Monday, October 24, 2011

Up-cycled baby onesies

Yes, upcycle. Not recycle. Upcycle. Cause I'm cool like that and like to use newfangled words.

Since we lack a Target/Walmart/Cheapo Store in Korea, I can't easily find basic baby clothes - like onesies (babygros). I mean, you CAN find them, but you have to buy them individually, and they are pricey. Not like the handy packs you can find at Target (Carters brand, I love you).

Anyway! It's getting chilly here, and all of Elijah's 6-9 month onesies are short sleeved. As a matter of fact, so are all his 9-12 month ones. And winter is coming. By the time it's warm again, he will have grown out of all of those. So I decided to 'upcycle' the old pajamas and long-sleeved onesies from his 0-6 month stage.

This is the result:

Lil' gangster stylin' in his new threads. 
Not bad, for 15 minutes work! And it certainly saved us a lot of money. I also like that I can mix and match the fabrics. Makes (boring) boys' outfits a little more fun.

It is so easy to do, you should try it! Plus you get to feel all accomplished and everything.

Step 1:
Go through the clothes your baby has grown out of - grab all the long-sleeved ones.

Step 2:
Measure your baby's arm. All I did was use my finger as a measuring stick (I even did it while he was sleeping) ... Elijah's arm is 8 finger segments long.

Step 3:
Measure how long the sleeve should be, adding in the length of the bigger onesie's sleeve.

Step 4:
Cut off the arm of the too-small outfit. I cut off 6 finger segment's worth, as the sleeve on the bigger onesie was 2 FS (finger segments).
The process: cut off arm.  
Step 5:
Turn everything inside out, and pin if desired. It is not necessary.

 I only pinned one of them. Didn't make any difference. 
Step 6:
Sew the arms together. I lined up the sleeve to the hem, and sewed it so that the stitches don't show, and then finished result looks like layered shirts.

Stitch - yeah, my stitches aren't so neat and even. 
Step 7:
Turn it right-side out and put it on your baby.
Tada! Super easy. 


SO EASY! I've done about 5 of them so far.... and Elijah seems to like them too!

So happy with his new shirts!

2 comments:

  1. You are SO clever! I love the idea. They look so stylish and warm. The stretchy fabric makes matching the two sizes of sleeve openings more possible, too, doesn't it? Elijah does look so happy, such cute pictures of him. Love, Aunt Carol

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  2. You are so crafty, Pickle. You could sell these and make a lot of money. You'd be surprised. I love your blog, btw. And you.

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