Robes for Swim Lessons

Three weeks ago Little Miss, Little Sir, and Little Man started taking swimming lessons and I had big plans to make them all matching robes to wear after they got out of the pool. I had been wanting this robe pattern from Dana at Made ever since it came out and even though I knew it wouldn’t be big enough for Mr8 and Ms6 I still had to have it.
I altered the pattern to fit Little Miss and Little Sir by adding extra length in the sleeve cap and in the body. I could have also added width, but Little Sir is so slim I didn’t bother. The pattern went together smoothly, I did have a hard time matching the sleeves up to the bodies (even on the one I didn’t alter), but it may have been because the pattern shifted when I was cutting it. I ended up just cutting off the excess and every turned out fine. I would recommend that you use the alternate directions to attach the sleeve before sewing the side seam instead of setting them in. Making my own bias tape turned into a big production for me. I have made bias tape before, but never on this scale. I used this bias tape tutorial so that I could sew everything first and cut it all to have one long piece (I also found the chart here (scroll down) helpful for knowing how much fabric to use to get the amount of bias binding I needed). It was all my fault, I didn’t have a large enough binding maker and I mis-measured the first round of tape and it was 1/2” to narrow. I ended up buying a larger binding maker and a clear ruler and that helped a lot. I did feel like this project to FOREVER and they only get to wear them for their final week of lessons. However, I do think they turned out super cute and we have already gotten a TON of compliments on them. We will also be taking more lessons this fall after school start, so they will get plenty of use and they will look super cute hanging in the bathroom too!