Carmella jumpsuit hack!

I'll start by saying this was such a no think hack - no big adjustments, just taping my favourite elements of each pattern together. I swapped the slim legs of the Carmella out in favour of my absolute favourite Butterick B6178 Culottes in view D, simply lining up the grainlines/crotches of both pattern pieces. The B6178s have come in handy for a number of hacks (like this one and this one) mainly because they're so easy to just tack onto different bodices.

All my fave patterns pooled

The sleeves come from the Named Clothing Reeta Shirt Dress - again, another pattern that for me, has many miles. The Reeta usually ends up as a shirt for me, and I don't usually favour the turn up sleeves, but when balanced with the volume of the culotte legs, they just seemed right. For ease, I stuck with the existing sleeve head (they didn't differ massively anyway) and just used the length and instructions from the Reeta to create the turn up.

And just a few little details... The inseam pockets of the Carmella are quite shallow, so I mashed them together with the B6178 pockets for extra depth - I mean, phones are getting bigger these days, baby pockets are of no use to me. I would have quite liked to use the chest pockets from the Reeta too, but previous experience tells me they are unfortunately just too fussy for my full bust, so I stuck with the originals.

This was quite a fabric-intensive and fairly experimental project, so I picked out a bargain mid-weight poly-mix with a bit of stretch - it has a bit of a crepe feel/drape to it - for £4 a metre from Lucky Fashion in Dewsbury. I used 3m in total.

Unbelted, it's a bit of a baggy romper!

The fabric is weightier than my previous Carmella, so it's turned out a bit heavier and looser than the last version, but it definitely has the 'secret pyjama' value to it. In all, it's more casual than I was intending, but still easy and versatile to wear and I'm really please that all my favourite patterns came together successfully!

Regardless of how fancy it turned out, I made it to wear to a fancy work event I had to go to on day 1 of this year's Me Made May, and of course, I stuck to it - I was even hand hemming the trouser legs on the morning. I wore it with trainers all day and dressed it up with posh shoes and a bag for the evening do.

Dressing it up!

The sleeve heads need an edit next time. The Carmella has a slight drop shoulder, which the weight and little bit of stretch in this fabric emphasised more than I would have liked. I ended up unpicking the sleeves and sewing them with a really deep seam allowance across the sleeve head, but obviously it's better to have things right from the start, so I'll be giving the pattern a little tweak before the next version.

And yes! There will of course be a next time as I'm a firm believer in sticking with things once you've found something you like. I'd really like to wear a similar jumpsuit to a friend's wedding this summer, but I think the fabric needs to be ever so slightly lighter/more luxe for the occasion. I'm on the hunt the perfect fabric now and have until August. If anyone has any suitable suggestions, please let me know!