Appliqued Onsies

After a friend told me about her adventures in applique I was inspired to design some custom onsies for my little guy.

I highly recommend this project because
-it's affordable; I used scrap fabric and bought onsies at Walmart: $8 for 3 onsies
-it's an easy and quick craft; I easily finished a couple in a 1 hour nap time
-the end result is something super cute

Here is what I came up with...

Thanksgiving Turkey-applique

Ties-applique

Vest and Tie-applique

inspiration from B is for Boy blog
(although I did not follow her directions--I simplified the vest and drew my own pattern)

Argyle-applique and embroidery
inspiration from the fickle pickle blog

Supplies Needed

1) a onsie or shirt
Walmart sells white Carter-brand onsies in a set of 3 for $8 (sizes run small); Target sells a variety of solid colors and craft stores sell t-shirts in a variety of solid colors and sizes.

2) fabric scraps

3) wonder-under to attach fabric to shirt; for the argyle project I also used interfacing to make the shirt fabric thicker/stable/sturdier to hand embroider the slashed-line. Both wonder-under and interfacing are sold by the yard at craft stores.

4) pencil and paper to draw pattern

5) scissors

6) iron and ironing board

7) thin cloth or rag

8) OPTIONAL: sewing machine- to applique the project onto shirt; wonder-under is enough to apply fabric to shirt and have it secure enough for laundering; sewing around the edge gives the project a finished look and helps keep fabric from fraying around the edge.

9) ARGYLE PROJECT: embroidery hoop, thread, and needle

Instructions

1) sketch out the pattern for the design you've chosen.

I fit the vest to the onsie I was using or I would share the template.

2) select your fabric and cut it into pieces large enough to fit pattern onto.

3) follow the instructions on wonder-under packaging to adhere the fabric to wonder-under using a iron.

Check that your iron is clean before adhering fabric to it. I made the mistake of not checking during the argyle project and stickiness got onto one of my fabric squares (not a big deal, but it looks less professional). That being said-- make sure your iron does NOT touch the stickiness of the wonder-under!

4) trace pattern onto wonder-under and cut it out.

5) remove wonder-under paper from fabric (be sure to leave adhesvie on; if both come off, you need to apply more heat to the fabric.

I used tweezers to remove the wonder-under from smaller fabric pieces (turkey eyes and nose)

6) place cut outs onto shirt and manuever them until you find the precise placement that you want

7) iron fabric onto onsie following wonder-under's directions.

8) sew around the edges of design using your sewing machine.
*I found the tutorial on Sew Like My Mom to be VERY helpful in walking me thru the applique process for my shirts.

9) for Argyle project:
after stitching around the edges of the 3 fabric squares, put your shirt into a sewing loop and stitch in a slashed line with embroidery thread. After hand stitching the line, iron on interfacing over the stitches (to further secure them) from the INSIDE of the shirt.

Gavin has worn these shirts a couple times each and I have laundered them--each looks great after multiple wears, spit-ups, and machine laundering. I think these would make a cute gift or an inexpensive outfit for a dressy event.