Thursday, August 16, 2018

DIY Zombie Romper with Pockets


     I still can't believe I made this!  I've only made clothes from a pattern once before and those were pajama pants, which were much simpler.  I even managed to modify the pattern to use hook and eye closures instead of buttons without messing anything up!
     Okay, so maybe I'm overly excited about this, but what's not to love?  Zombie fabric, full size pockets that can comfortably hold my phone and its backup battery - it's like the romper of my dreams.
     Since I did use a pattern for this, in this blog post I'm only going to focus on adding the hook and eye closures, since I deviated from the pattern in adding those.  I know the directions on the pattern can be a bit confusing if you're new to sewing, though, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask me.  I'm no sewing expert, but I'll try my best to answer any questions.

Materials:

*2.5 to 3 yds Beauty with Brains fabric
*Simplicity Kwik Sew romper pattern
*Sewing machine or needle and thread (I used a needle and thread, but it took me five days to make this, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend if you have access to a sewing machine)
*0.75 yds fusible interface
*0.25 yds non-fusible interface
*Hook and eye closures
*All purpose adhesive
*Iron
*Metallic marker

Directions:

*Follow View A steps 1-14 of the pattern.

*Measure half an inch from the top of the right side (when wearing) bodice piece and place a dot at that location.

*Measure the distance between this spot and the waist.  Divide by 6 and mark out the remaining 5 places.  I used 2" increments for the XS pattern, but if you're making a different size you may need different increments.


*Sew eye closures onto each of these spots.  You'll have two layers of fabric here and you only want to see through the layer that will be sitting against your skin so the stitches won't show.

*I'm not sure if this is the best way to attach the hook closures, but here's what I did.  Initially I had marked the locations for the hooks on the left side in the same way I did for the eyes on the right.  However, I kept worrying that things wouldn't line up, so I looped the hooks through the eyes and marked out where the hook closures rested on the left side.


*Sew on the hook closures.

*Glue together the two layers of fabric using all purpose adhesive or fabric glue.

*Continue to step 16.

Some observations:

*I'm not sure how this works with the other sizes, but with the XS at least, the hip measurement is the most restrictive.  My natural waist is about half an inch larger than the largest size of the XS, while my hips are pretty much exactly the largest size that should fit into the XS.  The waist measurement turned out not to be an issue because the romper doesn't come all the way in to my waist (this may not be true for larger sizes), but because your hips have to fit through the place where the bodice meets the shorts, I can barely get my hips through.  I have to very carefully wiggle into the romper (although it's super comfy once it's on).  If you're between sizes in the hip measurement, you may want to consider going for the larger size.  If you're making the XS and your waist is a tad larger than the size range, it probably won't make a difference.

*The pockets are enormous.  For everyone who has been begging the fashion industry to give us clothes with real pockets, this is the romper for you.

*The pattern calls for less fabric than the 2.5-3 yds I recommend, but that's because they are assuming you're not using patterned fabric.  If you want to have specific zombies on the different parts of the romper, I would recommend getting more fabric.

No comments:

Post a Comment