All over the Ophelia overalls

I’d been looking for a dungaree pattern for a while when I came across the Ophelia Overalls from Decades of Style’s Everyday range and I was immediately drawn to the original design. They are roomy and loose, but straps and D-rings at the side cinch them in a bit at the waist. I love the big pockets on the side. I took up the hem by about 11cm so they would skim my ankles and I think it is a length that looks nice with sandals or boots. I hardly ever wear trousers so they do take a bit of getting used to for me but I’ve been wearing them loads since I finished them a few weeks ago! While having a wide trouser leg feels a bit odd sometimes to me and I have to hike them up a bit when I’m on my bike, all in all they are an absolute dream to wear and I don’t know how I lived without them before!

And can we talk about this lovely mustard yellow corduroy?! Like lots of other sewists, I certainly am a sucker for the mustard yellow. I bought this fabric in Pauli Stoffen in Leuven (best fabric shop in Belgium!) in January. The Ophelia overalls pattern envelope design even has one of the illustrations in yellow corduroy, so it was meant to be! It was so lovely to sew with and I’ve got loads left over so I plan to make some dungarees for my cousin’s wee baby.

I really took my time to make these dungarees and one thing I did was spend a lot of time researching and sourcing my hardware. I used spring snaps for the closures at the side seams, this is the first time I’ve had any success with spring snaps and finally finding some that work for me was so satisfying! After a LOT of research I bought some spring snaps and set in tools from the Laughing Lizard Store on Etsy. I’ve never mastered those annoying Prym plyers and I find it so frustrating that most sewing shops sell plastic snaps or, at best, quite bad quality ring snaps. Closet Case Patterns has an excellent read about the difference between spring and ring snaps and how to install them.

One thing I’ve definitely learnt when it comes to trying to be as sustainable as possible with your sewing is that it is better to take three months to make something and really make sure it is well made and that you’ll wear it, rather than bash something out only for it to languish in your wardrobe.

Can’t wait to make more things with spring snaps!