Dungarees

Kwik Sew 3270 dungarees.

I cut size S with a half inch shortening at the upper "shorten here" line (because I am 5'4.5" rather than 5'6"), and I cut the legs short too, for reasons of style!? I cut them quite roughly to about knee length but then worked out the final length by trying them on before doing the hems (which is the last step).

I think dungarees often have buttons at the side to enable a closer fit in the waist to bum area. Not so with these, so, unless you use a fabric with stretch, you have to make them wide enough at the waist for you to get your arse through. This potential drawback is saved by there being a belt at the back, which you can use to make a nice fit round the waist. Since you end up taking in quite a bit of fabric round the waist this way, I wouldn't recommend using a bulky fabric like denim for these dungarees. In a lightweight fabric the resulting loose fit gives a pleasant summery "airy" feeling. Those of you who also have to suffer 35 Centigrade 100% humidity summers will understand why this is a good thing!

I used Irish Linen purchased from one of those fabric stores in Soho (can't remember which one) in London. The linen was moderately expensive and is the most on-grain fabric I have met. I pre-washed it and when I laid it out to cut it out it lay beautifully on grain. I don't know if this is a feature of linen in general or if I was lucky and got a particularly good piece.

Linen creases up a lot, but then I think that is fine for dungarees, which are perhaps enhanced by having a utilitarian look about them. The photo is taken deliberately unsmoothed just after cycling into town and back for lunch, so you can see how scrunchy they go in action.

I also made the legs more narrow than the pattern, by about 3.5 inches at the base, leaving the crotch/hips position unaltered and interpolating in between. They would have been pretty baggy at full width! Since I knew I was going to be taking them in rather than letting them out, I worked out the change in shape of the legs by pinning the garment together, and then marking the new seams with a fabric marker after cutting out the pattern small size. I then sewed along my new drawn on seamlines and trimmed away the excess seam allowance.

James couldn't understand why I could possibly want to make these but now he thinks they are fun. I had always wanted some dungarees so I got this pattern and then wondered for a long time what to make them out of. Suddenly realised that old-fashioned linen was ideal for old-fashioned dungarees. It was lucky since I didn't have the pattern in mind when I bought the fabric on a recent trip.

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