Shirred Overalls

It's easy to make cute dresses and skirts for the summer, but I have a hard time coming up with weather appropriate attire for the little one when it's cold out.

I want something cute and feminine, but functional.  The little one has just learned to crawl, so a roomy pair of pants is ideal right now. But i'm sooo tired of pants.  Seriously.  So she ends up wearing leggings under a onsie most days.  Nothing wrong with the 80's aerobics instructor look, but we need a little more variety around here.  

Solution:  Shirred Overalls.  I. love. them.

   

I started with the Summer Vacation Dress from MADE.  It has a shirred top and several variations.  If you do not have the pattern, it's only $6 and totally worth it.  She gives excellent tips on how to sew with elastic thread.

I made the entire dress with straps, buttons and even a hem.  Rather than hemming just below the knees, I extended the length all the way to the ankles (so I could end up with long overalls instead of a shortie).

Any dress pattern with a gathered waist will work (extra fabric for room in the legs).  I suggest one with a shirred top, unless you add snaps to the bottom, for easy removal.

Here's my dress before I added legs: (it was almost too cute to cut, but I went for it anyways)

1.  Cut.  I took a long body suit that I already owned and lined it up on top of the dress.  I used this as my guide to cut out the crotch.  As you can see below, I forgot to leave room for seams.  I would suggest adding a 1/2 inch around the whole crotch area for seams.   

A different angle.

2.  Crotch piece.  Now we need to make the crotch piece.  On the body suit I already had, it looked like this.

I cut out a similarly shaped piece using this one as my guide.  Straight on one side and curved on the other.  This is important because it will attach to the front of the overalls in a straight line and curve in the back to give a little wiggle room for big baby bums. 

A piece that is curved on both sides will also work, you will just be able to see it from the front and back when they are worn.

3.  Line up and pin.  I found the middle of the crotch piece by folding it in half and marking it with a pin.  I did the same for the back side of the overalls. 

Match the two center pins with fabric right side together like this:

 

and pin the curved side of the piece to the back side of the overalls.  Like this:

Please excuse the funky geometric print....I didn't do this right the first time, so I had to take pictures with some scrap material.

4.  Sew using a 1/2 inch seam.  Serge or zig zag and trim off the excess.

5.  Iron flat.  Now you have something like the photo below.  You want to have extra fabric on both sides of the crotch piece.  You'll probably have more than shown in the photo below.  

                            

                            

6.  Turn the overalls right sides together.  Pin the front legs of the overalls to the back legs with the straight edge of the crotch piece acting as the center for the back legs.  Treat the crotch piece as part of the overall leg piece and pin the whole thing together.  It was hard to get a good picture of this, but you can sort of see what I mean below:

                            

7.  Sew using a 1/2 inch seam.  Serge or Zig Zag and trim the excess.

8.  Iron.  Now you should have something that looks like this:

9.  Insert elastic thread into your bobbin.  With the settings that work best on your machine for shirring (usually high tension, long stitch length), sew 3-4 rows of elastic thread around the bottom of each leg to create the gathered look.  You could also sew on 1/4 inch wide elastic about 1/8 inch away from the bottom hem of each leg if you don't want to mess with elastic thread.

And thats all.  If you haven't already noticed, I did not make this with snaps for easy removal.  The benefit of not having to insert them far outweighed the benefit of having them there for diaper changes.  The top is stretchy and super easy to get off, so it hasn't been a problem.  You could easily add 5-6 snaps along the crotch area by reinforcing the edges with more fabric and inserting the snaps.  For a good tutorial on this visit Made by Rae here.  

Her faces get funnier every day.

                         

 

It's hard to get a front shot.  She can't stand on her own yet, but you get the idea.

  

Cute bum.

And it's near impossible to get her to hold still long enough to snap a photo.  We're working on it.

Fleece Ear Warmers

Need a way to keep the little ears in your life warm? 

These ear warmers are double layered and made of fleece to ensure extra softness and maximum warmth.  Perfect for playing outside on those cold winter days. 

I love that they are versatile. You can keep it simple, or embellish so your little guy can support dad's favorite team. 

Even better, these babies can be made in 15 minutes or less.  Seriously.  You are going to make one for your little guy and then decide to make another for every member of your family.

See?? What did I tell you.  

Now lets get started. 

Materials:
2/8 of a yard of fleece (or 1/8 yard of two different colors)

-coordinating thread

-quilting foot (not necessary, but recommended)

-scraps of fleece or other embellishments of choice


Sizing:

3 months and under, 16 inches

3-6 months, 17 inches

6-9 months, 18 inches

9-12 months, 19 inches

1 year +, 20 inches

Adult regular, 22 inches

Adult large, 24 inches

I usually use these measurements, but keep in mind that heads run on the large side in my family.  You may need to decrease the measurements a bit to ensure a good fit.  Also note that this goes over the ears, so measuring the circumference of their head will not ensure an accurate fit.  Be sure to account for ears no matter how small they are.  

How:
1.  Make the pattern.


First, fold a piece of paper hot dog style (lengthwise).  Cut it to half the length you wish the finished band to be.  In the picture below you will see the paper is 8 1/2 inches long.  This means my finished band length will be 17 inches long .  

For a child's band, make the thickest part 3 inches and the smallest part 2 1/2 inches.  I do this by marking the two points on the folded paper.  Then I draw a sloped line to connect the dots.  I like the shape shown above best because it covers ears well and isn't too bulky in the front.  Drawing a straight line will work as well, it will just come to more of a point in the back.


**For adults the thickest part of the band is 4 inches and the smallest part is 3 inches.  The length will correspond to the sizing in the chart above.

 Cut your pattern from the folded paper and tape the small ends together in the middle.  Here's what your finished patter should look like.

Now lay your pattern on both layers of fleece and cut.  Fleece is typically more stretchy one way than the other.  I have found that it doesn't make much of a difference which way you cut because the threads will keep it from stretching too much in the end. 

**If you want to add any embellishments to your band, do it now.  This way, you won't have unsightly threads poking through the other side of the band.  For the "Y" seen earlier, I cut the shape out of contrasting fleece and sewed around the edges onto the center of one piece of the fleece band.  Be sure to account for seam allowance when you sew it on; leave about 3/8 of an inch on each side of the band.    

With right sides together, pin and sew band down long sides only with 1/4" seam allowance.  I like to use my quilting foot because fleece is stretchy and it helps keep it in the shape I cut it out in and pull both layers through evenly.  If you are using a regular foot I suggest trimming your band if it has stretched.  

Turn fabric so right sides are facing out and top-stitch using 1/8 inch seam allowance.  Fleece does not iron well (I know- I tried- lets just say the bottom of my iron is not looking to good right now), so rather than ironing, use your guide hand to press the seams down flat as you topstitch.  This will help the sides come together so you get a nice looking edge.

Switch your machine to a zig-zag stitch set at it's widest stitch length.  Line your short ends up under your presser foot so that the seem is directly center with the foot.  At this point you may notice that your sides do not match up well (see below).  No worries.  Fleece is very forgiving and very stretchy.  Just use your guide hand to stretch the fleece as you go to make the ends match.

Zig-zag down the short length two or three times to secure.  It is going to be stretched over big heads and we wouldn't want it coming apart.

And your done.  Try it on your little guy...or big guy and get outside!

Now if we could just find a way to keep little noses warm, life would be perfect.