Pattern Hack | Zadie Jumpsuit x Ogden Cami
I have never been one to really follow instructions properly. No matter what I’m doing, often my mind rambles off to, I wonder what if I just did this… or just added that… I’m not sure I have ever followed a cooking recipe from start to finish without changing or adding something.
And it seems the same applies to my sewing. I often sew and think, this would be great if…. and the awesome thing about sewing is that you can change things up however your brain imagines them!
My love for the Zadie jumpsuit is very real but here in New Zealand the summers are just too hot for that much fabric. The difference bare shoulders and neck can make to feeling cooler is huge and so I started to ponder how I might make the Zadie more summery.
Zadie Hack V1.0
I started out by just making it sleeveless. I was really happy with how this turned out, and love this version, but it just wasn’t quite enough.
In the meantime I had finally perfected the Ogden Cami fit for me, and couldn’t help but think that the Ogden would make the perfect summery top half to the Zadie…
V2.0 was born….
There are things I just love about the Zadie. It’s a great satisfying sew, fits awesomely and most of all is super comfy. So, to have this with a super summery cami top would just be perfect.
While I have hacked patterns a bit -simple things like changing necklines and sleeve shapes, FBAs etc, this was on a whole other level. To say I was winging it would be quite an understatement.
Still, it worked out pretty well (if I do say so myself) and so for anyone else who wants to give this a go, here is how I did it!
Ogden in part...
The straps and bodice shape comes from the Ogden Cami
Wrap front
I adapted the front of the Ogden Bodice to work in a wrap style so it would tie up with the Zadie fastening
Zadie from the waist down
This pattern has all the comfort of the Zadie and that’s because it is all Zadie from the waist down. But I cut them short… of course I would have to change everything, just a little bit!
Step 1 – Bodice Fitting
The most important part of this hack was getting the bodice to fit. As I said above, I was kind of winging it, not really knowing the right way to go about this, but this is what I did.
The first thing I did was trace out the key marker points of the Zadie bodice pattern pieces. I used Swedish tracing paper, which is awesome (and deserves a post of its own). I marked the key points – the top of the shoulders, the curve of the wrap, the pleats and the width of the bodice in total.
Step 2 – Overlay the Ogden Pattern
Once I had the Zadie pattern marked out, I overlaid the Ogden Pattern. I actually used my made up cami at one point to get the height of the straps just right.
Step 3 – Setting the wrap curve
I played around with my french curve ruler to get the curve of the zadie and the v neck of the ogden working; There was no science to this, I just kept moving the ruler until the lines were right – ie the v neck angle met the tie waist section of the Zadie curve. I did deepen the wrap piece of the Zadie (the section where the belt is stitched) by about 1″ to make this work.
3 – Matching up the bodice seams
Once I had the neckline curve right, I moved onto the side seams and the joining seam.
This was fairly straightforward, just making sure that the point from the armsyc on the Ogden pattern matched up the the point on the Zadie pattern. Then I carried the Zadie pattern across the bottom of the new pattern piece, maintaining pleats and join marks.
Ready to cut out..
So after those steps, and checking the wrap fit b y basting my Swedish tracing paper pieces together I was ready to go. One big thing that is different about the Ogden vs the Zadie (except for the obvious) is that the Ogden is lined and the Zadie is not.
The lining on the Ogden is a crucial piece to maintain the shape and construction of the straps and so I cut double of the bodice pieces so I could double them up as lining. I would stitch both pieces into the waist seam.
To make my Zadie Jumpsuit & Ogden Cami Hack I cut the following pattern pieces:
2 x pairs of the new front wrap bodice
1 x on fold back bodice (I eliminated the central seam and removed the seam allowance)
2 x Ogden Cami Strap pieces
1 x pair front legs from the zadie pattern, shortened at the shorten line to give me shorts length
1 x pair of back legs from the zadie pattern – shortened as per the front leg.
2 x Zadie Belt pieces
1 length of Bias tape from the scraps
Sewing the Bodice
I started sewing the bodice pieces, using the guide from the Ogden instructions. ie, the darts, seam allowance, neckline stay stitching and order of construction. Only difference of course is that my front was wrap and my lining full length.
I did forget both times I made this to leave the gap for the wrap belt at both the side seam and the wrap edge. Nothing a seam ripper couldn’t help me out with, but if you decide to give this a go, worth remembering both those elements and take your guide from the Zadie pattern on this.
Once I had sorted that out, I double checked that my pleat marks were in place from the Zadie bodice edge and stitched these as per the Zadie instructions
The Zadie legs
It sounds pretty obvious but when it came time to sew the legs, I switched to the Zadie guidelines, seam allowance etc. I left the hemming until the bodice was attached.
Joining the two!
Because I had made sure that the bottom edge of the bodice was the same as the Zadie pattern by lining the two patterns up, joining at the waist was straightforward. You can follow the zadie instructions for doing this as the join in the same. Then you just need to bias tape the final part of the wrap edge as per the paper theory instructions, hem the shorts to your preferred length and all done!
The final results
I’ve made two of these jumpsuits now so I think you can tell that I love the final results. I have two very different garments though mostly due to my fabric choice. The first of this I made with a viscose fabric. It was floaty and drapey and as I made the shorts longer it has the look of a dress, and the shorts more culotte-like. The second I made with a heavier weight linen. I made the shorts shorter and as the fabric had a little more structure this look very different…. and it is this second pair that are my favourite, but I love them both.
Click on the images below to enlarge
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Love everything about this! The fabric, the melding together of the two patterns and the cute SEw in LABEl😊
*SEw in label!!
that’s such a cute outfit! really love it. Thanks for all the detail
thanks for this – been thinking of doing this for a while , youve given me the confidence to give it a go ….
Oh that’s so great to hear.. would love to see what you make!