Even More Mango Spoils...

Another pair of dungarees!

From Simplicity 7782 This time I made View 5, the difference being elasticated ankle cuffs.  The fabric is floral corduroy on a lemon marl background and was purchased from Goldhawk Road.  It is faced with dark cream cotton.

For this version, I added complimenting piping along the yoke edges front and back. The piping is made from 15mm satin ribbon - rather tricky to do but worth the effort!  I used the same shade of green as the ribbon in the top-stitching details along the centre front and back seams and side seams (below).  I also omitted the buttons. My machine doesn't do buttonholes very well and I had a play with doing bound buttonholes using the same ribbon as the piping but it was way too tricky with the narrow width. So I opted for snaps as an experiment. 

With the exception of where the facing joins the outer garment, I used flat-felled seams (centre front and back, side outside and inside seams, and where yoke joins main body).  These dungarees were started in July and only got finished today because I got a bit frustrated with the side seams.  When I picked them up again yesterday I was horrified at the sewing of the first side flat-felled hem. I think the worst sewing I have ever done, so bad I questioned whether it was me who had done it!  Needless to say, it was unpicked and resewn.

I use this seam finish a lot in children's clothes and costumes so I am used to it. However this was the first time I've used it on children's dungarees and I realised that it very tricky getting these narrow tunnels of fabric flat on the sewing machine bed.  I ordered a pair of flat-fell feet for my machine (shown above), hoping that they may provide a magical answer!  The feet arrived last week and I used the wider one (6.5mm)  for this task.  It was rather awkward to get right to begin with, I think I almost have the hang of it now. In any case it allowed me to complete all my flat-fell seams.  I also found it helped to use the free arm and gather the sewn trouser leg along it as I sewed. (The sewn fabric goes straight out of the back of the foot but then skews to the right to gather on the free-arm). I noticed that my seams are a lot flatter with the foot, it kinda wins me over on that benefit alone.

The elasticated cuffs and top-stitching on side seams.  The hem is folded twice so I can let it down as Miss Mango grows.  The pattern uses casing but the double hem is sufficient to do the same task for now.  All I have to do now is persude Miss Mango to try them on. She is getting very particular about what she wears and the last pair of dungarees remain a firm no.  Sometimes even if she screams while I dress her she is okay after the clothing is on. With those dungarees, no way, she's trying to peel them off again.  Kick in the teeth, much!