Last summer, I had a little fun sewing up Father’s Day presents for my husband and his brother. Early in the Spring, I recognized that I had somehow ended up with a small collection of button down shirts from my husband and his brother that had ripped, torn, or otherwise worn out in a way that was no longer usable. I’d kept them to the side, thinking that someday it would be fun to use the fabric to make something new. As I was poking around looking for what I might make next, I came across these old shirts and realized that I had a great opportunity!
I got to work, and ended up sewing some very cute new rompers for my daughter and my niece out of the old shirts. I used this leftover watercolor tropical floral tencel twill, originally used to make myself a pair of shorts as part of a StyleMaker Fabrics spring blog tour, in both rompers. It was floral and fun, and was a great option so that the girls could match each other! For my niece, I pieced the bottom of her romper out of the fabric from my brother-in-law’s old favorite chambray shirt. For my daughter, I made the top of her romper out of my husband’s old shirt! The floral worked perfectly with the fabric from both shirts, though I wish I had a picture somewhere of the girls together in their rompers!
In late 2019, I purchased a little bit of the cupro modal jersey knit to make my husband a tee, and fell absolutely in love with the fabric. I ended up coming back and buying yardage of every colorway when I found it on sale, and have been slowly sewing through it for a little while now. It is such an interesting fabric – cold hand, nice drape, so soft to the touch – and while my husband and I are both big fans of it, I am hesitant to sew it all up because then it will be GONE! However, Father’s Day was a worthy occasion to cut into this pewter colorway. I used a self-drafted pocket template I keep around to add a pocket to this tee, using the old shirt that I’d also used for my daughter’s romper.
I was so happy to convince my husband to take matching family outfit photos! My daughter and I match pretty regularly, but this was only the third time I was able to talk him into it. I think it helped that we weren’t ~too~ matchy, and I didn’t ask him to wear any of the floral! These photos were taken sometime after Father’s Day last year, and I treasure them so much, Time flies so quickly, and it is so special to have photos like this to look back on and remember.
My husband celebrated a birthday yesterday, so it was the perfect time to pull out these photos again. We had really hoped that he might be the one to escape the COVID-19 style birthday celebrations, but we didn’t get so lucky! Instead, we had a small family dinner and ate some delicious food and brownies. While I think he actually prefers things like this, it makes me so happy that I threw him a big old surprise party just a couple of years ago – we had a 3 month old at the time, and it seemed like such a ridiculous thing to do, but I’m glad that I made it happen (with the help of many wonderful family and friends!).
On Hubby:
Top: handmade by me
Pattern: Ellie & Mac Patterns – Straight Fit Basic Tee
Fabric: StyleMaker Fabrics – Cupro Modal Jersey Knit in Pewter paired with a repurposed 7Diamonds Shirt
On Me:
Top: handmade by me
Pattern: True Bias – Ogden Cami
Fabric: JoAnn – Bubble Crepe Remnant
Shorts: handmade by me
Pattern: Sew Caroline – Boardwalk Shorts (from the Weekend Style Pattern Book)
Fabric: Style Maker Fabrics – Watercolor Tropical Floral Tencel Twill – Vanilla
On Mini:
Romper: handmade by me
Pattern: Simple Life Pattern Co. – Baby Ayda with Romper Add-On
Fabric: Style Maker Fabrics – Watercolor Tropical Floral Tencel Twill – Vanilla paired with a repurposed 7Diamonds Shirt
Key Ingredients:
Brother XR9500PRW Sewing Machine
Brother 1034D Overlocker
Schmetz Jersey Ballpoint Needles
Dahle 36×48 Self-healing Cutting Mat
Heat & Bond Soft Stretch (Lite)
Thanks for reading my thoughts on this pattern! The fabric used for this post came from all over – some was purchased, some was the remnants of a fabric provided to me as part of a StyleMaker Fabrics blog tour, and some was a repurposed shirt previously purchased and well-loved by my husband. The variety of patterns used in this post were purchased by me. All words and opinions expressed throughout this post are my own, as always. Links provided throughout this post may be affiliate links – if you choose to purchase any products through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This simply helps me justify the costs of my sewing habit and the time it takes to share it with you!! Happy Sewing!
- XX Elizabeth
