DIY Ankara Romper – McCall’s M8030 pattern hack

My summer started with a beautiful 80 degree day in Prospect Park and a strong impulse to sew this romper. I wanted a comfortable and fun outfit for staycationing in Brooklyn and something fashionable for summer travel. This DIY ankara romper, hacked  from McCall’s M8030, checks all of the boxes with style!

With its front and back yoke and grown on sleeves, M8030 was a great starting point for the romper. I used my high-waisted shorts pattern, designed for wovens with a fold over casing for elastic, to turn it into a jumpsuit. It was a pretty simple adaptation. I traced the bodice to the waistline and aligned it to the waistline of the shorts to produce new front and back pattern pieces on new paper. The romper is roomy and pretty square in shape from the underarm to the hip. I considered adding a casing with elastic to cinch everything in, but opted for a belt in self fabric to bring back the shape of my hips.

I’m really glad that I was able to use this ankara print for this outfit. I bought this fabric last spring from my neighborhood fabric store in 2 different colorways. Although it was only about $3 per yard, I only brought home 2 yards of this 45″ print in orange and burgundy thinking I’d just make a shirt. But then every time I thought about sewing a button down I worried about pattern matching the jigsaw print. (Of course, then I turned around and made something that requires far more pattern matching!) Unfortunately, this busy print obscures some of the details of this romper like the gathered yoke and cuffed hem.  I’d love to make it again in a stripe to show off the yoke better or sew again in a solid fabric and add topstitching details to draw attention to style lines.

I’m completely in love with my romper and can’t wait to make more variations! Let’s not forget it’s nearly impossibl for a tall girl like me to buy a romper! This definitely puts me back on the creative track for my #52StylesInSeams goal.

Pattern

• McCall’s M8030 (#JosieMcCalls) hacked for the bodice pattern
• Sewing Difficulty –  2/5
  • Bonus point for the button placket, but this is a pretty straightforward sew
• Fit Difficulty – 1/5
  • The shape is basically a giant square, just be sure to add ease to the rise
• I first used this pattern to make a tropical print dress
• I will definitely make more variations of this romper!

Fabric

• Orange, burgundy and white jigsaw print ankara from my local fabric store
• Brown faux leather belt buckle from Fabscrap
• I eked this out with only 2 yards of fabric at 45″

Fit & Modification

• I traced a size large of the bodice pattern
• Added 1.5″ at the lengthen and shorten line above the waist for a #sewingtall adjustment

How to Hack McCall’s M8030 into a Romper

1. Start with a shorts pattern that is straight from the hips to the waist, like for an elasticated waist. Make sure you add 1″-1 1/2″ to the rise of the shorts so you have vertical ease when lifting your shoulders or moving around in the outfit.
2. On both dress and shorts, mark the waistline by drawing a horizontal line, perpendicular to the grainline. Line up waistline of dress with shorts so that the center front/back of the shorts overhangs that of the dress by 5/8″ and tape together. Repeat for pattern front and back.
3. Place pattern pieces under tracing paper fronts and trace a single pattern for each – smoothing lines to join patterns. Trace all notches, dots and grainlines onto your new pattern.
4. The front of the dress pattern is not designed to join at the center front because there is a button placket. You will need to adjust the center front of the shorts to accommodate. Measure about 3-4″ inches above the crotch curve and mark a dot. Measure 5/8″ in from your dot and 5/8″ up from your dot. Cut paper to continue center edge of bodice down to your marking.
5. You will need a center back seam. On your dress bodice, add 5/8″ of seam allowance to the center back to match the center back seam line of the shorts.
6. For this hack you can still use the yoke, collar, belt, sleeve bands, etc. from the M8030 pattern.
7. For the button placket, I recommend cutting it ~8-10 inches longer than the pattern. When you align with your fabric this will allow you to match your print and continue the placket all the way down through the crotch.
8. To sew this together, attach the yokes first. Then continue sewing the jumpsuit using the order that you would for sewing a pair of pants
   1. Start with legs together at the inside leg seams.
   2. Sew crotch seam from the dot you placed in the center front crotch all the way up the back.
   3. Sew side seams together up to the underarm curves
9. Reference another jumpsuit pattern with a placket to confirm the steps for sewing the button placket down into the pants fly. I used the pattern for M8101 for reference.