A Couple of Craft Addicts: Ruffle Romper from Melissa @ Melly Sews

Hi A Couple of Craft Addicts readers!

I'm Melissa,

and I blog over at Melly Sews.

I'm also the author of Blank Slate Basics,

My latest endeavor is Blank Slate Patterns,

where I sell PDF sewing patterns that are designed to give you a "blank-slate" so you can skip the pattern-making and go right into expressing your creativity through fabric choice and embellishments.

I'm also mom to two boys and wife to a football coach (and a former theatre teacher myself)

Sometimes I get to sew for girls, mostly for my adorable niece, who is modeling this outfit. She's a little peanut, so this romper is 6-9 month size and today I'm going to show you how I made it.

To start, I used the Ruffled Bloomers pattern for the bottom. If you haven't made these before, you're going to want to take a look at that tutorial. If you have and you just want to get the pattern, you can download that HERE. (Please note: my patterns are licensed for personal use only. By downloading you are agreeing to this license. You may not use this pattern to make items to sell or redistribute it by any means. Thanks.)

You'll also need the pattern for the top of the romper, which you can get HERE. (Again, please note: my patterns are licensed for personal use only. By downloading you are agreeing to this license. You may not use this pattern to make items to sell or redistribute it by any means. Thanks.)

I used 1/2 yd of fabric for this whole outfit, plus some 3/8 inch elastic.

This outfit is for size 6-9 months, and the original ruffled bloomers were only size 3-6 months. However, all I did to size up was add 1/8" to the side seams of the bloomers. Easy peasy.

Cut out the pieces according to the bloomer tutorial and the instructions on the romper pattern. Use all extra fabric to create ruffles for the bloomers. I did 4 rows instead of 3 like the original bloomers, and finished them with a rolled hem instead of making tubes to ruffle. That way I maximized my fabric usage.

Sew the ruffles onto the bloomer back, and sew up the side seams of the bloomers, then set them aside.

For the romper top, sew the two back pieces right sides together around almost all 4 edges, leaving a hole to turn right side out. Clip the corners.

Turn right side out and press, pressing the raw edges in, and topstitch all around, closing the raw edges (my raw edges aren't pressed yet in the picture below).

Sew the straps into tubes right sides together, matching the long edges. Turn them right side out and press so that the seam is on the center back. On one end of each tube, turn the raw edges to the inside 1/4", press and stitch closed.

Sandwich the raw edge of each strap between the top edges of the two front pieces, with right sides of the fronts together. Stitch as you did for the back piece, clip corners, turn right side out and press.

Pick the bloomers back up. Mark a line 7/8" down from the top raw edge all the way around the bloomers. In the picture below, my line is just above the top ruffle.

Turn the bloomers inside out. Press the top raw edge toward the inside 1/8".

Turn bloomers right side out again. Sew a basting stitch right on top of the line you marked on the top edge. Use that basting stitch to gather the bloomers to the same width as the front of the romper.

Pin the bottom edge of the front of the romper just over the basting/gathering stitch line.

Pin the back of the romper the same way - EXCEPT that the back romper piece will overlap the front romper piece at the side seams. My back piece is on the right in the picture below, and you can see it overlapping the romper front.

Sew around the top of the bloomers, right on top of the basting/gathering stitching.

Turn the romper front/back pieces up and press.

Turn the romper inside out, and pin the folded edge of the bloomer down to form an elastic casing. Stitch casing in place, leaving an opening to put in elastic. Be careful as you stitch over the gathered fabric and go slowly so that you catch all of it in the stitching.