Sew80s: Vogue 8844: Very 80s Blouson Jumpsuit with Asymmetrical Front and Gathered Sleeves

This jumpsuit has been haunting my dreams, and finally, it is a reality.

This jumpsuit checked all the boxes for me: Dropped yoke. Hyper-gathered, pleated sleeves sewn into that yoke to create maximum puffiness. Asymmetrical front closure. Shoulder pads. Side pockets. Wide belt required. Plenty of blousing spilling over that belt. Sleeves that cry out: please roll me up. Yes, this jumpsuit spoke to me!

It is, as some sewists say, a fabric hog. Depending on fabric width, it could consume almost seven yards. That could get pretty expensive. So I used an old top sheet from our queen sized bed in khaki green. I had used the bottom sheet as a test-run for Diahann Carroll's jumpsuit. Who knew I was sleeping on jumpsuits all those years?

I found this pattern here while browsing online, and soon discovered it's pretty rare. I could only find two, and so I got the size 10. I needed a 12. Which meant I had to adjust the pattern a bit to make sure it fit over my hips. The top I wasn't concerned about, I mean look at all that fabric!

There is a technique called slash and spread to make a pattern bigger, which I had heard of but never researched. I continued my campaign of ignorance and decided to just go ahead "slash" the pattern right down the middle of the leg, beginning just above the waist. The opening was 1/4 inch the front, and 1/2 inch in the back, to create a total of 1.5 inches around the hips and a bit of a bigger waist.

I didn't want to cut up my rare 80s pattern,
so I copied onto tracing paper

I also wanted to make sure I didn't get skimped on the "blouson" part of the jumpsuit, so I lengthened the waist by 1.5 inches.

The pattern provided a lengthen/shorten line at the waist,
which I used to add more fabric at the critical blousing juncture

Cutting out this jumpsuit required I take over most of our communal living area for a time:

Sewing this up was fairly easy. And the adjustments I made worked out.

The yoke required a lining.
This leftover bit of cotton shirting I had worked well.

The jumpsuit called for snaps along the front panel with a button at the top, and buttons at the cuffs. I did snaps throughout (using a larger one at the top of the panel). I thought buttons would interrupt the sea of fabric flowing around my body!

The Calvin Klein stretch belt is 2.5 inches wide and not vintage.

tons of gathers in the back too!

I particularly like the detachable collar, which is just a long rectangle sewn together with a flat-felled seam.

There is a 7 inch zipper, but it wasn't necessary as I could just pull this jumpsuit on without unzipping it. I might even take it out and just sew that seam shut.