Review of the Anitra Jumpsuit Pattern

First, let me say that I was honored to be asked to participate in the blog tour of the Anitra jumpsuit pattern created by Erin Shields of Style Sew Me. I recently completed the blog tour for the Keira jumpsuit created by Shari Williams of My Daily Threadz. That went over really well. S0, I thought, why not. I love supporting other's endeavors. But, I must say, this pattern did give me pause when I first saw it. I thought,"what have I gotten myself into". I never imagined myself wearing anything harem-like. What's the old adage, "Don't knock it until you try it". "Well, what the hay, let's do this", I said to self. So, me and self did it. I knew right off what fabric I wanted to use. It's a beautifully printed jersey knit that I received from one of my wonderful sew sisters, Michelle Simmons. She gifted it to me back in February when two more of my wonderful sew sisters organized a "Gift to Alethia" campaign to show their appreciation for me. Every time I think about the all the gracious acts of kindness I receive, it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy (sniff-sniff). I need to do a blog post about that. Hmmm, why haven't I already? ( Scratches head)

Okay, back to the subject at hand, the Anitra jumpsuit. This is a really cute jumpsuit. I'm still not sure how it looks on me.You be the judge. But, I will see, I have not seen any of the others on the blog tour that this jumpsuit did not look good on.

Let's review the pattern. I love that there are only 6, count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6 pieces to this pattern, and it was super easy to put together. From cut to finish, it tool me about 4 hours to put it together. I must confess, my time extended beyond the 4 hours because I realized after I had sewn and serged everything together, I misplaced my front pieces, where the side pieces were overlapping to the center on top of the pants, where they should have met at the center underneath the front piece. I don't know if that made any sense at all. Just know that I had to undo the front section and place them correctly. I started to leave  it and just make it my "different look" ( you all know that I like to do things differently). But, the look didn't quite fly, so I sucked it up, put my feelings in check, and undid ALL THAT SERGER STITCHING to get it right. It was worth it. Word to the wise, do not get caught up in watching Designated Survivor on Netflix while you are trying to sew and meet a deadline. There's bound to be a mistake somewhere.

I did make some very minor changes, just for my personal taste. I shortened the bodice back and front by 1.5". I did not want my top to be too blousy. I'm so glad I did because it had the perfect amount of blousing ( is that a word?). I, also, added a 5/8" elastic instead of the 3/4" elastic that was called for. It just seemed to thread through my casing so much better.
As for sizing, like any other pattern, there is a sizing chart. OAN, let me not forget to mention that this pattern is sized from XS to 3 XL. So, may can wear this cool and comfy jumpsuit. My sizes were all over the place, medium for the top and large for the waist and hips. I decided to make the jumpsuit in the sizes dictated rather than trying to make adjustments oustside of the ones  I mentioned earlier. I doing so, once I finished the jumpsuit I found that there was still a lot of room both top and bottom. It runs big. I think the small would actually be perfect.
As I said earlier, I never would have imagined myself in anything harem-like. But, I think it's rather cute. I think I will LOVE it with the right fit.
The Anitra jumpsuit can be dressed up or down. Check out the many versions of this from the others on this blog tour.
Thank you Erin for inviting me to join the tour! Much success on the sell of this pattern.
To the rest of the ladies of the our, you all look fabulous!!!

Until; next time, remember, you are blessed to be a blessing!

Love you to life,
Alethia