Busty Pattern Review + One Pattern, Two Bodies | Love Notions Sunday Romper

Today, I’m pretty damn thrilled to collaborate with Camilla, the gorgeous qween behind She/We Sew Fabulous!

It’s no secret that Camilla and I look different. I’m an hourglass, with an emphasis on the top — giant boobs, small waist, pretty big hips. Camilla describes herself as “a Mediterranean gal with big hips and small boobs.” So we thought it would be fun to try making the same pattern and see how it looks on our very different body types!

Here are Camilla’s super fun versions!

Doesn’t Camilla look great?! Most importantly, she loves the romper! So much, she made it twice. And I agree with her assessment that it looks amazing on her!

I’ve had this pattern forever, so I was excited to use it! I grabbed some Girl Charlee pineapple print cotton spandex from my stash — originally slated to be a Charm Barbie bodysuit, but then I fell out of love with that pattern and with Charm — and I was off!

The Sunday romper comes with two bust options — a regular front and a full bust front. Camilla used the regular front, while I used the full bust one.

Time for some honesty: I don’t hate mine, but I can’t say I love it either.

The photos I chose for this blog are the most flattering photos I could get, but here’s how I feel in it:

Basically, I feel a little like … shapeless? I prefer garments that clearly define my waist, and this particular garment has too much fabric at the top to do that well. It feels like it goes out at my bust and, despite the elasticated waist, doesn’t really come back in until my hips. So I get a square shape that I don’t prefer.

If I were to make it again, I would shorten the bodice substantially, since getting rid of some of that extra fabric would help me love it a lot more. (When I tuck in the top a bit, I get a shape I actually quite like!)

The original pattern also had the shorts going much longer, as you can see in Camilla’s pictures. But I felt very frumpy with longer shorts, and honestly was on my way to totally hating this romper, so I chopped them to the tiniest inseam. Here’s what my romper looked like before I chopped the shorts:

If you ask me, shaving off the shorts saved this romper for me. It went from 🥴 to 🤔 in my book! I won’t reach for 🤔 regularly, but I’ll definitely wear it sometimes. I’d have probably donated 🥴.

There are a few things I love about this romper though. Namely, it’s suuuuuper comfy and it has pockets! And I honestly think it’s perfect for a day on the beach, as a swimsuit cover or just for lounging.

Camilla LOVES hers, though, and I agree that it’s super flattering on her body. As she puts it, she loved it so much she made it twice! Just goes to show that fit is one thing — both of our rompers technically fit — but some patterns are just going to work better on some bodies. (Though, I want to say, this is a matter of preference! Any body can wear any garment! It’s really a question of whether the wearer enjoys wearing it!)

Sewing the Sunday Romper was pretty straight forward. Camilla opted for her serger and coverstitch, but y’all know I hate serging, and I don’t have a coverstitch. So I used my Pfaff Ambition 620 on a narrow zigzag for most of this garment. (I prefer the narrow zigzag over a lightning stitch or a stretch straight stitch.) The neck band was the trickiest part for me, but it wasn’t too bad!

This was such a fun experiment, and I’m glad Camilla and I teamed up to do this! I hope we do it again! I got to try a new pattern and ended up with a garment I’ll definitely wear to the beach, as well as any time I need a comfy frock.

I want to note one more time: “flattering” is a social construct, and we all have different ways of defining it. For me, this romper isn’t the most flattering on my body because it doesn’t fit my preferences and because I don’t feel super confident in it. But I don’t buy into the idea that only certain bodies can wear certain styles. That’s rubbish! This romper could totally work on another busty body, and other people might even prefer the way this hugs the body!