Skirted Pillowcase Romper Tutorial

As you all know, we have been working with Fabric.com creating free patterns that can be found on their website. May's free pattern was Hannah's Pillowcase Bubble Romper.

 It seems to be a huge hit! If you've been a fan of ours for awhile now you probably saw some pics of a skirted pillowcase bubble romper that we were going to come out with. Genius, right? We gladly offered up our pillowcase bubble romper pattern to fabric.com though and it just didn't feel right adding a skirt and charging people for it as a new pattern. Instead, we've decided to offer the skirt addition as a Free Tutorial Tuesday for all our fans!

So surprisingly, this is a really simple addition! It shouldn't take too long to do at all! Follow the directions below and we'll have your daughter spinning around in her pillowcase romper in no time!

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Materials Needed:

• Fabric
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Ruler 
• Pins
• Thread
• Optional Elastic Thread (we recommend Stretch-Rite brand--and no, they still aren't paying us for all this promoting we're doing for them ::hint, hint::)

 Size of Skirts to Cut:
Cut 4 (2 for each skirt)
Length x Width

12-18 mos.-2T: 7" x 27"

3T-4T: 8" x 31"

5T-6: 9" x 35"
*If using a serger subtract 1" from the length of the skirts.

Step 1: Take the two pieces for the top skirt and match them up right sides of fabric together. Sew down both of the short sides. We should now have one continuous loop. Repeat with the second skirt.

   
Step 2: Roll hem the top and bottom of both skirts. If you don't have a serger, you will fold the fabric back 1/4" sew, and fold it back an additional 1/4" and sew. This is how you do a rolled hem with a sewing machine.




  Step 3: Sew a gathering stitch 1/4" down from the top of both of the skirts. To sew a gathering stitch move your stitch length to the longest length on your machine and sew a straight stitch making sure not to backstitch at the beginning or end.

Step 4: Now we will mark where the skirts will go. Measure up from the center of the crotch 7" for the 12mos-2T, 8" for the 3T-4T, and 9" for the 5T-6. Be sure to mark a line across on the front and back of the body. Once that line is determined, draw a second line 2" below that one. 

Step 5: Gather the skirts so that they are the width of the body of the romper. Pin them onto the lines we drew in Step 4, so the gathering stitches are directly on top of the lines.




Step 6: Sew the skirts on directly next to the gathering stitches. Don't forget to backstitch! Since the romper is a little baggier you may wish to shirr the skirts on (if you are familiar with shirring). In this case you will sew it on exactly as described, however, 1/4" down you will sew another line so it shirrs a little and makes it a little more fitted.

Step 7: Once the skirts are sewn on, remove the gathering stitches so they are no longer visible on the skirts.

So that's it! 7 simple steps transform your regular pillowcase romper to a girly, over-the-top, skirted romper! 

We hope you love this addition as much as we do! You can find the Hannah's Pillowcase Bubble Romper on Fabric.com! For more of our patterns, check out our website at CreateKidsCouture.com

Happy Sewing!
Shannon and Tiffany