Make the 219 Intimacies Teddy into a Romper! Part 1

March 13, 2023

by Esi Hutchinson

In my previous 219 Intimacies Teddy sew along blog, I mentioned I might make the teddy into a casual romper to wear outside the privacy of the home. Well... I did it!  The 219 Intimacies pattern has four garments to make from it - the camisole, tap pants (knickers), slip, and teddy.  This blog post will show you how I made adjustments to the teddy to fit more like a romper.  In my next blog post I will show you how made the romper and added a side zipper, as well.

Fabric

To make the teddy into a romper, you will need at least an extra half yard of fabric for the yardages given in your size. I started with the size 12 and that worked well for me.  The bias cut has a little "give" to it so even though it might skim my size, it fits perfectly.

Instead of using fabrics that the pattern suggests for the teddy, I used a 8.5 oz. (280 gsm) cotton sanded twill in a dark color that we have it in stock in our fabric collection.  You could use suggested fabrics for the teddy such as silk charmeuse, crepe, habotai, etc., however, obviously make sure they not transparent. For a romper, I wanted fabric that was more substantial and would hold up to daily wear and movement and layering.  Other fabrics that would work well would be other colors of the sanded twill, Tencel twills, sturdy linen, and even medium-weight denim.  

Pattern Adjustments

I can't emphasize enough that you should make a muslin, even after making the following adjustments (that I made).  You might need to alter the fit a little more or adjust things differently.  I made two muslins and still made a couple of adjustments to the fit after that. 

First, I used Swedish tracing paper to trace the teddy pattern pieces.  This paper transparent and is great to write on and make adjustments with.  You can cut it, tape it back together, and even sew on it.  We sometimes use pieces from other projects and tape them together and reuse them.  It is fairly sturdy stuff and great for adjustments.

To start, I wanted to adjust the height of the crotch on the front and back pattern pieces, and lengthen the legs of the Romper. I used the slip length marked on the pattern for my romper length.  I also had to extend the stitching and cutting lines for the crotch to the new hem line (which you don't see below, but I did do a bit later). 

I wanted the crotch seam brought up quite a bit higher than the teddy crotch falls (which is more comfortable for nighttime wear).  To do that, I folded along the lengthen/shorten line the amount I wanted to raise the square marking the top of the crotch. I shortened this first version by 5" (12.7cm).

After shortening  the pattern piece, the sides were not even, so I had to true, or adjust, the lines to have the same angle again.  To do this, I just used the cut line from the top of the teddy/romper and folded out the bottom (overhanging) part.  

The other pattern adjustment I needed to make was on the front and back gussets.  I measured from the square at the top of the crotch on the front/back to the hem of the new pattern piece.  This was 11" (28cm) for me.  So I extended each gusset piece to be the same length.  

Muslins

I simply followed the pattern instructions to make my muslin.

The only change to the instructions I made was at the sides seams. You need an easy way to get in and out of the romper without the crotch being open (i.e. appropriate for everyday wear).  On the final version I plan to sew in an invisible zipper on the left side, but for the muslin, I did not add a zipper.  Keep this in mind as you create your own romper.  I'll cover how I added my zipper in Part 2 of this pattern hack. 

I sewed the longer gussets in the same way the pattern instructs.  

More Pattern Adjustments

I tried on my muslin on to see how it fit.  And, I didn't like the fit of this first muslin.  I had shortened the pattern piece too much, and realized I only needed to take out about 2" (5cm), not 5". 

However, instead of adjusting at the lengthen/shorten line again, I really just wanted to lower the crotch (where the gussets meet) and keep the same leg length.  You can also change the gussets to adjust the crotch to get a better fit, which is what I did.  

I liked the way the front crotch fit, but did not like the back crotch fit (not enough room).  This meant I really needed to adjust the gusset pieces, specifically, the back gusset.  I aligned the square of front gusset (top of crotch) to the square on the front/back piece (I adjusted the top of the crotch by lowering it 2" from the first adjustment).  Then, I butted up the edges of both gusset pieces and lowered the back gusset piece by about an inch to give me more room in the back crotch.  

Then, I drew a line to connect the gussets pieces like you can see in the image below - which became my new cut line.  These then became my new pattern pieces.  I tested the fit again before making my final garment.  I adjusted the hem of the gussets to work with the length of the romper before cutting them from my main fabric.  

So my new pattern adjustments were to lower the top of the crotch (the square) by 2" (5cm) and adjust my gusset pieces to provide a bit more room in the crotch.

I finished making my adjustments and then started on my final garment.

In the next blog post, I will make my final romper from the sanded twill with a side zip. Hopefully my experience will help you hack this pattern to make a romper! 

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