In this article I will tell and show you how I sewed a spectacular and unusual jumpsuit for rhythmic gymnastics. This jumpsuit was very difficult to make because I dyed it completely myself. Of course, I have dyed fabrics before, but I have never had to dye a supplex with such a large area. So for me it was a new experience.
Content
- Required materials
- Sketch
- Patterns of overalls
- Painting overalls
- Preparation of samples
- Decorating the jumpsuit with appliqués
- Decorating with rhinestones
- Sewing overalls
- Finishing the bottom of the sleeve with a loop for the finger
- Assembly of overalls
Necessary materials
- Supplex white
- Supplex black
- Hidden green zipper
- Paint Ultramarine Decola
- Paint green fluorescent Decola
- Paint white Decola
- Ocher light Decola paint
- Airbrush
- Hotfix Rhinestones Crystal 20ss
- Hot fix rhinestones Jet black 16ss
- Olivine AB 20ss hot fix rhinestones
- Hot fix rhinestones AB 20ss
- Hot fiust rhinestones AB 16ss
- Sew-on Rhinestones Drop Crystal
- Sew-on Rhinestones Drop Cobalt
- Sew-on rhinestones Quadra AB
Sketch
I created the sketch on the iPad Pro 2018, in the Procreate program. Initially, I did not intend to bring this sketch to life, I drew it in my free time for my Instagram page in two colors. But in the end, the sketch found its owner 😃.
Patterns of overalls
In order to model a jumpsuit without a seam along the waistline, you must first build a leotard and leggings, which I built according to the Muller and Son method. And then I connect them together and model a jumpsuit from them.
She cut out the overalls and sleeves from white supplex. When building, almost all measurements need to be reduced by 4 - 15%. But when dyeing, the fabric becomes less stretchy, and here I will have the fabric completely dyed with several layers. And since I had not dyed fabric with such a large area before, but only partially swimwear, so I didn’t know by what percentage I need to reduce the measurements. I sewed the jumpsuit with a fitting, so I did not greatly reduce the initial measurements, I decided to correct the lines already at the gymnast after painting.
Dyeing overalls
Before I dyed the jumpsuit itself, I dyed a sample and sent a photo of it to customers for color approval. In the sketch, initially my jumpsuit was of a different color: fluorescent green and purple, but on all phones and computers the colors are slightly different and on the customer’s phone it was not purple, but blue. That is why I used blue color when dyeing the fabric.
Then she began to paint the jumpsuit itself and the sleeves with an airbrush.
Preparation of samples
I swept the jumpsuit and prepared it for fitting. I also cut out the main applications from the thermobiflex in order to accurately determine their location on the overalls.
On the fitting, it became clear that it was necessary to finish the fabric in front. On the back, the blue color transitions beautifully and evenly from the sleeve to the jumpsuit, but such a beautiful transition did not work out in front. Therefore, after trying on, I again dismantled the overalls and repainted it. I waited again for 24 hours, then for 10 minutes I fixed the paint on the fabric with an iron through a cotton iron.
Decorating the jumpsuit with appliqués
First, I stitched the darts with a seam for stretch fabrics. And then I cut out applications from black and white thermobiflex (see how to make thermobiflex here. She also cut out strips from two layers of black supplex glued together with a glue cobweb.
I laid out all the applications on the overalls and sleeves, then glued them with an iron. And then I fixed them on the sewing machine with a zigzag seam. I decided to shorten the supplex fringe at the very end, when the jumpsuit was fully assembled.
Decoration with rhinestones
Rhinestones are easier to stick when the jumpsuit is lying on a flat surface, not yet assembled. Of course, after I completely sew the jumpsuit, I will glue the rhinestones, and at this stage I only glue the main lines of rhinestones.
Sleeves are always very difficult to decorate with rhinestones after stitching, especially if it is a children’s overalls. Therefore, on the sleeves, I always glue and sew on rhinestones before grinding the cuts.
Sewing overalls
I sewed the middle seam with a stretch seam, and then joined the shoulder seams on an overlock sewing machine.
After I processed the neck with a zigzag seam.
Before stitching the hidden zipper, I processed the bottom of the zipper with supplex. It is not necessary to do this, but you must admit, this way the lightning looks much more beautiful, although no one except the customer will see it 🙂.
I sewed a hidden zipper, cut off the excess and secured the ends with a machine stitch.
The zipper braid should also be sewn with a straight machine stitch on the cut of the overalls. It is not only beautiful, but also convenient. Then cut off the excess sections.
Then I processed the cutout for the heel with a piping (read how I processed the cutout for the heel here.
Then I connected the crotch seams of the jumpsuit with pins, and then stitched them on an overlock sewing machine. The color of the threads changed several times depending on the color of the area that I was sewing. It’s a painstaking job to change the threads on the overlocker all the time, but it’s worth it.
Finishing the bottom of the sleeves with a finger loop
I always process the bottom of the sleeves differently. Since I don’t have a favorite way to process the bottom of the sleeve, so the choice of method depends on my mood 🙂. If the suit is for children, then I always process the bottom of the sleeve before connecting the sections. Because it doesn’t matter if the child is tall or not, the hands of gymnast girls are still very thin, especially in the wrist area and after joining the sleeve sections, it is very difficult to process the bottom on a sewing machine when the circumference is so small.
First, I prepared two strips of supplex, folded in half and secured with a zigzag seam. One stripe is flesh-colored, the second is green, since I have a flesh-colored bottom on one sleeve, and a green bottom on the second sleeve. Then I marked with chalk the line of the bottom of the sleeves.
After sweeping the bottom along with a loop for the finger and secured it with a zigzag seam on a sewing machine.
And then she connected the sections of the sleeves on an overlock sewing machine.
Assembly of overalls
First, she swept the sleeves into the armhole, and then sewed them on the overlock sewing machine.
After I assembled the overalls completely, I glued rhinestones in some places and my overalls for the gymnast are ready.
When they called me with a request to sew this jumpsuit, I began to dissuade them from sewing it. But the gymnast’s coach liked this sketch of the overalls, and I think you yourself know that it is impossible to convince the coach 😁.
I agreed with the customers that the overalls should be completely dyed by ourselves in order to achieve that smooth transition of colors, as in the sketch, and not to combine fabrics of different colors. For this reason, I did not even want to take on its embodiment 🙂. Because I knew how much work I had to do. In addition, I immediately warned the customers that the fabric loses its extensibility during dyeing, and in our case, not just a part will be dyed, but a complete overall.
But in the process of work, when I finished dyeing the fabric and saw how beautiful everything turned out - my joy knew no bounds, and the customers still persuaded me to take on sewing it 😀. Despite the fact that I liked the result, I don’t think I’ll ever agree to take on such a job where you need to paint such a huge area.
Thank you for reading my article. I hope it will help you in your creativity. If you have any questions after reading the article, then feel free to ask me below 😀.
