Summer Lobster Tinny Romper

Look!  Another Tinny flip!

Souricette 2 is following souricette 1’s lead.  I told her we were going to take pictures of her outfit and she went straight to the rocks and posed.  Plus we did this right after her birthday party.  I expected her to be exhausted and uncooperative but she was great.

It fits pretty well, doesn’t it?  I was expecting it to be way too big.  I made a 3T and souricette 2 fits squarely in a 2T.  I hope it’ll still be big enough next Summer…

I really can’t remember how the idea for this flip came to me.  I wanted a romper with a full bubble shorts type bottom.  At first, I was only going to remove the sleeves, add piping, and switch the skirt for shorts.  And then, I realized I couldn’t do that.  Not unless you want to make going to the bathroom too complicated.  A romper has to have the opening in front.

So here’s what I did.  I don’t have pictures for every step but it shouldn’t be too complicated. I used the poly-cotton embroidered seersucker for the body and red kona cotton for the cuffs, button band, and collar.  And red piping at armholes and waist.  I chose gold buttons to go with the nautical feeling of those lobsters.

Bodice: I cut off 3/8″ from the center back of the bodice to remove the seam allowance and I cut that piece on the fold.  The front pattern piece wasn’t modified but I did NOT cut it on the fold.  I cut out the bodice in the seersucker and in some cream cotton voile I had.  I chose to line the bodice instead of making armhole facings because I was afraid the embroidered lobsters would be scratchy on the inside. For the button bands, I cut two rectangles 2 1/4″ wide and as long as the center of the front pattern piece.  8 15/16″ in this case.  Oh, and I interfaced both pieces with lightweight fusible interfacing.  I also prepared the open collar according to instructions.

Here is the order in which the bodice should be constructed.  Sew the shoulders on both the bodice and the lining.  Baste the collar to the bodice and the piping to the armholes of the bodice.  Sew the bodice and lining together at neck and armholes.  Open, press, sew sides, press.

Here is what I did.  Not recommended.  Sew the bodice and lining shoulders and sides.  Carefully apply piping and baste collar.  Sew bodice and lining together at neck and armholes.  Try to flip over and realize you can’t.  Have a sudden urge to cry but manage to get a grip.  Carefully unpick side seams.  Open, breathe a sigh of relief that you didn’t do any damage, press, resew side seams, press.  Breathe another sigh of relief.

Onto the button band.  Press the button band in half lengthwise,  wrong sides together.  Open it up. Sew one button band to each center front with the 3/8″ seam allowance, just like in the pattern instructions.  The top will extend 3/8″ higher than the center front.  Press open and press the other button band edge to the wrong side by 3/8″.

Like so.

Then, fold it over right sides together and pin at the top.

Like so.  Now, sew along the top there, making sure your seam line matches up with the top edge of the bodice.  Trim the seam allowance and clip the corner.  Turn right side out and press.  Voilà! Button band!  And bodice finished for now.

Onto the bottom.  I used CailaMade’s Summer shorts pattern.  And I modified it.  It already had a 3/8″ seam allowance so that was good.  I started by removing what I didn’t need.  The short pattern has a dip at center front.  I chopped off the top so that it would be straight across.  And then I chopped off enough of the top at the back so that the two pattern pieces would still be the same length at the side seams.

See the line?  I cut that off.

Then, I wanted the shorts to be full and bubble-y.  So I added a 2″ strip to each side.

And there are my pattern pieces.  I also cut out two cuff pieces.  3″ wide by 12″ long.

Sew the shorts up according to the instructions.  Then, sew two rows of gathering stitches at 1/4″ and 1/2″ on the waist.  Gather the whole thing up, matching side seams and sew it up, making sure the button bands are properly overlapped.

For the cuffs, do the same gathering stitches at the leg opening. The cuff pieces are pressed in half lengthwise and opened.  Each one is sewn into a circle and one edge sewn to the leg opening.  Then, fold it to the back, press in the back edge a bit and slipstitch into place.

Finally, I slipstitched the button bands to the bodice lining in the back because they were moving around a bit.  Then, I stitched the buttonholes and sewed on the buttons.  Done!