tutorial: onesie dress

Onesie Dress Tutorial

The first time I made a onesie dress for Gemma I was so excited. It was adorable! But then I tried to put it on her. I could barely get it over her head- so disappointing. Once the skirt is sewn on with a regular stitch the onesie loses the ability to stretch. I brainstormed and it finally dawned on me... elastic thread! I have used it on so many times as a waistband, I was surprised it didn't occur to me before.  Check it out:

Lots of room so you won't have to wrestle the dress over your little ones head and certainly more comfortable and forgiving on those big chubby baby bellies! :)

All you need is a onesie and a piece fabric- 42" x 8.5". For the tutorial I used a jersey knit but cotton works great too.

Sew the short ends of your fabric together to make a large tube.  If you are using cotton, at this point you need to hem the bottom and finish the top edge with a serger if you have one. If you don't have a serger you can zigzag the edge or trim the edge with pinking shears.

Gather the top edge of the skirt.

Mark the waistline on the onesie. Mine is 7" down from the collar but you'll probably want to measure your daughter.

Arrange the gathers to fit around the onesie, lining up the edge with the waistline. Pin.
Hand wind elastic thread on to your bobbin. I stretch mine slightly as I go. Sew with a straight stitch all the way around the skirt.

That's it! Easy, right?

I'll talk about embellishing the onesie dresses in another post. Hopefully next week but, you know me, it'll probably take six months. Haha!