Chaillis Short Jumpsuit/Romper Butterick 6220

Would you call this a short jumpsuit or a romper?

Jumpsuit sounds so serious: "You must put on your suit to do the business of jumping."  And I can't help but associate jumpsuits with prison attire.  I blame Orange is the New Black for this stereotype.

Romper, on the other hand, sounds very light and carefree.  No cares or worries- just skipping and romping in the sunshine.   Romper also reminds me of Romper Room.   If you are under 40 or from outside of the US, it was a very innocent children's show.   It had a huge bumblebee character named Do Bee that taught manners with advice such as "Do Bee good boys and girls and help your parents."  Here is a fun look at a Do Bee book.

Image from Modernkiddo.com

I watched it, and my husband knew about it, but didn't watch it.  Can you guess which one of us has better manners?

I've digressed.  Back to rompers or short jumpsuits: whatever you call them- I've been seeing quite a few patterns for them lately, and decided to test the waters with this very simple pattern- Butterick 6220.   I really think that the back is pretty with the tie and crossover.  Here it is from the back, and the line drawings from the pattern:

 I see several pros of this pattern over other similar patterns:

     1.  Can be made from a woven fabric.  A lot of  jumpsuit/romper patterns are designed for knits.  I wanted to use a rayon challis for mine, so this was perfect.  It took about 2-1/2 yards.

      2.  Lots of coverage on the top.  This is great if you don't want to show a lot of skin. The short rompers with halter or spaghetti straps are great if you are a twenty something, but not for me.

      3.  Easy to put on- no zipper, just a tie in the back.

      4.  Can be made short or long with pants, or with a skirt.


It's pretty similar to this one from Zara.  With a few tweaks of this pattern, you could duplicate this look.

And here are the cons:

      1.  Tricky to not have your bra show in the back with the crossover.

      2.  Getting the right body length is crucial, since you aren't using a knit that will stretch.

      3.  It's rather plain as is, so you really need to wear a belt with it to break it up.  This makes the already challenging task of going to the bathroom a little more challenging because you need to figure out where to put your belt!

I'm taller than average, so I added 1" to the length of the bodice, and 1" to the length of the pants.   I  extended the back crotch curve 1" at the inseam to give me a little more depth.  I really was just shooting in the dark with these adjustments, but I got lucky and they worked well.

If I make it again, I think that I would add an additional 1"to the bodice length, so that it I could blouse it over the belt a little more.   Or I might add a couple of buttonholes at the center front waist and thread a tie belt through instead of using elastic.

The construction is pretty straight forward- a facing on the front V-neckline, narrow hemming everywhere else.   Here's the inside of the facing:

The only part that I disagreed with was the waist casing.  The instructions have you straight stitch the raw edge of the elastic casing closed.  With a challis, the straight stitch would unravel in no time, so I serged the edge, then stitched again 3/8" from the seamline before I inserted the elastic. That may not sound like a big change, but it does shorten the body length, so you need to compensate for that if you finish the waist that way.

I also needed to hand tack down the overlap in the back a few inches above the waist, so that it would cover my bra strap.  Here's the back flat:

Overall, I'm really happy with this look.  It's super comfy, cool, and different than anything else that I've got in my closet right now.  I'm sure that at least one of my daughters is going to want one of these, so I'll definitely be sewing it again!

Romper Room would always end this way "Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?"   And then the hostess would look through a magic mirror and read names of kids watching at home.  Since I had a very common name that was read frequently, I was sure that she could see me, so I was always a good Do Bee!


Is there room for rompers in your sewing plans?  Do you remember Romper Room?

Now, I'm going to go start the new season of Orange is the New Black in my romper.  Oh, how this Do Bee has fallen!

Happy Sewing!

Ann