Bitty Bee has taken a fancy to rompers this summer and has tasked me with making her some new ones this summer. Normally an easy task, but she also loves having pockets and not all romper patterns have pockets. For example, this free romper pattern from The Purl Bee.
When trying out new designers, I like to make a trial run out of some of my older fabric stash before cutting into good stuff. For this trial run, I had some really pretty green Native American style fabric. Bitty Bee loves that it has horses running across the front.
The fit was pretty good on her, she's tall for her age and I made the size 8/9. For future ones, I'm adding about an inch to the bodice length and an inch to the length of the shorts.
The challenge she gave me for her next one: she wanted pockets!
I can do this, easy peasy! All I needed was a shorts/pants pattern that has pockets. For mine, I used Simplicity 1625. This pattern uses a single piece pocket instead of two separate pieces, like I've seen in many PDF patterns. I prefer the single piece pocket.
I took the pocket piece and cut out the pocket curve from my romper front short pattern piece. Then I made a new pattern piece for the fold over pocket, since the Simplicity pattern has a slight curve to the hip. I kept the overall size of the pocket the same, just made the outer edges of the pocket piece straight instead of curved.
To insert my pocket, I lined up the shorts front to the pocket piece, right sides together. I used a 1/4" seam allowance for my seam. Make sure you clip the curve before turning to press. I topstitched along the curved edge after pressing.
Next, to make the pocket, I folded the pocket piece so that the edge lined up with the side seam of the shorts and pressed in place. Then I ran the bottom of the pocket through the serger. I basted the pocket edges the side seam and top of the shorts front to make the rest of the construction easier. (I forgot to take a picture of my basting. Oops!)
After adding the pockets to the shorts, I followed along with the remaining instructions on The Purl Bee.
This romper is becoming a staple in my summer sewing collection! Bitty Bee love the style and with the elastic in the bodice, she is able to get it on and off without untying the straps. That's a definite win for me!
~*~Princess Bee~*~
No comments:
Post a Comment