Sorry for the long blogging break! I've been away from my machine for a little while now, traveling around to Cambodia and Vietnam with my mom. But we did sneak a bit of sewing in in between travels!
I'd been planning to make my mom a pair of the dungarees/overalls from Marilla Walker's Roberts collection basically from the day the pattern was released. She loves overalls. Plus, I was so happy with my Roberts jumpsuit and top. What a versatile pattern...!
Since she's been in the region, we had a chance to do a bit of fabric shopping and a bit of sewing, including the Roberts overalls. It was a team effort, with both of us exchanging sewing tips and techniques we've learned. Very fun, as I never get this much time to do crafty things with my mom!
The overalls are made from some polka dot canvas we bought locally here in Bangkok, with adorable black and white buttons from my favorite bargain button stall at Bangkok's weekend market.
We opted for sets of buttons/button tabs on both hips and my mom knotted the straps through buttonholes at the top of the bib. She did take home extra buttons in cases she decides to change her mind regarding the knots, though:
We cut a size 3 at top and graded to a size 5 at the hips, but somewhere along the way our grading seemed to get a little bit wonky. Ultimately we ended up narrowing the waist and hips to take in some bunchy excess fabric there. I think it was a combination of our grading and the fact that the Roberts' style is a bit looser than my mom wanted/was used to.
We ended up fiddling with the side seams in the pocket region quite a bit to get a nice fit and smooth line across the hip. Because of this fiddling, we decided to lengthen the button tabs and the openings to go lower than waist seam to make sure the overalls can still be pulled over the hips easily.
I think, despite our myriad changes, the overalls are still true to the Roberts' pattern and are really cute!
Check out my mom wearing them in Hanoi at this awesome coffee shop, Cong Caphe (which has some awesome tables with sewing machine bases!). If you go, try the frozen coconut coffee drink, ca phe cot dua... amazing.
