I haven't had to buy any baby clothes for little N, thanks to lots of hand-me-downs. This is good in many ways... it saves money, resources, and time... it's "green"... but I'll be honest: It's been difficult NOT to want to buy a few sweet little outfits for her. Still, I've remained strong and am planning on treating myself to just a bit of shopping once she's here and I start to get a feel for her personality.
Like every expecting mother, I received an over-abundance of blankets at my showers, and so decided to return a few. In a moment of weakness, I opted for store credit rather than a refund at one of the shops, and ended up using part of it on a dear little pair of peach colored pants. My justification was that since there was no top to go with them, I would have to get around to that appliqued onesie project I'd been meaning to do for months.
So here is a photo diary of what turned out to be a really quick and fun project. I'm planning on making up a few more in the coming week; I have so many ideas for cute designs!
First I came up with my design, a little bunny, and sketched it on regular paper.
Then I cut out the bunny and cut small squares of my fabric and the webbing product to match the size of the bunny. I ironed the fabric and webbing together, following the instructions for the webbing.
I traced the bunny onto the paper side of my fabric square, then cut it out.
I used a second-hand Gerber brand white onesie, size 0-3 months. Gerber runs small, so it was pretty tiny. Pre-washed of course. I peeled the paper off my design, positioned the bunny where I wanted it and then covered it with a damp "press cloth." Pressed with a hot iron for about 15 seconds and the bunny seemed well-adhered to the onesie.
The webbing manufacturer says you could stop there, that the design will be secure using only their product. I don't know, that may very well be true. I wanted to add a little texture, though, so I decided to add a simple blanket stitch to the edge with embroidery thread. The hardest part of that was deciding what color thread to use! I went with the "safe" choice, a peach very close to the color of the pants.
Then I just used a bit of natural colored "chunky" size yarn to make a fluffy little tail. I sewed it in place and that's it! I don't think it took quite two hours to complete, and that was with lots of stopping to take photos, so it's really a quick project, especially if you skip the embroidery.
Hope this inspires you to take on one of the creative projects you may have been putting off. Pull out the fabric stash! Make a little mess! See what you come up with...
