Hi

I’ve been waiting to write about this make for so long, I’m having trouble gathering my thoughts in order. Emily from replicatethendeviate sent me this ikea linen sheet last summer when we were both testing a pattern. This white 100% linen is scrumptiously soft and delightfully wrinkly and I had about 2.5 yards of it. I wanted to make something special, something that I’d always wear but just couldn’t decide on what pattern to use. Almost a year later, when the Caladium Jumpsuit, was released, and Emily and I were gushing over it, I thought it would be the perfect pattern to make with the white linen. Before I knew it, Emily gifted me the pattern for my birthday. Isn’t that so sweet?! I am grateful for her friendship, always willing to listen to me, always there to encourage me, making me laugh when I’m close to crying, she’s such a kind and thoughtful friend.

The white linen by itself is a little sheer so I thought ice dyeing would be fun while also making the fabric more opaque. I read several tutorials and watched a lot of videos online and felt confident enough to give it a try. Several people noted that when using powdered dye, the granules have a lot of color variation within them ensuring a wide color gradient without the need for using more than one color. Despite reading all this, I went ahead and used two colors, a teal blue and a pink because I was possessed with the idea of having muted patterns of aqua and pale pink all over the fabric. I crushed some ice cubes, spread them over my wet fabric and lightly sprinkled the dye over the ice. Very soon, the colors started to darken by several shades and even though I panicked, I waited for the prescribed amount of time before rinsing and washing the fabric. The result was not only underwhelming but some of the splotches were just slime colored which I suppose is to be expected. I couldn’t tell you what I was hoping to see but this wasn’t it! I let it sit aside wondering if it would grow on me and if I could cut around the dark splotches and make it work but all of that only dampened my excitement for the project.

Having already come across rit color remover, that seemed like the only logical thing to do. It isn’t a hard or complicated process and doesn’t take more than an hour or so. Even though it’s not something I would prefer to do again, I’m glad I had the opportunity to undo my mistake.
The dye remover removed most of the traces of ice dyeing but the fabric did not return to its original white, so again it felt like the logical thing to do was to dye it again. I already had a bottle of Rit liquid dye in aquamarine color so I set out to dye the fabric following the instructions adding the recommended amount of water and dye and dipped the fabric in. Within 5-6 minutes, it turned such a vibrant dark blue, that I panicked and pulled the fabric out and started rinsing till the water ran clear. Then washed and dried like normal and lo and behold somehow ended up with my favorite shade of blue! Looking at the final color of my fabric, I did wonder why this was not my first course of action to begin with.

I did learn many (some?) things during my ice dyeing experiment but the most important thing is that it’s not for me and I’d rather not do it again. Dyeing the fabric as a whole on the other hand was more interesting and something I would totally do if I ever needed to.
Seeing this gorgeous aqua linen brought all the promise and excitement back into my project and I cut and sewed the jumpsuit in one night. The beauty of the pattern is in it’s simplicity. There’s just a front piece and a back piece along with pockets and the square neck interfacing. The armholes and V neckline are finished with bias tape. The pattern has lengthen/shorten lines at the bust and at around knee length as well as instructions for shortening at the shoulders. This I thought was genius and extremely efficient rather than messing with the fit at the crotch and rise. So this is what I did, made a straight size 0-2 based on my hip measurement without shortening anywhere. Once I finished the entire construction except the shoulders, I basted the shoulders as suggested and tried it on and only had to take them in by an additional 3/8”. This pattern and the garment turned out just as beautiful as I had hoped. I’m so happy with it. Just wearing it makes me so happy!

I’ll probably wear it with all my tees and blouses but I especially loved the pairings I’m sharing with you today. The tank is a Vienna tank by itch to stitch patterns that I blogged about a couple years ago. It has neck gathers and ties and makes for such a pretty accompaniment to the jumpsuit.

The blouse is a Wren blouse by Chalk and Notch. It’s not much of a hack but I left off the bottom portion of the lantern short sleeve and hemmed it so it looks like a little ruffle sleeve. I love how the ruffle sleeve match the swishy wide legs of the jumpsuit.

I’m excited to try this jumpsuit with different tops in my closet and most elated that I got this project done before the end of summer so I can enjoy wearing it before winter comes knocking!

Jumpsuit Pattern: Caladium Jumpsuit by Caramiya, Fabric: 100% linen (Ikea Bedsheet)

Tank Top Pattern: Vienna Tank by Itch to Stitch Patterns, Fabrics: Viscose jersey and eyelet fabric from slyfox fabrics. Old blog post with more information here.

Blouse Pattern: Wren Blouse and Dress by Chalk and Notch Patterns, Fabric: Lyocell in coconut milk color from Joann Fabrics. My first Wren blouse with fit details here.

Thank you for stopping by and reading, please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have either here in the comments section or via ig.