Jul 23, 2010

From Onesie To T-Shirt

onesie t shirt sewing tutorial craft easy
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:
onesie t shirt sewing tutorial craft easy
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.
onesie t shirt sewing tutorial craft easyNow 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}.onesie t shirt sewing tutorial craft easy
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! 
onesie t shirt sewing tutorial craft easy
I think she likes it. :)

ETA: To see more shirts click here.


sigsew

12 comments:

  1. That last picture of her is the absolute CUTEST!

    Anyway, I tried doing this once and it didn't work out too well for me. But then again, that was 3-years ago. I might as well attempt it again for my new baby. :)

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  2. How wonderful! Makes me wish I had some onesies to try & convert :-D

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  3. I love that last picture

    I'd end up cutting too much so I think ill just leave it up to you. I tried doing it once with a super cute beatles onesie but I FAILED :/

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  4. I love the idea! The other thing that comes to mind if they are a bit short is to add a little coordinating ruffle or just a band of knit fabric. If you use a small zig zag stitch to sew it together it will have a bit of stretch and the thread will not be prone to snapping when it is pulled on. BTW: that pic of minidork is just ADORABLE!

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  5. I was planning on turning their long-sleeve onesies into shirts for layering this winter. Great idea to use bias tape to preserve the length.

    Love your little girl's smile! She's adorable.

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  6. She is SO adorable Holly! Really cool idea!

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  7. I just did this to the same shirt last week! Funny that I found your post today!

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  8. I decided to convert a onesie today... i ralized my son had no tshirt in his size and tooooo many onesies... so i canged that... and will probably do more :)

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  9. I just followed your tutorial and linked to your page! Hope you don't mind! Thanks for the inspiration!!

    http://yehlofit.blogspot.com/2011/07/make-something-monday-convert-onesie.html

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  10. What a great idea. Cute to match with homemade diaper covers for wee little ones. You could add a strip of the diaper cover fabric to the bottom of a cutoff onesie to coordinate. Great way to use those pesky 2" strips left over from the diaper cover material.

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  11. THANK YOU!!!! Exactly what I was looking for. We HATE the onesie as a quick diaper check is too hard. With shirts just pull the pants back and look in. But all the best outfits are onesies. As a relatively newbie sewer, I am going to give it a shot - wish me luck!

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