Becca Made That

Hello Internet Friends!

It’s been a bit of a ‘June-uary’ here on the west coast, really rainy and cold, but it finally looks like the weather has turned and we are getting some really nice summery sunshine which means I was finally able to snap some blog photos! Today I’m sharing my latest fave pant, the Free Range Slacks by Sew House Seven. Now, if you’ve been following my blog or instagram for a while you’ll know that my all time favourite pant is the Mid Rise Ginger Jeans, and while gingers are still at the top of the list, the free range slacks are a nice ‘jeans alternative’ without being full on ‘trousers’ (I’ve never been much of a trouser girl but things can change!).

Heeelllooo Internet friends!

I apologize in advance for the gratuitous amount of images in this blog post but when you find that special relationship you just want to shout it to the world you know? And no I don't mean with a person (love you @fluffyblondemonster!) but with an item of clothing that just DOES it for you! Like the type that makes you feel good about yourself in a 'dammmm look at you girl' way after which you give yourself a hair flip emoji and sashay away.

Now that you've had enough time to ponder that little mental image, I present to you the Sallie Jumpsuit Multiway Hack!

Please note the full glass of wine in all of these 'on a boat' pictures. It helps explain the 'day after' photos later on

The inspiration for this amazing (if I do say so myself) piece of clothing was two fold: First I had a wedding celebration coming up that was going to be on a boat, hence the idea of pants vs. a dress as those have a tendency to fly away, pretty much always unflattering so, whist traversing the high seas. Second was this pin that I found on Pintrest, an advert really, for a multiway jumpsuit that literally had me going 'YAAASSSSSS'. Being ever the DIY'er I took one look at the price tag and cried the eternal DIY pledge "PFFFTTT I can make that for way less!". Time, more often than not, proves this pledge void however in this instance time was kind to me, and proved that I could in fact make it and for less than the original price tag #DIYWIN

For once i feel like a one piece makes me look a smidgen taller!

To whip up a Multiway Sallie Jumpsuit of your own you'll need the jumpsuit portion of the Sallie Jumpsuit pattern by Closet Case Patterns and a smidgen of math. I used this tutorial, which I also found on Pinterest, as well as the video detailing all the different ways of tying the original multiway jumpsuit as a guide to drafting the straps. In total I bought 3 meters of a navy blue bamboo/cotton jersey, a large portion of which went unused, #ShorttieForTheWin, that can be re-purposed for another project.

Crossing the straps at the back to cover your bra means no struggle with a strapless!

I shortened the length of the pants by about 3 inches but as you can see in the photo above I could do with a bit more shortening as they still pool a bit on the ground even in my tallest heels. Once I had sewn up the pant legs I then drafted a waist band casing for an elastic waist band to keep the pant legs secure even without tying the top (this is important as a) it helps you tie the top the way you want and b) it means you don't have to tie the top portion so tight). To do this I simply measured the width of the finished pants at the waist, doubled it to get the circumference and then cut a rectangle whose length was the circumference of the waist (plus seam allowance) and width was double the width of my elastic (I recommend something between 1/2-1") again plus seam allowance. For the straps I originally took the advice from the above mentioned tutorial, which suggests calculating the width of the straps using the measurement from between your breastbone, over the largest part of the bust and to the middle of your underarm and calculating the length as 1.5 times your height. That tutorial also recommended an overlap of between 3-5" at the center front, with less overlap for a more plunging neckline. I went with an overlap of 3" which may explain why I ended up having to remove a full 5" from the width of the straps as the creator of the tutorial used an overlap of 5". I removed this extra width because with an overlap of 3" at the center front the straps ended 5" past the side seam of the pants, which would have made tying the top difficult in my opinion (also the original multiway had thinner straps). The 1.5 times your height for length was also grossly over estimated as I ended up chopping off over half a foot to get the tail length you see in these photos. I later took off the remaining 5-6" when I got home as it was still too long.

Yes the tails were quite long....I didn't want to run the risk of cutting them too short though....

I had a lot of fun tying a few different configurations before settling on this one. As an added bonus I was able to configure the back part of the straps such that I could wear a normal bra!! This coupled with the super softness of bamboo/cotton, and the comfy-ness of jersey in general, made this a super comfy outfit (minus wrestling with my overly long tail now and then). To get an idea of all the different ways you can wear this hack you can check out the original multiway jumpsuit here or take a peek at some other configurations below (these pictures were taken after I had recovered from the double header of wedding celebrations that I had that particular weekend so keep that in mind....there's also icing on it by this point because there was cake.....)

I really think that the real versatility of this multiway lies the fact that it is a jumpsuit, pants instead of a skirt! It give it that 'power outfit' feel that a dress version doesn't always have (in my opinion the dress versions often have great promise but you can never really get too many uses out of them) With a jumpsuit version you can tie it one way for an evening out, tie it another way (aka with less cleavage) pair it with a blazer and you have a smart outfit to wear to a meeting while still being comfy! It really is quite the comfy wardrobe workhorse!

Hope you guys like this hack! let me know if you have any questions in the comments! And just two more pictures below, that's it!! I promise! (I really love this thing!)