Ruffled Onesies!

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This is a great gift!!  My mother is attending two baby showers this month and wanted me to make something really cute for the two little lady babies that will be born sometime in July.  I had seen a onesie with ruffles a few months earlier at The Cottage Home.  She made a set of onesies for a pair of twins and the boy's onesie is just darling.  Check out the link above to see what I mean.

For mine, I wanted to personalize the onesies so I used Freezer Paper to make a stenciled initial.  This is so easy and makes a very crisp line.

So here we go!  First, I hand drew my letter on the paper side of the freezer paper and used my exacto knife to cut it out.  Luckily, my letters were E and H, therefore, I didn't have any floating pieces (D, P, A, O, etc.). 

Next, I stabilized my fabric by ironing a sheet of freezer paper to the wrong side of my fabric.  This helps the fabric's fibers to stay put and also catches any paint that goes through the fabric.

I then ironed my letter (wax side down) to the right side of the fabric and presto, I have my stencil!

Now the freezer paper is fused to the fabric and the paint will not
bleed through the lines.  It's brilliant!!!

I then took a sponge and some fabric paint - I just used Tulip paint - and went to town!

Make sure you really get in the corners with the paint.

 The paint's directions said to let it dry for four hours, but I let it dry overnight just to be safe because at the four hour mark it was feeling tacky.

So once I peeled off the freezer paper, this is what the letter looked like.

Next I ironed double sided fusible web to the back of the painted fabric. This is great for applique and that's pretty much what I was going to be doing with this piece.  I needed to fuse it to the bib so it wouldn't move when I sewed on the ruffle.  By the way, I used lightweight fusible web.

I then used a template to trace out the shape on the back of the fusible web and cut both the fused web and fabric.  Perfect!

This is what it looked like completely ironed and fused to the onesie.

I then added the ruffle.  I used the same fabric for both the onesies since both mommies were using the same colors, lime and pink, for their nursery - Yay for me, I didn't have to buy fabric!

First off, onesies are quite difficult to work with.  Those itty-bitty things just don't want to cooperate.  There was one point when I really wanted to pull a Hulk Hogan and rip the thing right down the middle.  Yes....I did just reference a wrestling icon and No...I am not a fan.  Just know, my good friend Mrs. Olsen got me thinking about wrestling, so it's all her fault!  Love you, A!

For the ruffle, I cut a strip 2.5" wide and 18" long, folded and pressed it down the middle with right sides facing.  I then stitched the ends together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

I then turned the fabric right side out and ran a gathering stitch all the way down the raw edge and proceeded to gather the fabric.

I stitched the raw edge to the outside of the applique using a zig-zag stitch to try and clean up the massive amount of frays. 

I then turned to one of my favorites tools in my toolbox, and I do mean toolbox literally;  Its cute, it's purple and gray.  I pulled out the good ole' Wonder Tape!  Oh, it's the best thing ever.  It's a "double-sided transparent tape which can be stitched. Wonder Tape will not gum up on needle and completely disappears in first washing. An alternative to pinning or thread basting." per the description at Joann.com.  I couldn't have said it better so I quoted, and if I had tried to use my own words, I would have seemed like some love sick teenager.  I just love the stuff and I used my last bit on this project so I will be making a trip very soon.

I applied the wonder tape to my rick-rack to hold it down before stitching and of course, it worked like a charm!

And with that, all that was left to do was the back.  I basically did the same thing as the front.  On the bum I stitched the raw side of the two gathered ruffles (these were 2.5" x 20" ungathered) to the onesie and then for the top fabric stitched the rick-rack to the raw edge.  Here's what the finished product looks like!

This turned out so cute that I had to make matching bows for the little babes!

The girls will get one of each and they are lined all the way around instead of on just one side.  However, if the fabric still won't hold the little hairs, a strip of Velcro or a sliver of a make-up sponge glued to the inside bottom of the clip (I prefer the make-up sponge) will add extra support.  But I'm hoping that the fabric's friction will be enough.

So, now my mother has two baby shower gifts and I have a three extra onesies to now play with for my little bundle to come.  My next post will probably have another fun applique.  Or it will be the kitchen floor mats, or Grace's night gowns, or the shirt I just designed...as you can see, I have a ton of projects on my mind.  One thing I know, they will all make their way here.  Thanks for visiting!