Made by a Fabricista: Mommy and Me Outfits for Summer

Hi everyone! I'm back with another Fabric Mart Make! In my last post, I shared a wardrobe of coordinating outfits for my two girls. This time, I thought I should do a me-sew - but I couldn't help myself - I whipped up matching outfits for my girls as well!

I was really drawn to this purple and green floral blouse weight rayon crepe, and since I've always wanted to try True/Bias Patterns, I landed on the Roscoe Dress for this project.

What I didn't realize until after I received the pattern, is that Roscoe is drafted for a C cup - I am barely an A cup. My bust fit into their smallest pattern size, and after making a straight muslin of just that size, and feeling completely overwhelmed by fabric, I knew I would have to do some modifications.

The easiest way to make the adjustment is to remove excess fabric from the center front and center back of each pattern piece. I removed 1/2" from both templates (in retrospect, I could have removed an inch). I also shortened the sleeves - I took took 3" off, though I think I could have done about 6". I didn't make adjustments to the sleeve bands. If you are shortening your sleeves, I suggest measuring the part of your arm where you want that sleeve band to sit, as I am finding it a little tight above my elbow. Another fit adjustment I made was with the slit in the center front, which I shortened by 1". Lastly, I lengthened the bodice by 1/2" and used the mini length skirt pieces.

I found Roscoe fairly easy to sew, and the instructions were clear. I felt that the fabric requirements are overly generous, with almost an entire yard leftover from View B.

Since I had so much extra fabric (I had already bought an extra yard to make a blouse for my eldest), I decided to make a dress for my youngest as well. For both girls, I used the Peony Patterns Hyacinth Pattern. This is a cute dress with sailor tie, puff sleeves or sleeveless, has a lined bodice, and a button down front. I made the sleeveless version for my youngest and then made some mods to create a blouse for my eldest!

To create the blouse, I lengthened the pattern by 8 inches (I compared the finished measurements to another shirt pattern in her size), and flared the hemline by about a half inch on each side (in hindsight, an inch or two would have been better). I also didn't want to use a full lining on the blouse, so I created a facing and separate placket instead.

I did find this fabric hard to work with on these smaller scale, more fiddly projects. I'm not super experienced with sewing lightweight shifty fabrics, and found it was hard to keep this fabric on grain. This wasn't such a big deal with the billowy Roscoe, but particularly with the placket and collar pieces of the girls' dresses, I found these ultimately ended up cut off grain so the collar doesn't look too great close up!

Finally, I wanted to make a pair of linen shorts for my eldest. Fabric Mart have such a great selection of linens, and I jumped on some oatmeal mid-weight woven. I had a hard time deciding which pattern to use for this one! I was wavering between two options before looking at my notes from when I first planned out these sews, only to realize I had originally intended to go with a third option: the Limone Lounge Set shorts from Jennuine Design.

Decision made, I whipped up these shorts in the Bermuda length. I really like this pattern - it comes in multiple shorts and pants lengths, and has skirt options too. The waistband has options for a paper bag waist, and drawstring cord in addition to elastic. The big pockets are really cute and a hit with my 9 year old! I did decide to size up with these - I had made them once during testing and while they fit mostly perfectly, they were a little tight in the butt. I *could* have just altered the rise, but laziness kicked in and sizing up just seemed easier. My daughter really loves them though, so that's always a win in my book!

Thanks for reading today! Happy sewing!