Upcycle TooT! Onesie Dress...cause "That's How I Roll"

Doesn't she look like she's about to do something that she shouldn't?  Or maybe she already has!  I love this little thing...she ROCKS my world!!!

This onesie is one of my faves but Buggie has recently become too long for it.  I didn't want to get rid of it yet, couldn't bring myself to do it, so I came up with this.  I have seen some toots (tutorials) on the onesie dress with 1 piece of fabric so this is just my play on that.  I wanted to add camo in somewhere because camo is awesome with red.  I am a bandana nut (the whole fam is) so naturally I was drawn to the red bandana print - which has been in my fabric collection for about 7 years.  I also did a bit of pre-ruffle to the skirt before attaching it to the onesie which gave it more of a full look I think.

So here's how it happened.

Materials 

Outgrown Onesie (or even one that fits that needs a little something else)
2 Coordinating Fabrics
Usual sewing supplies:  machine, thread, scissors, seam ripper ;), ruler, iron

1. Cut off the onesie just above the leg openings.

2. Take some measurements like waist and length.  Decide how long you want the skirt, if you want the strips to be the same size, are you going to pre-ruffle the skirt?  So for mine I decided I wanted the top strip (camo) to be a bit shorter than the bottom strip (red bandana).  They are 4" and 5" respectively.  Then I decided I wanted to make sure it was ruffley-ish (made up word) so I cut the strips about double the waist measurement allowing an extra 1" for seam allowance.

In this pic the strips are folded in half so I could fit them in the shot.
My camo fabric (which was actually a bandanda (told you we kind of have a bandana thing)) wasn't long enough so I cut 2 strips to sew together to make it as long as I needed.

*Make sure you finish one edge of the strip that will be your bottom piece.  You can either hem or serge just go ahead and do it at this step.

3. Pin your strips, right sides together, and sew.  Finish your edges with an overlock or zig zag stitch to keep your material from fraying and give it a clean finish.  (This is particularly important when using bandana's as they tend to fray when cut).  Then open back up and topstitch along the seam where the strips are sewn together. 

Here the strips are sewn together with the finished edge (top of pic)

This is what it looks like when you open them back up

Top stitch

4. Ok, before you ruffle the skirt let's do a little work that will make it a bit easier to attach it to the onesie.  (I really hope that what I am about to type makes sense.)  Lay the skirt out flat and then fold it in half and put a pin in the top at that fold.  This marks the middle of the skirt.  Now open it back up and fold the left side in to the center and do the same with the right side.  Put a pin in the fold that was created on the left side and repeat with the right. 

Now do it again - fold the left side in to the center and the same with the right.  You are going to put another pin in each of the new folds that were created.  You will actually be doing this twice since when you fold there will be 2 layers of material.  Note: you're not pinning through both layers, just a single layer marking each fold with the pins.  I really hope the pics help.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Showing just the left side of the skirt after I had pinned all the folds.  Notice it is still folded in on itself.  I was hoping this would make it easier to see all the pins.  Egad!

5. Now do the same thing with the onesie.  Fold it in half and put a pin at the fold in both the front and back of the onesie (be careful not to pin it together) marking the center.  Next, fold it in on itself just like the skirt, from the left and the right and put pins at each fold in both the front and back of the onesie.

6. Run a long stitch along the top edge of the skirt, keeping the pins in place.  Then gather it into a ruffle by pulling on the bobbin thread.  Now pin your ruffled skirt to the onesie with right sides together.  You are going to match up your pins on the skirt to the pins on the onesie.  This helps to keep the skirt even and centered which can be hard to do when it's a big ruffled piece.  You will be scrunching and unscrunching the ruffle here and there to get it all worked out around the onesie and get the pins lined up.  Once you have it where you want it go ahead and pin like mad so it stays in place. 

Before sewing it to the onesie you are going to need to close up the skirt.  So unpin the ruffled skirt just enough to be able to pin the raw edges together.  Make sure you pin them with right sides touching.  (Of course I don't have a pic for this, duh, right?)  Now sew and then finish that edge and then pin back on the skirt in place. 

7. Next, sew the skirt on to the onesie using your ruffle stitch as a guide.  I sewed just above that ruffle stitch so that it would be easier to pull out later. 



Be careful that you don't do this or you'll be getting out the seam ripper...argh!



 8. I topstitched the skirt once I sewed it on.  You don't have to do this but I find it helps alot.  You're all done!  Whoot whoot!!!!!

 How stinkin cute is this?!?!?

 

It's so hard to get a good model shot with a bouncing 14 month old.  She does whatever she wants and does not seem to care that I am trying to get some great pictures.  Oh well, she looks fantastic either way.  This was a fun project and I will be doing many more like this.  I am even thinking on some Mommy size 'onesie' dresses, ahahahahaha, sans the onesie but same idea. 

Thanks for coming over to LBT and checking out my upcycled onesie dress!  I really hope you enjoyed it!!!  As always, please let me know if there is something I can clear up or help you with.   

I am linking up to the fabulous link parties listed in my left side bar.  Go check out some of those awesome blogs, you will not be disappointed.

Leaving you with love and wishes for a beautiful day...it is a gift!

A