Rowan Along - Megan Nielsen Rowan Bodysuit/Tee Review and Hacks

Back in the fall, I tried on some clothes at Express and discovered that bodysuits were a thing. It shouldn't have taken me this long, given how aware I was of the problems that a bodysuit solves -- principally: how difficult it is to keep a shirt tucked into pants.

The problem with this new revelation was, Express was selling bodysuits for the ridiculous price of $70. $&)!

Shortly after, I thought to myself:

Self: "Self, you want to wear bodysuits, balk at their price, and you know how to sew. Shouldn't you buy a bodysuit pattern and sew some bodysuits?"

I do some research and buy a Megan Nielsen pattern called the Rowan Bodysuit and Tee.

So I make the bodysuit, and I'm like:

Self: "This is cool. Cool, cool, cool. You can even lengthen the torso so it doesn't feel like you're getting a permanent wedgie."

Rowan bodysuit - it's the one I'm pointing at.

But now I'm settling into bodysuit fatigue, also known as Hedonic Adaptation: "the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes."

Self: "I need another fix."

Also me: "I told myself I wasn't going to buy anymore patterns this year. I have too many already."

Self: "I want to make something new."

Tim Gunn: "Make it work!"

Me again: "But..."

Tim Gunn has no time for your nonsense excuses.

I found myself forced to work within the confines of my extremely limited collection of 3,259 patterns. And in the process, I found my muse.

Sup, girl.

I had an epiphany: A dress is just a shirt with a skirt.

In a fit of genius one night after I put my angel to sleep, I pulled out 2 yards of a double brushed poly from Fabric Mart and freakin' Made It Work big time.

Before you could say "In the world of fashion, one day you're in....and one day you're out" (admittedly a long phrase, which is played up for emotional drama while the camera pans to each anxious contestant), I had whipped up this stunning number:

Serving up some '70s realness in stripes.

I call it: The Rowan Turtle Dress

I drafted a half-circle skirt and altered the Rowan bodice by cutting at the waistline marking (plus seam allowance). I had to do some creative things with cutting on the bias to get it out of the yardage I had, but that actually made it more interesting. It was 4-way stretch fabric, thank goodness.

Boom. It literally took me less than 2 hours, including "drafting" a half circle skirt. The worst part about that was having to remember how math works.

Self: "Honestly, I'm impressed. What else can you do?"

WHAT CAN'T I DO WITH THE ROWAN?

No, seriously. I want to know.

I have another epiphany: A shift dress is just a really long shirt.

So I proceed to make a Rowan Shift Dress:

This flight of fancy was created by basically just adding a bunch of length straight from the hips of the tee pattern. I made it in a whimsical stable double knit from Fashion Fabrics Club. I did get some bunching above my bum, so I created a super hacky "swayback adjustment" dart to improve the fit.

You can see the unsewn adjustment drawn out in the below picture:

You put the line through the coconut, I mean pineapple...

And the final product:

Pineapples WERE harmed in the making of this swayback adjustment.

And here I am modeling my creation:

You can hardly tell me apart from Heidi Klum.

Even fashion geniuses have to do laundry.

Self: "Nothing can stop me now!"

To cleanse my fashion palate, next I make a regular old turtleneck Tee out of a double brushed poly from Fabric Mart:

Also pictured: Thea pants from Style Arc. 

Then: 

I have yet another epiphany: A shirt without a skirt is just a shirt.

Turns out I actually just need more shirts, so I make another Tee, but now it's almost spring so I switch things up a bit and pull out the short sleeve and put away the turtleneck.

Full disclosure: I will not be wearing this next one because it's too tight. It was made out of an ITY knit from Fabric Mart that really isn't appropriate for a garment like this. I should have sized up, but I didn't have enough fabric to do so, so instead I wasted my time making this.

Conserving fabric, wasting time.

On the same day thank goodness I had another make end up being a win, making my second Rowan with a half-circle skirt. This one has some variations from my last one, with a v-neck and short sleeves, so it needs a new name: The Rowan Skater Dress.

Rowan Sk8er Grl

So that's 6 garments from the same pattern, and I'm basically a fashion designer now. On my table upstairs, as I type this, is my 7th version, and it's a mashup of the following patterns:

• Rowan Shift Dress
• Peppermint Magazine/In the Folds Ruffle Sleeve Blouse 
• Style Arc Harmony Blouse 

Self: "It's almost like all garments are almost exactly the same and you didn't need all those patterns in the first place."

Chém Gió GIF from Friends GIFs