.
This was my first time sewing overall shorts and I made quite a few blunders upon the way. The pattern tutorial is quite thorough and would have been fine had I read it properly. I would recommend reading it thoroughly twice and prior to sewing and then read and follow step by step. In my excitement I somehow managed to skip a few steps here and there which resulted in a lot of unpicking to fix once the construction was coming together. Definitely user error on my part and no fault of the designer.
Mistakes aside it would have been a fairly straightforward sew had the button hole function on my machine not being playing up. After many disastrous attempts and unpicking I phoned my friend and dropped round to her place within 2 mins she had successfully added buttonholes for me using her beautiful Brother Inovas A150 Machine. Thanks Gemma!
For this sew I chose the short option, no rear pockets and button straps in a size 6. Slight modification with binding added to the hem of the shorts (replacing the cuff) to complete the colour blocked look.
This project utilised a mid weight cotton Lycra and showcases the ‘Moon Mountains’ print designed by Australian Artist Deb McNaughton and purchased from Hello Friend Fabrics. The print is also available for pre-order in a range of bases from Fabric By Missy Rose. I have paired it with a solid black cotton spandex from Lush Fabrics.
To say I am impressed with the end result of this sew is an absolute understatement, I am totally in love and already planning a matchy matchy one for me. I can see this becoming one of my go to favourite patterns and am already searching for some nice thick French terry for a winter version.
Happy Sewing,
Tara xx
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