James’ Blessing Romper

It seems with work, school, kids, other projects, and lack of sleep I can only get a little bit done each day. Such is life with a newborn, I guess. Knowing this was the situation, I started working on James’ Blessing Romper in mid-February. what should only have taken a few hours (really that’s all it actually took) had to be spread out over many weeks. Here’s how it went:

The Process: 
(not every day … some days I didn’t get a chance to work on this at all)
Day 1 – Buy fabric, thread, buttons and tatting (wonder if the tatting is too girly…)
Day 2 – Prewash
Day 3 – Iron
Day 4 – Cut out front bodice and sew tucks. Press.
Days 5-8 – Sew on tatted lace and embroidered feather stitches. (is it too girly?)
And so on…you get the idea.

And then, two weeks before his blessing, my machine broke! The timing was completely off and it took a whole week to fix!!!

But I did finish it! I think it turned out really great, if a bit big.

Pattern Description:
Boy’s Blessing Romper. i used the pattern from Sew Beautiful Magazine Issue 71, with some original design variations from Sew Beautiful Magazine Issue 79.

Pattern Sizing:
Sized NB-24 mo. I made the newborn size, which turned out to still be a bit big.  This isn’t the fault of the pattern sizing, rather of the baby sizing…he was still quite small. Maybe in another month it would have fit him.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
No. But I made a lot of changes.

Fabric Used:
White cotton quilting fabric for bodice and sleeves. White flannel for the back and pant front.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes. Going back and forth from the original article and the designer version gave me a lot of choices when it came to design.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I really liked just about all of it. It was a bit fiddly because of the design elements, but they turned out much easier to tackle than I expected. Maybe it’s my inexperience with heirloom sewing techniques but I ended up having to hand stitch the tatting on and then zig-zag with the machine. Wish I could have done it in one step. But, the instructions were very clear and the pictures were helpful.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I didn’t use any blue edging and didn’t use linen and pull threads. I replaced the blue edging on the collar and sleeves with some tatting to match the bodice. I didn’t put any embroidery on the belt.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I don’t think I’ll have need to sew it again but I do recommend it to others. It is a great first heirloom project and a good one for boys – those are few and far between.

Conclusion: