Hello everyone! Kelly here with a mashup of the Tella Tank and Stephanie patterns. I keep seeing these totally comfy, easy-wearing rompers popping up and I wanted to give it a go to sew one up myself.

 This romper will be perfect this spring & summer for casual outings, as a swim cover up, and even for sleeping!

I chose the Tella Tank for the bodice portion because it’s a looser fit and has lots of options for the armscye and necklines (both front and back!). The pants portion of the Stephanie pattern was perfect to mash with the Tella because they’re almost the same width right off the bat, so very little altering is needed to mash the two together. Another great bodice to use would be Alana – it is also a looser fit and I think they would mash-up well.  

We will be using the bodice, neckline and armscye pieces (choose binding or banding) from Tella, and the romper pants portion from Stephanie, cut to whichever length you would like.  I chose the racerback with mid armscye, mid scoop neckline, and the 3″ inseam for the shorts.

The first thing to do is print or trace out your front and back bodice pieces. These are cut on the fold for the original pattern, but we will be adding a half an inch in width to the fold line for both the front and back bodices. Once they are mashed with the Stephanie shorts you will cut 2 mirrored pieces instead of cutting on the fold. 

Next you will take a flexible ruler tape and measure from your shoulder to your crotch (I do this from shoulder and then down the middle of my chest to crotch curve).  If you don’t have a ruler tape handy, you can always hold the pattern pieces up to your body and see where the pieces will overlap to create one piece. Remember, this is a loose-fitting garment, so it’s okay to not be exact in measurements.  

Tape your top and bottom pieces together to your measurement. Make sure that the shorts pattern piece crotch curve lines up with the middle seam of the bodice. Smooth out the side seam where needed. Again, this doesn’t need to be exact because it is a loose fit.  

Now you will have one solid front piece of your bodice and shorts combined. Do the same for your back bodice and shorts pieces making sure it matches the front combined pattern piece at the underarm to the bottom hem.  

You will cut 2 mirror pieces of both the front and back bodice/shorts combo pattern pieces. Don’t forget to cut your armscye binding/banding and neck binding/banding pieces as well.  

Sewing:  

We’re going to sew this up like we would a pair of pants. Place one front piece and one back piece right sides together and sew the outer and inner seams with a ½” seam allowance. Do the same with the other front and back pieces.  

Now, keep one “leg” right side out and the other inside out. Slide the piece that is right side out into the one that is inside out, so they are right sides together.  Clip together at the crotch and all the way up each curve to the top. Sew this seam with a ½” seam allowance.  

Turn the garment inside out so you can line up the shoulder seams right sides together and sew with a ½” seam allowance. 

Finish the neckline binding/banding and the armscye binding/banding as per the Tella Tank tutorial. Hem the bottom of the shorts as per the Stephanie pattern.  I found I needed to even out my bottom hem a bit with the dropped armscye and weight of the shorts – not a problem, hem to your preference. 

That is all that it takes to create a super cute, trendy romper using Made for Mermaids patterns! 

Kelly loves to sew up all of the latest trends using M4M patterns and shows off her latest makes on Instagram.