{ DIY: Karen Walker S/S 2010 romper }

As promised, here's my Karen Walker romper DIY that was featured in the Virgin Issue of Dujour Magazine. This is the first time I tried my hand at making a piece of clothing from a pattern and I'm quite happy with how it turned out (though it could never compare to the original).

For this DIY of the Karen Walker romper from the S/S 2010 collection, I used McCall's 9077 overalls sewing pattern. Unless you are comfortable with whipping up a romper from scratch, I'd suggest starting with a similar pattern too. You will need a sewing machine, 1.5m of fabric, matching thread and two gold buttons.

Cut out the paper pattern pieces and lay them on your doubled over fabric. Pin the pattern pieces to the fabric then cut them out. In the 9077 pattern, the overalls are constructed from five main parts: the yoke, two pieces for the back, and two pieces for the front.

Pin and sew the two back pieces together, sew the yoke to the top of the back piece, and one of the front pieces to each side of the back. Your romper should now look similar to this.

Sew the arm hole and yoke lining onto the yoke/shoulder straps. Grade the seam allowance at all curved edges to reduce the bulkiness of the fabric.

Turn right-side-out, press flat with an iron, and top stitch around the edges of the arm holes, yoke and shoulder straps.

Stitch the back pieces to the front pieces at the inside leg. Pin the remainder of the center seam and sew together. Sew the back and front overall straps together, following the existing curved stitches.

Fold the front pieces back to create a smooth v-neck shape.

Pin, sew, trim and hem the neckline. Your romper will now be visibly taking shape!

From this stage, I stopped following the sewing pattern. To create the ruffle around the neckline, measure around the v-neck and yoke and cut out a piece of fabric double this length and 5" wide. Sew down one of the long edges of this piece, not finishing the ends, and leaving a generous amount of thread on either end hanging loose.

Take hold of one of the threads and push the fabric down it, creating a ruffled effect. Continue until the whole piece is ruffled (refer to image 8). Pin the ruffle to the neckline of the romper, starting and finishing where the bottom of the armholes are.

Cut another piece of fabric 4" wide and a little longer than the neckline measurement to allow for hemming. Fold the strip in half, iron the strip flat in half and zigzag stitch down the unfinished side. Fold the strip in half again and iron flat. Hem one of the short ends.

Starting from the bottom of the v-neck, pin the strip to the neckline of the romper, wrapping the strip around the edge with the fold pointing out towards the ruffle.

When you reach the ruffle, use the pins already in place to secure all the layers together. Hem the other end of the strip so that it fits within the v-neck neatly. After pinning, sew along the outer edge of the strip, securing it and the ruffle to the romper.

Finish off the ruffle by pinning the material under and measuring regularly to ensure it's of even width. Sew the hem, press with the iron, and trim any excess fabric.

Take the pieces of fabric that will be the pockets and iron the edges under so that there is a 1cm fold on the left, right and bottom, and a 2cm fold at the top.

Pin the pockets to the front of the jumpsuit in the desired position and sew in place. Sew a gold button to the top of each pocket.

Cut and hem the leg holes to the desired length, measuring the inseam of each to make sure they're even.

Belt the romper at the waist when worn and that's it, you're done!