Self Assembly Required

DIY dressmaking + crafts with Emily

Hacked Jenny overall shorts // Closet Core Patterns

I made one other thing for my holiday and that was a new set of dungaree shorts! I’d always planned on making some and this seemed like a great time to do so!

I decided to use a pattern I’d made once before – the Jenny overalls from Closet Core Patterns. I liked the loose wide fit through the leg and the fitted waist which I thought would give a slightly more sophisticated fit for a dungaree.

I like the Jenny pattern overall but I had a couple of issues with it – the first being the strap situation! The pattern uses long straps sewn into the back waistband that cross over and attach into the front bib. All well and good in theory but it means lots of long dangling things when going to the loo! I wanted to create a back bib so that the straps would be shorter and a bit more manageable.

To do this I measured the point between the distance between the two darts at the back and created a triangular pattern piece that would sit between them. (It’s not a necessity to have it be this width especially as the waistband separates them but I felt it would have a better balance).

The other change I made to the pattern was to fully line the bibs and straps. This was another bug bear mine from the original design which has you just turn these edges. It was a simple enough change which required just cutting out extra bib and strap pieces. I used a fun printed cotton for the lining instead of using my outer fabric so that it didn’t all end up too thick.

I used an undyed thick denim from Sherwood Fabrics – it’s sold as seconds as this lot has a small mark on it. It’s a thick heavy weight denim that I thought would be a good choice for a hard wearing garment. I wanted to feel like I could go on adventures in it!

The denim gets a bit creased but I’ve decided just to lean into that and let it get as crumpled as possible with the hope it’ll soften and wear in.

I do really like how the back of these have turned out. For me, it’s so much more practical than having the long straps!

These shorts will get put away until the summer now but hopefully they’ll get lots of wear then!

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3 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing the fab idea to add the back triangle…I am so not into all the strapping….so very cute on you! Love the color (or lack thereof…) -you’re sure to get a ton of wear out of these.

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