You know when you've had a sewing project in your mind for so long that you kind of start to think that it's already been completed? This is one of those. I had the pattern and the fabric for months and whenever I opened Dolores's clothing drawers, I was kind of surprised to find the romper not in there. So last month I eventually got round to making it IRL.
Pattern:
I was given this sewing pattern by Jenna (who has recently started up an AWESOME new blog, Just Sew Jenna). Quick backstory: I 'met' Jenna when she was the winner of a giveaway/competition I hosted last year. She won 1 metre of her choice of fabric from Sewbox.co.uk. She was sweet enough to indulge my request to see what she made from it (you can see her gorgeous top here) and we've continued to email ever since. She also came to one of the Renfrew t-shirt classes I taught at The Village Haberdashery (the next Renfrew class is on Saturday 2nd August, BTW!) when she made this fabulous garment. Anyways, Jenna is a massive inspiration to me as she sews most of her daughter's clothing herself. This Burda 9652 romper pattern (pictured below) is one she used regularly when her little girl was littler, and she kindly gave me a spare copy she had.
It really is an easy pattern, and a good basis for your own customisation if you so desire. I made view B without the pockets (I felt my fabric would be too busy for the pockets to be noticeable) but I did hack the pattern to include poppers around the inside leg seams for easy access when nappy changing. I eyeballed a hand-me-down romper of Dolores's for how to approach the hack and basically ended up applying a self-bias strip along the inside leg seam to form a base for half of the poppers. The only other change I might make in the future is to elongate the body a bit, as Dolores is a relatively tall and skinny baby (takes after her papa).
Fabric:
Speaking of Sewbox.co.uk, this super-soft baby cord was a given to me by them. Susan, owner of Sewbox, sent me lots of samples of her impressive array of baby cord and I picked my fave. This is Liberty Kingly Cord - Tatum Trail and you can snaffle your own here. It is an ideal fabric for babies: it's really soft but also holds its shape, AND the garment doesn't need ironing (IMO) after being laundered. I chose this print because it reminded me of the 70's baby/children's garments that kids were still wearing in my youth (early 80's).
Thoughts:
It seems, if my explorations on Pinterest are to be believed, a big trend in children's wear is to look as much like mini-adults as possible! This freaks me out somewhat. I love that this garment is firmly a baby's garment. Is isn't close fitting, she can move around in it with ease. She can wear it on its own when its warm, or layered with onesies/vests and tights when it's chilly, and various combinations in-between. With poppers at the shoulder straps rather than buttons, it's a really practical garment that is relatively easy to get on and off, helped in part by its roomy fit. I'll definitely be using this pattern again in the future. How cute is it going to be when she's toddling around in it?!
