Romper Quest Meets Rainbow Collection: Red

I'm pretty freakin' stoked about this. I FINALLY made a romper! After roughly six years of wanting one! Yes, this harkens back to that New York trip to an American Apparel store when Bryce tried on an "obscenely cute" romper (emphasis on the "obscene" part of that statement) and I thought to myself, "this is the most critical item of clothing I could ever own".

It's blurry because I'm excited!

As you well know, most female clothing items from American Apparel are more trampy than not, so I searched other places to find that wonder-playsuit of my dreams. Most of them were too short in the torso, or only fit one part of my body (take your pick, top half or bottom half: which will look good?). The rest were ugly as sin and/or made for underage prostitutes.

I found a pattern for shorts in the June Burda Style. The original pattern has side-seam pockets and back pockets, drawstrings to pull the shorts up at the sides (a cute detail that I always fall prey to), and a side zipper instead of a front zipper and button. I scaled it back a bit, so there are no pockets to be found on this romper--midway through construction I decided that I really wanted pockets, but since I never put pockets in I royally messed up the process and ended up ripping them out. Angrily. After that debacle, I decided I didn't even want to mess around sewing back pockets in, though I might try to add them a little bit down the road. Same goes for the side drawstrings.

Instead of putting the reinforced top waistband on the shorts, I threaded one-inch elastic through the waistband. From that point, I took a shot in the dark and cut a large trapezoid (since I'm pear shaped) and sewed to the waistband to cover my top half. From there, I tried it on a couple of times, (re)installed a zipper up the left side a couple of times, and finally found a spot that was close enough to magic for me. I made a casing for 3/4 inch elastic at the top of the romper and stitched everything into place, and ta-da! Romper Quest 2011 fulfilled!

Some serious wackness going on with the back due to the inevitable buckling of the zipper. Also check out my horrible swimsuit lines--those were not there last week.

The"red" fabric for this Rainbow Collection is a piece I got from Stone Mountain and Daughter for my birthday last year. It was on sale and I can't resist a sale...I think you know where this is going. When I bought it I had absolutely no idea what I would use it for, which is why I still have it a year and a half later. Ideally, the fabric would be a little heavier and I need to find the perfect belt to go with the romper. Next time, I suppose. Speaking of which, I think I should make a sleeved romper before the summer is up! Will I have time?

Who's that happy boxy girl?!

What do you guys thinks would work best for a belt? A sash style in a matching fabric, something in a contrasting fabric, leather, fresh mint? Let me know!