Brindille and Twig Harem Coverall


Since Flower was born, time to sew has been extremely limited. I'm drawn to quick projects that I can finish off in a couple of naps. I have discovered that baby clothes are quick and easy, use small amounts of fabric and are really fun and cute!

Brindille and Twig is a small US company, specialising in gorgeous kids clothes patterns (although there are a couple of women's options there too). There is a clear aesthetic that I completely buy in to - it isn't flowery or floaty, just practical, sensible, cute clothes. #dresskids_likekids 

I've made quite a few of the Brindille and Twig patterns, but this is one that Flower fits into NOW, so I snapped some pics this morning. It is the harem romper, which I picked because it has lots of butt space (we're using cloth nappies, which are fabulous, but require more booty room). It has three sleeve options - long, short or sleeveless. You can also use cuffs for the legs or simply hem them. I seem to get a more professional looking finish from cuffs, so I go for them.

harem coverall : 97
This is the example from the website. I loooove it! Hopefully you see what I mean about practical. This is a proper romper - designed for playing, not sitting. 

(Quick rant: I get really grouchy about boys getting practical dungarees while girls wear pretty skirts and dresses. It is restrictive and unfair - why are we starting limiting girls' success at the crawling stage?! I've seen my own Flower try to crawl across the floor in her pretty skirt, get tangled and give up. Ridiculous.)

Here is my version:
She's very wriggly... all the pictures in this post were taken in a 90 second 'photoshoot', so you can see how fast she escapes these days!



That double row of stitching is a 'decorative feature'. But in truth, I missed the hem first time round and had to do a second pass. I was too lazy to unpick, and she doesn't care!
I love pretty much all of the Brindille and Twig range, but I do need nappy access. I can't be bothered with pulling her entire outfit down over her wriggly body every time she needs a clean bum. Nah uh. No way.

So I adapted the crotch to give it poppers. I'm not sure I did it in the best way - I just bound the lower edges before stitching them together a little bit then adding the cuffs. Then I added poppers, which I'm getting better at, but I still think they make this look more homemade than I'd like.

Yeah, that was the best picture I could get. Sorry about that!
I love the crocs on this! I've made a reverse version in size 6-9 months (green body, crocodile sleeves etc), so I look forward to her wearing that one!

This one has been washed several times, and I'm not ironing baby clothes, so you can probably see that the neckband is curling up a bit. I think that's just what happens with cheapish jersey and brutal use! I did make another one of these in rabbit print jersey, which didn't survive the tough usage quite as well...
Not sure why it's upside down. But you see that knee patch? It's not a design feature. And the big rip next to it? Yeah. Not patching twice.
Anyway, here are some more fun pics of our 'photoshoot'!

Going...

Going...

Gone?!

And I clearly had to make do with the pictures I had already collected - there was a scrunchy paper bag to play with.

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