True Bias – Rory Jumpsuit

This project has been in the back of my mind for over a year. My mother in law made a beautiful Rory (then Yari) jumpsuit in a natural linen and it got me thinking about making my own. I knew it would be a challenging project to tackle though because the True Bias block is not drafted for me (I’m 5′ 3″ and it’s a 5′ 6″ block) and I’d have to make a number of mods for it to work. Inspiration struck me out of the blue a week ago in the form of the Gala Fabrics moving sale and I decided to pick up some linen and give it a go.

This pattern has a LOT of ease. My measurements put me at a size 6 but I cut a size 2 based on the finished garment measurements. After perusing the hashtag on instagram, I was also aware that this pattern has a long bodice and a lower-than-I-wanted crotch, so I folded two inches from the bodice length above the waist before I even cut my toile. My toile turned out well in the size and length of the bodice, but another major issue cropped up – the fit of the upper back. Here is how the toile it looked.

The toile wanted to pull back quite badly at the shoulder and the shoulder seams sat well back from where I’d like. The back neck also sat low. There just didn’t feel like there was enough fabric in the upper back. Based on the toile, I decided to do a few adjustments to the upper back. First, I moved the shoulder seam forward by a half inch. Then I added a centimetre to the back at the neckline and a one centimetre wedge below the armscye to give the upper back more room (I don’t know why I didn’t so this in the armscye but it worked out doing it this way, thankfully). These areas are coloured red in the picture below. I also reduced the front pieces at the shoulder seam by a half inch to the armscye stayed the same length.

I also decided to go with the sleeveless version. There is no shaping in the cuff piece on this pattern like there is in the Kalle shirt so the sleeves on my toile stood out at weird angles at the shoulders. This could also be partly because I sized down. I have relatively wide shoulders for my size, which could be a contributing factor, but I didn’t like how the sleeves looked so I opted to go sleeveless. I also thought I could layer the sleeveless version over a t-shirt or turtleneck in the winter, and more easily fit it under a jean jacket, so I think it will be a good choice. Here are the rest of the mods I made on my final version:

• Cut size 6 width on the side back piece
• Cut size 6 length for the front crotch hook
• After trying on and before binding the arm holes, scooped out the lower armscye by about a half inch

After I’d figure out my mods, this was a pleasant make. I started on it at 9 a.m. on rainy holiday Monday and managed to finish it by 5 p.m. while working slowly and methodically. I’m really pleased with the finishing, especially the bias bound arm holes. I made bias tape from some shifty, thin viscose poplin in my stash so it wasn’t easy to work with but I ended up with a lovely smooth, clean finish and I’m quite proud of it. I used the same stash fabric to make a casing for some waist band elastic (following the True Bias tutorial). The insides of this jumpsuit make me so happy!

I used a washed linen for my toile and chose a classic linen for this final version in the colour Cypress, both from Gala Fabrics. Both were lovely to work with, though this classic linen creased and lost colour in some areas in the wash. I tried to keep the worst of these areas in the side back panels so they aren’t super noticeable. Hopefully everything will even out with time and wear.

This jumpsuit gives me big summer deck party vibes. Now just to wait for the weather to warm back up again.

Thanks for stopping by.

~ Lindsay