I was thrilled when Aimee asked me to write a guest blog on Ain’t Yo Mama’s blog. I mean…I’m not a veteran blogger by any stretch, but find it fun, and since I finally own my own domain now, I’ve been making a point to blog more frequently…but I digress. To start it off, a little about me. I’m not a mother (yet). Im not a wife (yet). However in the last year, I started sewing baby clothes and selling them on Etsy. Baby Clothes? Seriously? Why? You don’t even have kids!  Well…I guess I’m nesting. That’s my only guess. With my nesting though I have automatic baby gifts to give for showers, and nowadays all of my friends or friends of friends are popping em out. My sales are mainly to my friends…and I’m totally OK with that.

Onesie prep

I don’t know if its giving away trade secrets if I let you in on my process, but I figure there are design blogs dedicated to sharing designs and craft ideas, so I wanted to let you in on how to customize your own blank onesie or t-shirt. I buy my onesies wholesale (there are a ton of vendors), but you can buy blank onesies in multi-packs and start from there.

I happen to have a lot of fabric lying around, so I am able to pick and choose what colors, etc I use, but if you are in the market for fabric, and want to put a little fabric of each color (onesies are small), I recommend using eBay. I buy charm packs that people sell for quilting. I find that 5″ squares are perfect, and I can buy the colors I need for my design of choice.

Pin and Stitch

My process is pretty simple. I figure out what design I want (draw it out on paper first), and then either draw freehand or trace the pattern on to fabric. Football season is in full effect, so I went with a simple shaped football. I then take my pins and pin it down to the onesie. I thread my needle and handstitch all the way around. If more colors and patterns are necessary, I pin and stitch those too, and if I have pieces too small for thread only, I use fabric glue where it makes sense. A lot of folks use a fuseable interfacing under the fabric for extra stiffness, but I personally like the way the fabric lays without it.

Adorable! Finished onesie with matching beanie!

The best part of hand-stitching, is its ok if you slip on a stitch every once in a while, and contrasting stitches are fine! It makes it look more handmade. In this case I even did the same to a cute beanie to match!

The stuff you buy in the stores is cute, but if you want to add the personal touch, and a little flare, I highly recommend making your own. No sewing machine skills required.

-peas

Lauren | www.thelittlegoat.com