From Onesie To T-Shirt

We’re doing casual potty training with the MiniDork. We’re using the baby signs system but we’re not in a rush. But casual or not, potty training is a pain if your kid wears onesies. Having to unsnap a shirt in addition to removing pants and a diaper is not conducive to speedy potty time. So I decided MiniDork would just not wear them anymore. The only problem was that she had all these cute outfits with onesies. I tried to find shirts that matched the pants but as the outfits were matched sets I couldn’t find anything. That’s when I decided I’d simply turn her onesies into regular shirts.
To remake onesies into shirts use an acrylic ruler and a rotary cutter or use scissors {if you can cut a straight line} to cut across the whole width of the shirt as close to the bottom as possible. Like so:

Unfortunately, after the snap bottoms were cut off, some of the shirts were just not long enough to be worn as t-shirts. As much as I love adorable toddler bellies I didn’t really want my child walking around with hers hanging out all the time. After cutting just try the shirts on your kiddo to see if they’re long enough. If not you can do like me and save them to make into a baby clothes quilt later.
Now you’ll need bias tape and matching thread. I took all my shirts with me to the fabric shop so I knew for sure that what I purchased would coordinate well. I needed about two feet of bias tape for each shirt but you should probably measure yours to be certain. Just measure across the cut area, double it and add an inch or two to be on the safe side {you can always cut off excess but you can’t really add more if you don’t have enough}.
Pin the bias tape to the bottom of the shirt and sew! I used a small zig-zag stitch because it seemed like a good idea since the shirts were knits. {Make sure to fold over the ends of the tape so there are no raw edges showing.}
Why bias tape? Why not just hem? Well, for one hemming makes the shirts even shorter and you’ll want to keep as much length as you can. Also, after several attempts I could not get the hang of sewing the knit fabric by itself. Viggo just kept eating the fabric and ripping it. I tried using paper to stabilize the fabric and keep it from being sucked down towards the bobbin but when I tried to rip the paper away it ripped the stitching too. Finally I did what any seamstress would…I complained about it to my mother. My mom doesn’t sew, but she is very clever. She suggested just sewing a ribbon to the bottom of the shirts so the ribbon could act as a stabilizer. Bias tape seemed less delicate and slippery to work with so I went with that instead. But if you’re a better seamstress than I am you could use ribbon, or blanket binding or whatnot. You could even use strips of a coordinating fabric. Get creative! 

I think she likes it. :)

ETA: To see more shirts click here.