Sew Ready for Summer: Be Fancy Tank top, Makamoo romper and Ruffle Shorties by Ellie and Mac and the Rova Dress by Jalie
/Today is our final post in the the Sew Ready for Summer Series. Featuring the Be Fancy tank top, the Makamoo romper and Ruffle Shorties by Ellie and Mac as well as the Rova Dress by Jalie, these patterns offer something for almost everyone. We've had so much fun with this series and it motivated us all to get Sew Ready for Summer!!
Be Fancy Tank and Makamoo romper by Ellie and Mac:
All I can say is, it’s about time!!! Finally the sun is out and the heat is turning up. I don’t know about you, but I know I’m sew ready for summer (although I could do without the humidity)!!! What better way to celebrate the warmth than to sew up some fun, funky, fresh clothing? Ever since my littlest was born, I have wanted to make matching outfits for both girls and me. This was the perfect opportunity and best yet: all the patterns came from Ellie and Mac.
I have had my eye on the Be Fancy tank top for awhile so I knew I wanted to sew those up for me and Ruth. The fringe is just so much fun! Of course I wanted to put my own little twist on it. For myself I made mine a little longer and put a contrasting fringe band at that bottom instead of the sides. I just love it and the flow of it is amazing although I will say I was quite surprised that the 3XL in the pattern is comparable to a size 14 in RTW. Just another reason why measurements are more important than printed sizes!! For Ruth’s tank I kept all the aspects of the pattern but I added beads to the side fringe. Let me tell you how fun it is with beading!!! She loves it!
In order to complete Ruth’s outfit she needed shorts to go with it. For that I chose the Ruffle Shorties pattern. Now this pattern, as you can guess by the name, is designed to have ruffles around the legs. Well I wanted to keep in line with the fringe so I changed it up a bit again! I only used two tiers of fringe so I only had to cut one connector strip for each leg in order to make them a little shorter for my shrimp. Then instead of the ruffle strips I cut panels the width of the pant leg with a length of the ruffle measurement plus 1inch to make them a little longer. I sewed them up just as I would have according to the pattern and then cut my fringe out of the panels!! To add some pizzazz I then added a little design by adding a bead and knotting to the top layer of fringe. So much fun!
Last but not least it was time to make something for Abi. I love rompers on babies so knew I wanted to go that route. I had to keep in theme with the fringe though. Scrolling through the Ellie and Mac patterns I came across the Little for Awhile (the original Ellie and Mac name) Makamoo Romper. I knew I could use this as a base for the romper for Abi. The construction of the romper is a little different as you make your pattern pieces out of a rectangle and then create leg holes and then front and back pieces from that. Now because I wanted to sandwich the fringe into the actual bodice I cut my rectangle a size bigger to accommodate for the seam allowance. This way when I marked the ruffle lines as the pattern calls for, I could just cut there and insert my fringe panels (width of the bodice with length of ruffles), sew, and topstitch. The last thing I changed was adding bands to the legs instead of elastic. I love it although I think I would make them a little less thick next time!
I could not be more thrilled than to have a matching outfits for me and my girls. It is just so much fun! The geometric fabric and solids from Purple Seamstress Fabrics worked perfect for these patterns and they turned out better than I imagined. Plus I got to be creative and put my own spin on these patterns which I just love doing! These were all pretty fast sews which is even better still! Summer sewing is fun and helps get those creative juices flowing doesn't it??
Until next time!
Rebekah from Rebekah Sews
Rova dress by Jalie:
Hello! Sarah here from Sewing with Sarah!
It’s been a looonng winter, and I’m SEW ready for summer! Warmer days usually mean a standard #momiform of shorts and tank tops, but I’ve been itching to expand my horizons and try out some new styles this season. Browsing the Jalie catalog, I couldn’t resist the Rova Dress- it looked casual yet polished, comfortable but not too comfortable, if you know what I mean!
The Rova comes in a huge range of sizes, from 2-22, and includes brief but thorough instructions with quality finishing techniques. I was a little nervous about working with a woven fabric- most of my sewing is done with knits, and this was a little out of my comfort zone. I’m so glad I took the risk though, as I absolutely LOVE my new dress!
The fit was spot on for me (except for the height- more on that in a minute) and the huge hidden kangaroo pocket can hold anything my kids beg me to carry for them!
My only issue was the bodice length- my bodice came out too long at first and needed adjustments, despite sewing my measured size. I would have preferred to have a height listed on the pattern for each size, rather than the unusual “girth” measurement they provide. I also needed to remove some length from the waist elastic, but that was an easy fix.
Overall, I love the finished garment- its exactly what I was envisioning in a casual summer dress, and I’m quite proud of the clean inner finish as well. I’ll certainly be making more of these throughout the summer and into fall!
Today Nicole reviews a 90's inspired dress by Ellie and Mac. The I love the 90's dress features two sleeve and two bodice/back options and is a quick sew.