The Fruit Market Romper

You know how sometimes you ask other people for their opinions as a way to confirm your own, but you don’t really know that that is what is happening until you hear said opinions? Well, sometimes I think I might be like that with fabric.

On a trip to Vietnam with some friends (hi, Travis, Ben and Jill!) I obviously took advantage of being in the region, and my friendships, to seek out a fabric market in Hanoi and get my hands on some material. I bet it was kind of Hanoi-ing, right, guys? (I made that joke a thousand times on our trip. I am surprised we are all still friends.) They were wonderful sports about it, and even helped me pick out a few choice pieces, like this one:

Not only did I love it, I mean, come on, it’s got me written all over it, whimsy, check, fun colors, check, fruits I enjoy eating, well, I go back and forth on papaya but generally, check! I was into it. And so was Rubens!

I knew I loved this print, but what to do with it? Sometimes we buy for a project, but sometimes, the fabric, she calls to us, she wants to be with us, and we must take her home, although we know not what she will become. So I did that, thinking, okay, I mean, you are 31 years old, so, I guess, pajamas? That’s the sensible thing to do, right, pajamas? With a print like this?

Right?

But the fabric, she did not want that. She wanted to be seen, by people other than my husband, various delivery people, and Rubens! She wanted to feel the sun ripening her fruits, like the fruit markets of this region, bursting with life!

No, I thought, no, be sensible, be adult. Find something in a pinstripe, that’s what grown ups wear. Ask the internet said the fabric, consolingly. The internet will tell you that I am meant for greater things.  Well, I did that, absolutely, but the internet, sigh, she can be a fickle beast, and an Instagram poll had beloved viewers (aka like 7 people) split between keeping this fabric as an indoor only situation, and letting it roam free, like the many cows walking the streets of Mumbai.

But something interesting happened, something I imagine the fabric had planned all along, the fruity little vixen. The more people telling me that this fabric was only suitable for lounge attire, the less inclined I was to make a pair of pajamas out of it. My brain, my heart, rebelled. I rebelled against the idea that a 31-year-old, or anyone, at any age, shouldn’t wear fruit-covered clothing and feel good about it. I rebelled at the idea that there is inside and outside fabric. I rebelled at the idea that my beautiful slices of dragon fruit and watermelon and rather ripe bananas, and yes, even the papaya about which I feel no small amount of ambivalence, should be banished from the world, that the precious cloth I had brought with me over land and sea from Vietnam to Kolkata to Mumbai would not have it’s day in the sun.

Reader, I made a romper out of it. And I regret nothing.

Specifically, I made the Seamwork Sky romper.

As my past history may have taught you, I’m not much of a romper person. You have to take them off entirely to go to the bathroom which is a bummer, because you are essentially stripping down in public and I don’t want to do that unless someone pays me, thank you very much. But this design is SO cute, with the obi style belt and the loose bodice and v neck, I was into it. And I like the dress hack Seamwork presented too, so I figured, try it out!

This pattern, however, like the Rachel I recently made, I didn’t print to scale. (I printed like, three patterns at once not to scale, I don’t know how this happened. ) But this time I saw it coming, and sized down to a ten in the waist, and a twelve in the hips and bust. It is still…generous, in sizing, But I like that. I actually think one of the big romper issues across the board is girth, so this was pretty nice!

I would size down or maybe re-print the bodice, though, for another iteration, because the back is so blousy.

Oh, I also made it shorts because…I live in Mumbai, so…..

It’s a little lower cut than I thought it might be. that might be because of this scale thing, or because my cleavage meter is totally different here in India than it is outside of India.

I love that this has pockets. Obviously. The belt, by the way, is a little longer in the original pattern but I shortened it because…I was running out of fabric. WHATCHA GONNA DO.

This is pretty easy to sew up, although it’s construction was very interesting and kind of a cool challenge, one I recommend to others, it’s good to make your brain do new things!

I included the facings, which is rare for me, I usually go bias tape, but I hand stitched them down on the inside because I hate facing flap.

So here it is. My fruit fabric got its day in the sun, and I got a reminder that I get to decide what is and isn’t outdoor fabric. Spoiler alert? It’s all outdoor fabric. All of it.