Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I think, like many of you, I lost the entire month of April to COVID-19. Shortly after my second full post about the red renaissance dress project, I got the okay from my boss to work from (not my) home. Once it looked like working from home would last at least a couple more weeks, I knew I needed to make other arrangements. So, I packed up my improvised home office, and temporarily moved in with my (retired) parents. This turned out to be a good thing for all of us. The pandemic has brought on a lot of introspection, and a big life change for me is in the works. But more on that in a later post. 

Thankfully, none of us have gotten the "'Rona-virus" yet. However, life has still kept us busy. My dad had the misfortune to take a tumble down some stairs and break his leg in two places, but thankfully is recovering well

The other big thing to happen in our family is the arrival of our much-anticipated niece, "C". Originally she was due the last week of May. But, we got word that doctors would prefer if she made her appearance two weeks early, on May 4. 

Fortunately, we just had time for the small, social-distancing approved baby shower - which gave me an excuse to make the cutest little baby romper. The challenge, of course, was that I would need to use what I could find in my Mom's sewing room.

After a quick search online for free baby clothes patterns, I settled on this one, which seemed easy enough

This table has seen a lot of my homework, art and craft projects, and cooking over the years...

I couldn't tell you what the fabric was originally purchased for, but it was only about a yard or so. I think the purple and white flowers are perfect for a spring baby.

I am cutting out the smallest size here - it almost seems like doll clothes!

The romper is based off an OshKosh design, and has a self-lined sleeveless yoke on top, that closes in the back, with a baloon-style bottom that snaps at the crotch, leaving the arms and legs bare. 

Everything cut out and ready to go.

Along with the fabric, I found some rick-rack to add some decoration. The rick-rack came from my Grammie, who absolutely loved the stuff. I think it will make for a special outfit - it will have a touch of C's great grandma on it.

The bottom half is deliberately over-sized. Even so, they look tiny to me!

While the top yoke is self-lined, the bottom part is not, so I ended up finishing the seams with bias tape binding. The pattern instructions had you hem the leg openings and then zig-zag on some narrow elastic. I decided to make casings for the elastic using more of the bias tape.

As you will see in the final pictures, the yoke doesn't meet at the sides. The top edge of the "bottoms" is exposed under the arms. For this, the instructions have you once again hem those exposed edges. But, I decided to finish the top like I had the side seams, therefore having a nice finished edge, exposed or not.

The yoke, all turned and pressed. I put the zig-zag trim on before the lining, so that the trim stitching is neatly caught in the edges and doesn't stick out.

I can imagine this in some baby boutique, terribly overpriced.

And here it is, all finished! I can't imagine her being tiny enough to wear it. Hopefully, she'll grow quickly enough that she can only wear it once or twice. At any rate, I really enjoyed the excuse to make it. 

My sister-in-law was kind enough to send me these pictures of little miss C wearing it a few weeks after the shower, with a matching yellow hair bow. She's so cute in it! Soon after this, my brother told me her head had grown too much to for her to be able put her in it - three cheers for a growing baby :)

A natural model, I think. Look how she's highlighting the trim.

I kind of wish these styles were okay for adults to wear - I mean, this looks really comfy (and cute!)