Fitting the Mila Dungarees

Making the Mila dungarees? Wondering what size to pick or think you need some fitting help? Vanessa here today to offer some tips on sizing and fitting.

We designed Mila to be made in woven fabrics with a bit of stretch, which makes them relatively easy to fit as the stretch does some of the work for you - hooray! Some of you won’t need to make any fitting changes to the dungarees, but of course we all come in different shapes so you may need to make some tweaks to the pattern before sewing your final garment. Getting a personalised fit is one of the bonuses of DIY dressmaking!

This post will be quite long but feel free to skip straight to the parts that feel relevant to you. We will cover:

• Choosing your size
• Lengthening or shortening the legs
• Lengthening or shortening the bib for larger and smaller busts
• Combining pattern sizes
• Lengthening or shortening the crotch seams
• Full booty adjustment
• Small booty adjustment
• Saggy back leg adjustment

It’s always a good idea to trace off a copy of the pattern pieces you are adjusting so that you can keep the original version intact in case you want to change it later. Remember to trace off notches, grainline arrows and any other markings.

Inspiration and Fabrics for Making the Mila Dungarees

If you're planning to make the Mila dungarees sewing pattern - or maybe you aren't sure and need to imagine it made up in different fabrics or on different body shapes - then today’s post is for you! We wanted to share with you some of the design inspiration we came across whilst developing this pattern, and also fun ideas for fabric, styling and embellishments to get your creative wheels turning.

When choosing your fabric, we suggest you pick a medium weight woven material with a small amount of stretch in it (not to be confused with stretch knit fabric, which probably won't work out well). Look out for stretch denim, stretch needlecord or stretch woven cotton with at least 2% lycra or spandex.

We've linked to a few fabrics below, but please note we haven't handled them all ourselves. We'd recommend ordering a sample if you're not sure about the fabric before buying.

Meet the Mila Dungarees Pattern!

Kick off your 2018 sewing with our brand new pattern – the Mila dungarees!

If you’re already a dungarees aficionado, I won’t need to tell you how addictive these are to wear. And now you can make your own!

Never worn dungarees before or think they’re not your style? I’ve lost count of the number of people who thought the same about our Cleo dungaree dress and were pleasantly surprised when they tried it – in fact, it’s become a wardrobe staple for many of you! I’m hoping you’ll discover the same love for dungarees with our new pattern.

ORDER THE MILA SEWING PATTERN

How to Sew Balanced Darts

Have you ever sewn darts that come out a touch bulky and unsightly, no matter how much you steam them into submission? This can be a problem when sewing thicker fabrics in particular. Vanessa here with a super simple couture dressmaking technique that will “balance” out the layers of fabric to get a beautifully smooth finish on your darts, even on the thickest of fabrics.

You can use this technique on any fitted garment made from medium to heavy-weight fabrics such as our Etta dress, jackets, skirts or trousers. It works by stitching a folded swatch of fabric to one side of your dart and pressing it in the opposite direction to “counter-balance” the centre line.

It feels like it shouldn’t work – adding fabric to make something less bulky? But it does!

Practise the technique on a sample first, then move onto your dress.

Adventures in Baby Clothesmaking

My little boy was born last September, and I took advantage of the two weeks spent waiting past his due date to sew up some cute little clothes for him. And I'm so glad I did, as I can't see much sewing time in my near future, hehe :)

I downloaded three PDF patterns from Brindille and Twig, a company I stumbled upon on Instagram - the one piece, raglan tee and cuff leggings. They sew up so quickly, I got a little bit carried away and ended up making... erm... eleven pieces!