It is nice to sew something again. I haven't been at it properly for years now and I've missed it. Life just gets in the way sometimes, but this was requested for an upcoming birthday, so how could I refuse to make time for that?
I was searching my stash for something summery and these two fabrics, although not my particular style, just make me so happy! The yellow is polycotton left over from my Eurovision Circle Skirt. A circle skirt of that size leaves a lot of leftovers, and this pattern didn't really require much fabric anyway.
For the pattern, I used the bodice from the Oliver & S Popover Sundress and combined it with bottoms drafted from the American Girl Molly Pyjamas.
You can see from these layouts how I altered the two patterns to be suitable for a playsuit. For the bodice, I didn't really measure the length, I just decided to pick the length at a fitting. The dress can only be put on the doll over their head, and this doesn't work for a playsuit, so I added width at the top of the bodice so that the suit can be pulled up from the shorts. You can see that I just drew a straight line up from my side seam, and then cut the armholes at the normal size. I cut a piece of elastic the same length as the "proper" bodice neckline and used this to gather the neckline to fit. The finished result is a tiny bit too voluminous, but it is a style that is in fashion, so we're ok.
For the shorts, I added about an inch to the top of the waistband for a casing, and flared out the side seams on the legs so that I could make cuffs. I left loads of length for this purpose. The final shorts have only about a 1.5cm inseam.
I tried the shorts and bodice on the doll, and measured where I wanted the waist elastic to sit. Then, made a casing, attached the bias binding and made the cuffs.
I think this playsuit would also look cute, and totally different, with the two fabrics reversed. Stand by!
Costs:
Fabric: stash
Pattern: free
Elastic, x2: stash
Thread: gift
Total: £0
