Teal Linen Turia Dungarees

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed my quest last week for the perfect pattern to use for a pair of relaxed summer dungarees. I was torn between a few options which I liked various elements of and you guys threw a few more excellent choices into the mix! One that kept coming up as a favourite were the Pauline Alice Turia Dungarees, although the Wear Lemonade Fiona were a close second and nearly won out purely because of the name! However, I really liked the classic details of the Turias, the shape of the back bib and the width through the leg. I’ve also often had success with her patterns in the past as I’m quite petite and the proportions work quite well for me. Although the samples weren’t quite the look I was after a quick Google threw up some other blogger makes using this pattern which I adored.


I wasn’t sure on the dungaree trend when it first came about last year but over the past few months I’ve seen some really grown up and classy looks incorporating them. Combine that with the practicality of all those pockets and the fact that you can crawl, bend and run around like a toddler (which my job seems to require more than I like!) and I was sold. I actually bought McCalls 7547 back in early spring and some gorgeous grey denim to make them in but it’s been too hot for wearing that much close fitting denim in London recently and as usual I wanted to make something I could wear now! I became slightly obsessed with pinning images of summer dungarees over on Pinterest actually including a few pairs of Turias. The common features of all of them were a more slouchy relaxed leg than the slim denim pair I had been envisioning, still some element of fit through the waist to retain some femininity plus a finer softer fabric like a linen or viscose.


I tend to find a pattern I want to work with before I find fabric but on this occasion I had the fabric before the pattern. When The Fabric Store got in touch a couple of months ago to offer me some fabric I tried hard to branch out from my usual choice of their beautiful merino jerseys. I decided it was about time I tried out some of their linen and realised it was the perfect opportunity to find some for my dungarees. They have a not huge but varied range of linen in lots of colours, weights and even prints. This floral embroidered one has particularly caught my eye! It didn’t take me long to decide on this deep teal which is enough like a denim to work as a neutral with lots of the tops in my wardrobe but is still a little bit different. It’s one of their light to mid-weight linens which is great for dress making. It has a bit of structure and weight but after a wash has just the kind of flop and movement I was after.


As to be expected with a linen it does wrinkle quite badly but that works out quite nicely for this kind of relaxed, practical garment. It does fray but apart from that is great to work with and washes and presses beautifully. I kept my iron on a medium heat rather than high as it started to get a bit of a shine when too hot. The only thing I’m slightly unsure about is how sheer it might be in direct sunlight; I’ll need to get someone to check if they can see my pants before I go out and about! I’ve had this worry before with linen because it tends to have quite an open weave and in the past have underlined but I didn’t want to with these as I wanted to retain a lightweight feel without too much body. I had 2m of the linen (which you need for the length of the pieces) but would have had more than enough in the scraps to cut some bias binding or lining for the bib but more on that later.


My t-shirt is a v-neck Sewaholic Renfrew Top made in one of the new marle rib knits also from The Fabric Store. This colour is plaster and is amazing stuff. It has a nice spongy thickness to it and feels soft and dense unlike a lot of the cheaper ribbing fabrics I’ve come across on Goldhawk Road. It feels nice against the skin and has great recovery. I did manage to stretch it out when sewing the sleeve hems but have managed to steam it back into shape. I omitted the cuff and hem bands as with a couple of my previous Renfrews and used a twin needle instead which I think was the cause of the problem. The ribbing comes in three other lovely neutral shades and all of them have been added to the wish-list for my next order!


Back to the dungarees. I cut a size 38 through the bust and waist and graded out to 40 at the hips. I'm really pleased I did as I think the 38 would have been too tight across the bum. I have previously cut a straight 38 with Pauline Alice patterns (Seda Dress and Quart Jacket) but these haven’t involved fitting at the hip so I made sure to double check the finished measurements and decided I could do with the extra room. I'm pretty happy with the fit overall and they are super comfortable. I have found with my Cleo Pinafore Dress that no matter how much I shorten the straps they want to slip off the shoulders and the dress shifts around but these sit really nicely. The length through the body is just right with the straps fastened as they are. One thing to note is that I don't have all that much excess strap pulled through and I'm fairly petite so if you're tall you might want to consider lengthening the strap as a precaution.


I'd make a couple of little tweaks to the fit if I made this pattern again. The width of the leg around the thigh is on the verge of being too tight when I lift my leg so I’d add maybe just half and inch in that area. However what I do really like about this pattern is the slimmer fit around the bum and just above it giving you a feminine shape through the back. One thing to note is that the leg is a cropped length so it’s worth measuring before you cut although them hem allowance is pretty deep which gives you a bit to play with. These are hemmed at the intended length but I'm wearing them rolled up twice the depth of the hem.


I love all the little details of this pattern and the way they are enhanced with all that topstitching that I love to do! I think it adds a great professional looking touch to any garment on which it is appropriate. If you are going to do the double top-stitching as suggested I would recommend doing a couple of samples and noting the guide point on your machine for how far away the first and then second line of stitching should be away from the seam. I aligned the seam line with the inner edge of my machine foot for the first pass then lined that row of stitching up with the outer edge of the foot for the second. Nice and easy to follow. I kept mine subtle with a matching standard sew-all thread. I was so keen on keeping it subtle that I actually made a trip out to get some thread once I had the pattern cut out as I realised I didn't have any quite the right shade and a black or navy would have been too harsh.


Proportionally the shape and size of all the pockets are spot on I think and I liked that there were different placement marks for different size groups as the position of pockets can have such a dramatic effect on how flattering a pattern is. The back pockets are quite small so if I was making a larger size I might consider making them a little bigger. Despite looking great the front pockets are not as roomy as I’d hoped they might be. I can only just get my hands in and I’ve got very small hands. The front bib pocket is better suited to holding my phone.


I omitted one of the side seam zips which it seems from blog posts I've read that most people have done. I can get them on and off fairly easily with just one.The pattern calls for regular zips but I chose to go with invisible as I just love them plus my local shop didn't have the right shade of a regular. If I made proper denim pair with contrast topstitching I'd definitely like to try using an exposed metal zip and in that case would use two to make a feature of them.


I had real trouble with threading on my dungaree clips but had great fun with the hammer setting in the buttons! I ended up figuring out the ideal length of the strap and sewing them in place once the clip was threaded on as they wouldn’t fasten securely on their own. It’s a shame they’re now not adjustable but I don’t need them to be. I used Hemline ones (the brand that come in the pink packets). All the advice I could find online for threading them seemed to involve an extra bar so you could thread the strap through one more time which would have secured it. These just would not stay in place!


It's a great pattern in many respects but I wasn't sure about some of the finishing techniques. When you're going to the effort of using flat felled seams and all that lovely topstitching is seems a shame to finish the edges of the bib by just turning in once and topstitching, leaving a raw edge visible. With the amount this linen frayed that just wasn't an option for me but I wish I'd known from the start so I could think the finishing through. On this pair I just decided to overlock all the raw edges that were visible as it would match what I had done on the side seams of the legs. At least this looks neat, tidy and less homemade. Pauline does suggest using binding to finish any fraying fabrics and I'd like to look into this next time or alternatively lining both the front and back bib. In this Tessuti post Gabby has added a facing to the waistline which I think is a great idea and would work particularly well with a lined bib.


Because I really had to think through the instructions and keep looking a couple of steps ahead to figure out if that was the way I wanted to finish things I didn't find myself getting mindlessly lost in the project as I do with some. Plus it was the first time I've sewn a pair of dungarees so I had no tried and tested method to fall back on! You definitely need both the written instructions and illustrations to figure your way through this one. They're good and give you the guidance you need but there's no extra tips and tricks and you definitely need to use your own sewing know-how to achieve the best results. But I had them made in one very enjoyable day and didn’t get frustrated with any part of the process.


Despite having some qualms about the finishing I'm actually really delighted with how neatly these have turned out. All that topstitching gives a lovely crisp and clean result and the fabric is just what I wanted. They feel really ‘me’. Thanks to all of you who gave me pattern choice on Instagram, I definitely made the right decision. Let’s hope the lovely weather hangs about so I can get lots of wear out of these!