A Little Onesie Upcycle...

It has been super busy here with packing and planning and planning and packing. We close on our new house October 13th! I'm so excited!

I did take a little time today to do some sewing. Last week, I stopped by a children's consignment store next to the grocery store were I shop. I had never been there and thought it might be worth a look. I'm sooo glad I did!!! They had onesies on sale for 50 cents each!!! I bought 14 that I thought would translate well into dolly clothes.  I have found several tutorials online on how to turn these into doll shirts and nightgowns.

Here is the before...

Just a simple chop...

I cut just in the middle of the onesie... and add a couple of hems and some elastic...

and a tiny pink bow...

and now Joy has a cool new cupcake shirt and cool boy shorts to sport...all for 50 cents!!!

Sew cute!

The tutorials I have found just state to cut the top part of the onesie for the shirt and to discard the rest...but I couldn't waste the bottom part like that so I sewed the crotch area just above the snaps (and cut them off) and made a 1/2 inch casing for 1/4 inch elastic, sized to fit the doll. You could definitely use fold over elastic as well.

The "lettuce" edge on the bottom of the shirt is the easiest way to hem. Set your machine to a large zig-zag stitch, and stretch the bottom of the shirt as you catch the edge of it with the zig zag stitch...this creates that ruffle-y look. You can use this technique on any knit material. You can also do a regular hem as well.



A few tips:

Look for onesies that have neat details such as embroidery, edging, small prints that are not "baby-ish".

Newborn size is the perfect size for tshirts! You can use bigger onesies for night gowns and dresses, but most likely you will have to take them in on the sides and around the arm areas.

Newborn size socks fit the doll perfect as you can see above.