Are you familiar with the Lil Luxe Collection (*affiliate link) by Jessica Bustos? If you haven't seen her growing line of pdf patterns for fashionable children's clothes, it's worth a look. A fellow classmate of Pattern Workshop (*affiliate link), her designs immediately caught my eye. So when I had the chance to test her most recent pattern I couldn't pass it up.
The Alley Cat Romper is an elegant style, with all the comfort a little girl could want. It is easily dressed up or down depending on the type of knit fabric you use.
The bodice hugs the body, while the bottom of the romper is gathered to poof a bit with a dropped crotch. The cuffs can be worn down or scrunched up to make the bottoms even more poofy which is adorable.
The pattern calls for knits with a medium stretch, but I know the bottom portion would work with a woven if it has a nice drape to it. In fact I have one cut out already so keep an eye on my Instagram feed if you're interested in seeing how that one turns out.
To be honest, she pretty much had me at the back neckline. It's gorgeous. And the best part of all, is that those straps are so well designed that even after wearing it all day they didn't budge. No loose straps hanging down her shoulders, but they are still stretchy enough for Bean to get the romper off by herself to go potty. As we all know, rompers can be tricky for young kids who are potty trained, but getting this one on and off was a breeze.
The pattern tutorial is well illustrated at each step and it comes together really quickly. But the genius is in the pattern design itself. I really love testing for Pattern Workshop (*affiliate link) friends because their grading and measurements seem to be so right on that the tests are generally quick and painless. The Alley Cat Romper was originally supposed to be release next week, but testing went so well it was bumped up. That just means you lucky people can get your hands on this pattern right away (*affiliate link).
And Bean is apparently super excited to let you know Jessica is running a giveaway to go along with the pattern release! Just check out the Rafflecopter instructions below.