Barefoot romper release by Twig and Tale

During the weekend, Twig and Tale* released the Barefoot romper* and I made two very different versions with this super versatile romper pattern. Due to the big size range and the versatility in straps, fronts, pockets leg length and finishing you can easily customize to your and your kid's taste. I sewed a super sweet one for my youngest daughter (in drapy rayon) and a cool one for my son (in summer sweat).

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Tijdens het weekend lanceerde Twig and Tale* de Barefoot romper* en ik naaide twee zeer verschillende versies met het patroon. Door alle verschillende opties voor de bandjes, zakken, voorkant, lengte van de pijpen en afwerking van de pijpen kan je de romper helemaal op de smaak van je kind (en jezelf) aan laten sluiten. Zo naaide ik een zeer zoete versie voor mijn jongste dochter (uit viscose) en een stoere versie voor de zoon (uit summer sweat).

I really like the fit of the romper. The elastic in the back gives the romper the perfect combination of fitted clothes with freedom of movement. Every kid has a slightly different build and preference how fitted he or she likes to wear his or her clothes. I therefore advice to fit the back elastic on one side, try the romper on, and than determine how tight you want the elastic. Both for my son and daughter, I left in a bit of extra elastic after sewing the second side down. This way you can rather easily make the garment a bit wider if they grow.

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Ik ben erg fan van hoe de romper zit. Het elastiek op de rug geeft een ideale combi van aansluitend, maar toch veel bewegingsvrijheid. Elk kind is net iets anders gebouwd en de één wil graag aansluitend en de ander niet. Ik raad daarom aan om deze romper tijdens het naaien even aan te passen. Nadat je één zijde van het rugelastiek vast naait kan je makkelijk de optimale engte van het elastiek bepalen. In mijn geval trok ik heb beide keren iets strakker aan, maar liet ik het langere elastiek wel zitten. Dat is makkelijk los getornd in de toekomst en iets verlengt.

I did the same "possibility for growth" trick on the straps of my daughter. I fixed the shoulder strap on side in the bodice and left a small hole for the other (I just stopped sewing before I reached that strap. I fitted it on her and than sewed it in place, leaving in a longer tail. The longer tail is between the bodice and the lining, so not bothering her at all, but this does give me the possibility to lengthen the straps rather easily. I only have to take out a one centimeter long piece of stitching and stitch it back.

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In de versie van mijn dochter ging ik ook voor een groei optie in het bandje. Ik naaide het bandje aan één zijde in het lijfje, maar stikte de andere zijde er niet in vast (ik stopte net aan beide kanten van het bandje met naaien zodat ik hem door een smal gaatje kon trekken). Vervolgens bepaalde ik de optimale lengte en stikte hem aan de binnenzijde vast. Het staartje liet ik hangen, dat zit toch tussen voering en buitenstof. Als ze iets groeit dan hoef ik maar 1 centimeter stiksel los te halen en weer vast te zetten.

For my son I went in a different direction. I went with a bit oversized version. I saw that on some other testers and loved the look. This way he will actually be able to grow into it. Okay, so after a while it is no longer oversized, but I think he will still look cool. To avoid the straps to overstretch (not a problem with woven straps), I simply added a wide elastic inside the straps. This way they can stretch, but they will also recover well. His sister, who is about 10 centimeter taller, still fitted comfortably in the romper and ordered one for herself.

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Bij mijn zoon ging ik voor een andere tactiek. Ik maakte voor hem een oversized versie. Ik zag die bij de testers voorbij komen en vond dat er erg leuk uitzien. Okay, als hij groet dan gaat het oversized ervan af, maar ik verwacht dat deze gewoon toch cool blijft. Ik deed een brede elastiek in de banden van mijn zoon om te voorkomen dat ze door gaan hangen. Bij geweven stoffen is dat niet nodig, maar bij rekbare stoffen wel aan te raden. Mijn 10 centimeter grotere dochter past zo ook nog steeds in de romper, en ze bestelde alvast en eigen versie.

There are several pocket options in this pattern. I made side seam pockets for my daughter and a kangeroo pocket for my son. There are even more pockets in the pattern and I have also seen people combine them! Both versions now are now rather long legged, but when they grow (and by themselves become shorter), I could also adjust them to true shorts.

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Er zijn dus verscheidene zakopties. Ik maakte voor mijn dochter zijnaadzakken en voor mijn zoon een kangeroozak. Er zijn echter nog meer zakopties. Ik zag al iemand die ook verschillende opties combineerde wat echt een super cool resultaat gaf.Ik ging nu bij beide voor lange pijpen, maar als de kids groeien zullen die van zelf korter worden, dan kan ik ook echter de pijpen nog eens aanpassen naar een echte korte broek versie.

I used the left over of the one meter See You at Six pink rayon from making this coat for my daughter's romper. The gathered front option is perfect for some color blocking. The scrap of Soft Cactus gives the romper a nice extra detail. The brown summer sweat for my son's version was bought at the Stoffenmadam and was already used in this jacket.

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Ik gebruikte de andere helft van de See you at Six viscose als waar ik haar jas mee voerde. De gerimpelde voorkant versie van het patroon leent zich heel goed voor een kleine color blocking op de voorkant. Een restje Soft cactus paste er perfect bij. De bruine soft summer sweat komt van de stoffenmadam en verwerkte ik hierin ook reeds.

Due to my sewing weekend, I am rather late in posting about these rompers, but the pattern* is still on sale with a 25% discount with the code "Barefoot1" in the Twig and Tale shop. The sale runs out in 24 hours though.

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Door mijn naaiweekend ben ik wat laat met posten over de romper. Maar het patroon* is vandaag nog met 25% korting te verkrijgen met de code "Barefoot" in de Twig and Tale webshop.

Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian). If you buy anything through my affiliate links (*), I get a small commission (the price stays the same for you), I am very grateful for everything that feeds my fabric addiction.

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Ik vind het altijd super leuk om reacties te lezen om mijn creaties. In deze post zitten enkele affiliate linken, aangeven met een *. Mocht je het patroon aankopen doordat je in de shop kwam via een link van mij, dan krijg ik een kleine commissie. Het patroon wordt niet duurder voor jou, maar mijn stoffenkast is er wel heel blij mee.

Release of Zoo collection and week one of Project Run and Play

I am a Strategic Management scholar, so I am all for synergy. Today, Flosstyle is releasing their newest pattern, the Zoo Collection and today is the first day of Project Run and Play season 2016. Week one's theme of PRP is "all knits" and one of the styles of the Zoo Collection is a knit romper, I did not have to do any math to see that one equaled the other.

 The Zoo collection is a mix and match collection for babies and toddlers to make 17 different options and there are some extra modifications (and a doll pattern), so this pattern means a lot of play time (for both the sewist and the wearer). You can make dresses with different types of sleeves, shirts and rompers, it is too much to list all the options here, but check out this picture on their Facebook page to see a great overview they have very pretty and insightful figure.

 The first time I came across Flossstyle is when they released their Jukebox collection. Their patterns are great  for both beginners and more advanced. The beginners will enjoy all relatively straight forward base options in the pattern. The more advanced will love the modifications. For me it is like a short class in creativity, seeing all the options makes me very excited. Even if I did not sew up a full dress from the Jukebox collection (yet) I love the ideas that I got from it.

Last week, she referred to me in a blogpost as "Misses I-can't-help-herself" and it is so true, I managed to hack the romper sleeves during testing... I did ask permission beforehand though. One of the options, the Giraffe, has a shoulder closing. I wanted to make a reversible knit romper with shoulder closing, but I also wanted sleeves.

Based on the existing sleeve I cut tulip like sleeves that slightly overlap at the top (due to the overlapping shoulders) and have no seam under the arm. I am satisfied with the look, but if I would do it again, I would make the sleeves a bit narrower, they look more like a butterfly than a tulip. I also had to slightly adjust the leg hem, because the flower fabric was not high enough to cut a full romper.

I believe all these fabrics are from Lillestoff, Joyfits is my standard source of Lillestoff fabrics. The front of the orange/brown side is split because I was out of fabric. I made four garments with the pattern and I made my son a basic shirt (more about the others later this week). The pattern officially has a newborn- 4years range, but my kids are skinny, so with a bit of extra length I made a quick shirt for my six year old.

So, Project Run and Play is back in its old format, yeh! In the fall of 2014 the last old format was organised, and that was actually my first. When I linked up my first outfit in the first week I got my first comment ever! That post was the first one to got 50 views in a week, Project Run and Play therefore has a special place in my heart. This week's theme was easy peasy for me, I love knits and they are my prefered fabric.

The Zoo Collection is on release sale until Saturday, it is 25% off. The pricing is in Australian dollar so the discount would make the pattern around €6.70 excluding taxes. You can buy your copy here no code required.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).  

Lillestoff contest output part 2: Baby romper

Another efficient post, this time I used some leftover Lillestoff fabric (the promised skirt and shirt are already sewn but will be posted about later) to participate in the Project's Run and play May contest. This time we got a T-shirt pattern which I turned into a romper for my youngest. I used the black/white striped Lillestoff fabric to make my own chevron fabric. All the lines match up in the middle (both front and back) and on the sides. The Lillestoff jersey is not slippery and is perfect to match up strips like this.

I used the smallest size of the pattern but still had to take a bit from the middle (knits require smaller sized patterns than woven fabrics) and cut the arm holes less deep. I made the sleeves more fluttery by finishing the end with a rolled hem and with my differential transport on 0.7. This way the fabric is actually stretched which creates a nice lattice effect. Honoring my own nationality, I cut the fabric that way that the Dutch girl is in the centre on the front.

I used shirring elastic to make the cinch waist of the original pattern. I wanted to try if jersey would be light enough to be shirred and it worked out great. Because of the cinch waist I could make a size slightly bigger than she normally wears without the crotch hanging down to low. This way she will be able to wear it the whole summer (if it actually ever becomes warm enough to wear it, weather is horrible so inside pictures it is).

I added small cuffs at the bottom of the leg. I paid extra attention to the fabric to create al line of faces. To finish the crotch I cut between the faces to create a relatively one colored piece. I again used my favorite flower kam snaps, black ones this time, for closure.

When my middle daughter saw me cutting the sun fabric she wanted some herself. I combined it with one of the matching knits to make her a dress. I again used the free penny play suit pattern, but you could also use the free Izzy pattern as an alternative. This time I didn't gather the fabric under the yoke and added another contrasting band at the bottom so I didn't have to hem. The dress is therefore slightly different than the previous two (but of course has pockets) but still I felt it didn't deserve a hole post. This descision was also strongly influenced by th fact that my middle daughter was not in the mood for pictures.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).