Thursday 29 August 2013

The Ruby Romper



My mum was always a magical seamstress. I have fond memories of choosing beautiful fabrics from her towering piles, peering at retro patterns sporting gangly, teen models and digging through boxes and boxes of mismatched buttons. She would somehow spin it all into glorious outfits for my sister and I, just like magic.




It's an amazing feeling to create for your kids and I've been itching to make terribly girly things for my baby. So this weekend I raided mum's collection and found Kwik Sew's Sewing for Baby book.

It has a stack of different items to make for your little one and includes all the master patterns for babies 0-18 months. Hells Yeah!! The book is easy to follow and has plenty of pictures as you go. The language is a little dated and kind of hilarious but the book is totally worthwhile. If you happen upon one, snap it up, you won't regret it.


Spring has sprung early in Australia so I thought I would choose some light, fresh and airy fabrics and make Ruby a pair of little romper overalls.

I drafted the pattern from the master using size large (6-12 months) but I didn't like that the pattern had a centre front seam down the bib of the overalls. My sister, Max of Max California, made quick work of that and drafted me a new bib.

I used a gorgeous lilac broadcloth, twas leftover bridesmaid dress material from my wedding (I will definitely blog about that later), and a matching floral print cotton as lining.




Then I traced a heart pocket for the front of the bib and embellished the bottom with white ric rac.




The overalls went together without too much fuss and I finished them in about 3-4 hours all up. I used elastic to cinch in the romper at the legs and across the back for a snug fit.






Then came the buttons. There were no nice plain buttons so Max showed me how to make some using Kat from Sew Chibi's polymer clay button tutorial you can find it here.

The clay colour was the exact match to my fabric (WINNING) and I made some gorgeous buttons. But then the sewing machine packed it in and neither the automatic nor manual buttonhole would work. And stuff zigzagging your own buttonhole. Ain't noBetty got time for that! So I used some lilac snaps instead, which I think will be far more user-friendly anyway.



Max used the same pattern and made her little girl a pair of overalls. Jump on over to her blog here ^_^ to read about how she gave this pattern an entirely different look.




We had so much fun making different versions of this pattern that we thought we'd make it a regular thing. So stay tuned for future installments of SEW and TELL by Max and Betty. Catchy isn't it, the title was very nearly PIMP THIS PATTERN. Oh gosh!



And now the BABY SPAM!!








16 comments:

  1. Just gorgeous! I especially love the ric rac heart.
    I'll be keeping an eye out for that book on my oppy adventures now.
    Always great to discover another qld based seamstress/ blogger! xo

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    1. Thanks Cassandra its funny how things come back into fashion again huh. I'll be raiding my local op shop for more stuff too haha :)

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  2. She is soooo cute! We all love baby spam :) Great job on the romper x

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  3. She's so cute Betty! I love the heart pocket. I'm going to add one to the next pair I make Ed

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  4. two of the cutest girls the world will ever know!!! and pimp this pattern LOL

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  5. You both went for my two favourite colours! I just love those 2 cuties!

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    1. The colours worked out well didn't they :) yaaaay

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  6. I love your blog Betty. And that little model is just gorgeous! You did an excellent job on the romper. Well done!

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  7. This is so cute! Your gorgeous baby girl makes me want another! Love the romper too. Great job!

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    1. When I look at this I want another too haha!

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  8. Erm we need to do this again. Sew & Tell!

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