The recently released Kid’s Good Baby Romper is simple to hack into a baby gown! Gowns make the perfect baby shower gift or going home outfit, plus they make diaper changes a breeze. Anything that makes mom-life easier, am I right?!
From romper to gown, using the same pattern:
I made the newborn size for this tutorial (for my niece who should be arriving any day!), but the hack will work with any size although the number of inches you add to the length may vary.
First, cut and tape your Kid’s Good Baby Romper pattern as-is. You won’t need the ankle cuffs/ruffles, the crotch binding, or the gusset piece. Starting with either the front or the back romper piece, lay it on your folded fabric as shown below. Using your ruler and a fabric pencil, mark a point 6” over and 3” up from the bottom outer corner of the romper pattern. The extra width is so the gown will have some (literal!) wiggle room (Again, these are just what I used for the newborn size, so they may need some tweaking for other sizes. Basically you just want enough length to be able to cover the child’s feet. It will look long, but once the elastic is in it will be perfect)
Next line up your ruler with the point you just marked and the bottom corner of the armscye. Draw this line and cut with scissors, or cut directly with a rotary cutter.
Then cut straight down from the first marked point, making a line parallel with the bottom of the romper pattern piece. It should look like this:
You’re all set with cutting out the bottom half - now use the pattern to cut out the top. Repeat with the other side of the romper, front or back depending which you cut first. You should have the following pieces:
Now to sew! Follow the pattern instructions as written up through sewing the side seams. Then, make a casing for the elastic hem. Since I wanted to use 1/2” elastic, I made a 5/8” casing. Leave an opening for the elastic.
Cut a length of elastic a few inches smaller than your child’s waist measurement. I used 15” for the newborn size. Thread it through the casing using a safety pin, overlap the ends by 1/2” and stitch together.
Sew the casing opening closed, and you’re finished!
