If you read sewing blogs at all, you will have seen plenty of tester photos and blog posts appearing over the past two days previewing the debut children’s pattern collection from Willow & Co. There is now only a week or so to wait until the Wanderlust Collection is released on April 22nd. Today, I’m showing my version of the Ash Jumpsuit, a pattern designed by Celina Bailey of Petit a Petit and family. This pattern is part of a collection of 10 for both boys and girls, you can read more about the patterns over on the Willow & Co blog.
Such a fun pattern!! As you can see, there is a separate pants and top version, as well as a jumpsuit. This is very helpful should you have a little one who is toilet training or who likes the independence of self-dressing. This is a simple to sew pattern, yet looks fantastic – I think it’s a nice alternative to a dress and can showcase some fabulous fabrics as well. Light woven fabrics work best such as voile or lawn. I used a very light denim for the pants which I wasn’t totally sure would be successful, but they turned out great. The voile I used for the top is up-cycled from a top I made myself when I first started sewing and didn’t really wear much. I also used the voile to line the pockets which are an optional feature.
I made the pattern as directed and had no trouble following Celina’s clear and thoughtful instructions. This is a size 3 with size 2 length – according to the inseam leg measurements my 2.5 year old has short legs in relation to her height, something I never knew about her until now 🙂 I was a little concerned before making up the top, that the elastic might cut in around the back and shoulders, but this is not the case at all. The elastic measurements provided worked out perfectly for Miss. A, but you can easily adjust the elastic length to suit different frames.
The good: great fit, easy to sew.
The bad: ummm, I always like to offer constructive criticism when reviewing a pattern, as just saying everything is fabulous all the time doesn’t help anyone but I’m actually struggling to come up with anything. I’m confident that you won’t be disappointed in this pattern.
Will I sew this again: Yeh for sure – we’re heading into winter here in Australia, but I’ll be making this again come spring.
No doubt you will be seeing many more versions of the Ash Jumpsuit popping up on the internet – we had such a great time in our Facebook tester group. Go and check out the 3 great versions made by Tone (from Norway) here and another version with fabulous fabric by Lucy (from UK) here. Not enough jumpsuit goodness? Well there’s more, here and here.
I can honestly say that I like this pattern more than I thought I was going to in the beginning. I love it when that happens!! Can’t wait to get my hand on the rest of the collection, is it April 22 yet?