Wednesday, June 16, 2010

From onesie to diaper cover

Now nobody likes their underwear to show, but MOST people do not have QUITE the problem that little ones do.  THEY just cannot sit around like little ladies ALL the time and they LOVE to wear pretty dresses.  I have had a bit of an obsession with making t-shirt dresses for a while now and I FINALLY decided that it was SiLLy to just throw away the bottom of the onesie.  SOOOO I decided to turn that waste into a little diaper cover.   Here is the run-down.
First, cut off the top of the onsie and keep it for your dress.
I used another diaper cover to get the approximate measurements---I just added a little bit to the top for my elastic casing.

This next step is probably not necessary, but I tried it anyway.  I sewed the crotch area closed.  You can see my terribly crooked seam right under the snaps---I was scared to hit the snaps, which resulted in a line that looks like it was sewn by a two year old:)
****If you are planning to add ruffles to the bum of the onesie---like I did---I would wait and sew the crotch shut AFTER sewing on the ruffles.  It will just make it easier to get the onsie around the arm of the machine.  Just a thought.
Next I turned the cover inside out--and sewed the top down about 1/2 inch---leaving a 1 inch opening for inserting the elastic. (I used 1/4 inch elastic because that is what I had--I think baby elastic would work just fine too). Then I used a safety pin and strung the elastic through the casing and FINALLY sewed the casing closed.

Voila!!!  Cute little diaper cover.  Not quite cute enough though----I wanted ruffles.  My little ruffle butt kid is TWO now and her days of wearing diaper covers and ruffles on her butt are quickly disappearing.  SOOO I want each of those days to be RUFFLED!!!
I had a few steps though between diaper cover and ruffle butt.  I had to make the matching dress:)  There are TONS of tutes out there for t-shirt dresses, so I will spare you, but I did do a few things differently.  For starters I had a long sleeved onesie and it is now JUNE, so I wanted to shorten the sleeves.  Good thing I am still on my sleeve shortening kick, so I followed the same general steps as I did in THIS tutorial. 

The only difference is that the end of the sleeve was not at all stretchy, So I just had to pin it on as best as a could and spread the pleats out evenly around the sleeve. I honestly was not sure it would work, but they ended up perfectly cute.
Ta-da!!! Short sleeves.

I found this knit remnant at JoAnne's for pretty much free and I LOVE how comfy this little dress turned out.  I made it more a tunic than a dress because I thought it would be fun in the summer, it would look cute with leggings, and because I have made her about a thousand dresses already for this summer. 
I didn't need to hem this, but I saw THIS tutorial for lettuce edge hems.  I thought it looked cute and girly and I was NOT disappointed.  Cute--check...Girly---check.  Then I added 3 rows of ruffles to the bum (there are tutorials EVERYWHERE for that) and DONE!!!!

Perfect for practicing somersaults. 

And even looks girlie when your Girl isn't acting GIRLY:)

Even when drinking sprinkler water off the slide (shrug---what can ya do???)
I see many of these in my BABY SHOWER future!!!!


13 comments:

Unknown said...

Love love love it...
so adorable.
new follower.
♥Jess

janimal said...

Oh what a good idea! I have lots of onesies that don't fit anymore that may make cute diaper covers. Groovy!

anne maskell said...

That is a fantastic idea! The finished outfit is absolutely adorable! I'm going to have to try this. Thanks so much for the great tutorial. I'm visiting from TTTC, and I'm your new follower. I hope you visit me too!

Countrylivn' said...

Em is too cute, my girls were asking who that cute little girl is? Of course our two year old isnt as cute as yours, you know how that goes.....very cute ruffle bum, I love it!

Sumo @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff said...

I featured your idea on my blog today!

http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/saturday-showcase_19.html

Thanks for linking up!

Sumo

Sew Can Do said...

Great idea & much cuter than a plain onesie. Thanks for linking to Craftastic Monday - would love if you added the party button to your blog:)

Melanie@Crafty Cupboard said...

How awesome! I am always telling my daughter to pull her dress down... this might change her life, and mine :)

Leslie said...

Check you out crafty lady! What a great idea and it is so cute! Thanks for linking up to Hoo's got talent!

Casey Jensen said...

I love this idea! It is super cute and I'm going to try it. I'm not a super crafty person or great sewer but I'm going to give it a go. Thank you for sharing!

SandyQuilts said...

Saw this on Craft Gossip today ... WOW WOW WOW I can't wait unti next summer to make GD#3 some. THANK YOU

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for the great idea!!! I used it to make a baby outfit for a gift.
Grandma Nancy

Neldajay said...

what a brilliant idea! I have tons of ones and I will try this. Thanks for the very good tutorials and for sharing this.

Stacci said...

i just love this great idea. So cute and simple. Thank you. I am definitely a new follower.