Finished Project: Green Bee Design & Patterns - Sally Romper

Toddler time!

Eva got to "test drive" her new romper out at the playground the other day. Photographing my new projects for her at a playground is certainly much more interesting (and better lit) than trying to photograph them in our backyard; however, trying to photograph a toddler at a playground is like trying to hold jello in a sieve, when it comes to getting her to sit still and smile for mommy's phone.

In any case, my latest finished project is a winner, I think. The pattern I used is the Green Bee Designs & Pattern Sally Romper (and Dress):

Green Bee Sally Romper

 Here's a flat view of the romper, not obscured by playground equipment:

Sally Romper - flat

I'm not particularly familiar with the pattern company, Green Bee Designs, but I saw this pattern with its adorable envelope photo and fell in love with it when I was browsing Drygood Design back in July. I loved that the pattern included both a romper and a dress option. Eva is prone to sometimes dropping to a downward-facing dog position at a moment's notice and declaring "Upside-down time!", so I like to dress her either in rompers or in dresses with some sort of shorts or leggings underneath. More specifically, I'm always a sucker for a cute, original romper pattern.

Green Bee Sally line drawing

Those cuffed shorts and pockets are too cute, aren't they?

As far as sizing goes, according to the size chart, Eva would be at the upper end of the 2T size for height, but at the lower end of the 2T for girth. Proportionately, she has a long torso, as well. I opted to trace a 3T in height and a 2T in width for her. I'm really glad that I went with the 3T in height; the 2T would have been pushing things on her torso length. This pattern runs true to size for the measurement chart.

Pattern instructions are on the sparse side. This wasn't an issue for me, but I could see it being intimidating for a beginner.  I like that they direct you to an almost-entirely clean-finished garment. However, there were times that I disagreed with the directed techniques to produce a good result. For example, you could use the "burrito technique" on the bodice yokes/front/back to get a clean-finished yoke, but the directions have you ironing up your seam allowance and top-stitching. I also did my button holes and buttons as soon as I had the main bodice completed so that I didn't have to deal with trying to stitch buttonholes with the romper shorts attached.

Here's a back view:

Green Bee Sally Romper - back view

The fabric I used is a Michael Miller quilting cotton from the "Anchors Aweigh" line. It has coral-colored whales on a navy blue background. I purchased this fabric from Drygood Design when I purchased the pattern.

Another toddler picture

Would I make this pattern again? Absolutely, although since our weather will likely start to cool soon, I'll be putting it away until the spring, when I'll likely need to trace off the next size up for Eva. I'd like to try the dress view, too.

I looked on Green Bee's web site, and they have several other really cute patterns for girls that I might give a try at some point. (I'm particularly eyeing that shirt dress pattern.) They have some cute women's patterns, too, but I'm more hesitant to try those because their women's sizes stop at an XL that I'd have to grade up quite a bit.

Projects in progress (September 2014)

Well, I was hoping to have a new "finished project" to blog about in my first "real content" post of the week. However, while I do have a new finished project (as of last Friday), I do not have photographs of the recipient (my daughter) wearing said project yet, thanks to the brief preview of fall weather we've had this week in Seattle. Instead, I'll give a quick update on what I've been working on and hope to have finished pretty soon.

Finished

To start, last week, I sewed up this adorable romper, which I made using the Green Bee Patterns Sally Romper and Dress pattern:

Green Bee Patterns Sally Romper

I wasn't at all familiar with the Green Bee pattern company, but I fell in love with the envelope picture for this when I was browsing Drygood Design last month. I love how this turned out, but I'll talk more about the pattern when I have photos of Eva actually modeling it and do my full write-up. (She's only gotten to wear it for about 2 hours so far, due to our cool weather streak.)

In-progress

I feel like I'm in limbo, weather-wise right now. One day, we'll have a high of 60 degrees F. Four days later, we'll have a high of 85 F. My sewjo for making more summer dresses is pretty much gone at the moment, but on the other hand, we're having too much warm weather for me to really want to commit to fall sewing with, say, a jacket project. What's a sewist to do?

How about sew a casual-but-funky knit top with elbow-length sleeves, which can either be worn alone or layered under something when the weather cools? I dug out my several-years-old-but-never-sewn HotPatterns Triple Torque Top pattern. The pattern actually contains three different top patterns with different draping details in front. I chose this particular view because it reminded me of that BurdaStyle pattern with the asymmetrical drape that everyone was sewing last winter. I liked everyone else's versions of that top, but it only went up to a Burda size 44, and I was intimidated by the thought of grading up/adjusting those odd shaped pattern pieces. While the HotPatterns version as a few notable differences from the Burda version, the spirit of the two tops is similar. I hope to finish mine up in the next couple of days:

HP Torque Top (in progress)

Just Started

As I think I've posted before, I sew for 30 minutes before everyone else gets up every weekday morning. On weekends, I grab what sewing time I can, sometimes accompanied by my 2-year-old "helper", depending on what my husband needs to get done around the house/yard. What that means is that I can't count on any "floor time" to tape together PDF patterns or cut fabric on weekends, since both of those activities attract my daughter far worse than all four of our cats combined. I have learned that in order to be most efficient with the sewing time that I have, I need to do any pattern taping/tracing and fabric cutting during my weekday morning sessions. Even though I am loathe to leave something as a UFO (other than garments that are pretty much destined to be wadders), this means that sometimes I have to start on the prep stage of a pattern before my last project is finished.

With that in mind, I have taped together the PDF pattern and prewashed fabric for my next project--the Peek-a-Boo Patterns Poppy Polo Dress:

Peek-a-Boo Patterns Poppy Dress

Over the summer, Eva grew. She was on the border of a size 18M/2T at the beginning of the summer, and now her RTW 2T clothes are too short. Until I get her fall wardrobe (size 3T!) built up a bit, I will be alternating selfish sewing projects with selfless sewing for her. Expect to see many toddler projects from me over the next few months.

After finishing these projects, I'm not sure what I'll tackle. HotPatterns released a "mini-me" version of their essential shift dress pattern, so at the moment, I'm leaning towards making mommy-and-me versions of that dress. Because I'm a dork. But if you read my blog, you already knew that.