The Little Man Gown Tutorial

I was recently invited by Laura from ON{the laundry}LINE to guest post during her "Summertime and the Living is Thrifty" series.  So here I am sharing my most recent thrifty creation for my soon to arrive little man, The Little Man Gown.

I've been meaning to make a little something for this new bundle of joy that is due to arrive in a month in half, but just haven't had the time to sit down and actually get it done.  I'm sure you can imagine that with two girls, we have a lot of pink in this house.  I love baby gowns, but we really didn't have any that would be appropriate for this little guy.

My husband recently left a stack of old t-shirts in my studio that he was done wearing.  He said before he put them in the "donate" pile, he thought I might want to make something out of them (he knows me pretty well).  The shirt above is kind of a joke.  We used to have a really awesome six-toed, boy cat named George.  Brett would always call him a mushroom and one day I asked him, "why?".  He said it was because he was such a "Fun Guy"........get it? Funghi?

Well, anyway, George passed away at the young age of 3, but when I saw this shirt I knew I had to buy it in honor of our late "Fun Guy".  Brett wore it as an undershirt a few times to humor me, but it isn't quite his style.  I thought this would be really cute for the new little man coming into our lives.

I decided to turn this t-shirt into a baby gown.  You could certainly use this tutorial to make a recycled baby girl gown too, but since I have boys on the brain, I'm calling it "The Little Man Gown".  Oh, and the best part about this gown is that if you use a shirt/supplies you already have - it's almost free!!  That's being pretty thrifty, right?

Supplies:
1 large t-shirt (the larger the better)
1/4 yard contrasting knit (I used rib-knit)
18" thin elastic
Scissors
Sewing Machine (make sure you use a needle designed for knits)
Old baby gown to use as pattern
Spray starch (optional)

Directions:

 Grab a large shirt.  It needs to be pretty big because you need the length for the gown.

For this tutorial I used one of my girls old baby gowns as the pattern.  I know there are tons of commercial patterns by McCalls and Simplicity if you would prefer to use a gown pattern.  But if you have a baby gown lying around, just go ahead and use that.

Cut around the baby gown leaving at least a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around.  Cut the neck out of the t-shirt, but make sure to leave some length towards the top (see picture below) because we will be overlapping this part of the gown.

Here is what the top of your gown should look like after you have cut it out using your pattern.  Again, notice how I left some length towards the top of the gown, near the neck-line.

Now you need to cut out both of your arm pieces.  Lay the arm flat along an extra piece of t-shirt material (I used the sides of the t-shirt).  For this piece you will need to cut it TWICE as large as the arm pattern piece (see picture below).  Cut a curve towards the top.  You don't have to be super exact with this part.  Trust me, don't be scared.

Here are your two arm pieces after they have been cut out.  See what I mean?  They are double the size of the arm piece that we used for our pattern.

It's time to cut our contrasting binding.  I used rib-knit because I like the way it stretches, but you could certainly use pieces from another recycled t-shirt.  I cut 2 strips, both 2" x 36" and that was just the right amount for the gown and hat.  You can do shorter pieces if you are working with less yardage, you'll just have to cut more than 2.

Here is your contrasting binding once it has been cut into strips.

You are going to fold the binding like you would bias tape.  Fold in each side in 1/2" and press.  This is when your spray starch will come in very handy.  The starch really helps give the knit more body and structure, so use it liberally during this step.

Once you have folded the sides in by 1/2", you now want to press your binding in half length-wise.  Again, use your spray starch.

Now that your binding is complete, it's time to add it to our main gown pattern pieces.  Pin binding around both neck-lines.  Sandwich the main gown piece in between your folded binding.  Stitch the binding to the front and back of the gown as well as on the ends of both sleeve pieces.

Once you have the binding sewn on, overlap the front and back of the gown to form the neck-hole.  Baste stitch around the armholes to hold in place.  Basting means to use a slightly longer stitch (I use 3.0).  You want to overlap the neck enough so that your armholes are the same length as the curve on your arm pieces.

Pin your arm pieces along the armhole opening.  Place the main gown piece and the armhole piece right-sides together.  The pinning may seem a little strange for this part because of the curve of the armhole, but just keep working it around.  Stitch in place using a 1/2" seam allowance.  Do this for both arm pieces on each side of the gown.

Stitch down both sides of the gown.  Place gown front and back, right-sides together.  Start sewing at the wrist and go all the way down the arm and down the side of the gown.  Do this on both sides.  Turn right-side out and press.

Stitch binding around the bottom of the gown.  Leave a 2" - 3" opening for threading your elastic.

Cut an 18" piece of thin elastic and thread through the bottom binding.  Use a safety pin or a bodkin (shown here) for threading.  Stitch the ends of the elastic together, overlapping about 1".  If you are using really skinny elastic you can simply knot it several times.  Sew the opening closed.

If you have some extra t-shirt fabric leftover you may want to make a matching little hat.  Again, I used a 0-3 month baby hat as my pattern piece and cut the hat out of the sleeve.  Cut around the hat leaving a 1/2" seam allowance.   Place right-sides together to sew the hat.  Turn and press.   Then sew the coordinating binding around the bottom.

And there you have it, a super-cool gown for your super-cool dude!

If you're looking for some other thrifty tutorials, check out some of these previously seen on The Cottage Home...........

 Summer Rag Wreath

Tiered Party Trays

Place Mat Throw Pillow

Dress Shirt Sleep Sack

T-Shirt Shrug

Tile Coasters

And for even more fun and thrifty ideas, head over to Laura's blog and check out some of the other awesome ideas from some other very talented bloggers!  Thanks for the invite, Laura - it's been fun!!

Playdate Outfit Sew Along: Day 5 - Capris/Shorts

If you've made it this far, I want to say thank you for staying with me.  I've had a lot of fun sewing with you all so far!  And I hope you guys are having fun too.

So now we are moving on to the capris/shorts.  I decided to make the capris for my little lady, so I will be referring to them as such through this post.

First we need to add the cuff to the capris.  Place the cuff on top of the bottom of the pants, right sides together and sew together at the bottom edge.  Do this on all four pant pieces.  Press seams open and then press the right side as well.

If you notice, I marked my back pant pieces with a safety pin so I can easily tell them apart from the front pieces......sometimes it's really hard to tell.

Next line up a front and back piece, right sides together and sew down the long center curve of the pants.  Press seams open.  I opted to use my serger here because the pants were not lined.  If you don't have a serger (which I'm sure a lot of you don't), then just be sure to use your pinking shears to finish the edges to prevent fraying.

Open the pieces you just sewed together.  Line up the front and back pieces with one another, right sides together and sew around the crotch area.  Press seams open.

Now you have what pretty much looks like a pair of pants.  Stitch both side seams, right sides together, but make sure to stop before you sew the cuff as the pattern instructs.

Next, press the cuff to make the seams for the side slits.  Pin in place and stitch according to pattern directions.  I'm not 100% that I did this correctly, but it seemed to work out well.

Above is what the cuff side slits will look like after you have stitched them into place.

Next we need to hem the capris.  Turn the hem up 1/2" and then another 1/2" towards the wrong side of the pants and stitch into place.  This is where I love to use my hem gauge - it comes in very handy for this step!

Now we move onto the waist-band.  Stitch the front and back of the waist-band, right sides together, at the side seams.

I don't know if you recall, but I think the back waist-band piece (H) was labeled incorrectly as front waist-band, so don't let this confuse you.

Press your waist-band side seams and then press your waist-band in half.

Open your waistband back up and sew your elastic into the back waist-band piece at the side seams.  Make sure to stitch this back and forth several times so it is nice and secure.  Again, this is another spot where I think I did what the instructions called for, but I'm not 100% sure.

Once you've sewn in the elastic at the side seams fold the waist-band back in half.  Place the raw edge of the waist-band in line with the raw edge of the top of the capris.  Stitch into place and press seams open.  I found this to be slightly tricky with the elastic already sewn in, but just work with it and it will turn out just right.

Here is what your waist-band will look like once you have pressed your seams.  It will be nice and flat on the front and gathered with elastic on the back.  A flat front pant gives a really nice look on a little girl because it reduces any of the bulk in the front that elastic might cause.

So, that's it!!  We're done.  If you have your own labels, now would be a good time to sew one into your garment!  And now it's time to try your outfit on your little lady and be proud of all your hard work.  There is nothing better than having my girls LOVE one of the outfits I've made for them.  It makes all the time (and sometimes frustration) well worth it!

So here's my completed outfit for Miss Savannah Rose.  I added a woven trim at the bottom of the top just to add a little interest.

Thank you guys SO much for joining me on this sewing journey.  I hope you had fun and maybe learned a little something along the way.  I know, I did! 

And don't forget, click HERE to add your pictures to The Cottage Home Flickr Pool to enter The Cottage Home "Sew Along" contest.  Next week I will reveal the finalists and then the readers will get to vote on their favorite look.  The prize is a $50 gift certificate to Fairytale Frocks and Lollipops to use on anything in the shop - who wouldn't want that, right?

Playdate Outfit Sew Along: Day 4 - The Flower

So now that we've got our top or dress completed, it's time to add the fun, accent flower.  This part of the pattern is completely optional, but I think it adds a nice little bit of whimsy to the outfit.  You can get as creative as you would like with this accessory, but I opted to follow the pattern and just add an extra-large fabric covered button to the center.

You've got to start by cutting 8 petals.  I used the accent fabric for the petals, but you could use whatever fabric you like......maybe even something less matchy and more bold.....it's up to you.

Fold your petals in half, wrong sides together, and stitch down one side.  I clipped some of the bulk off the very tip, so that they would be easier to turn right side out.

After you've sewn all eight petals, turn them right side out.  Try using a sharper point (like a point-turner) to really get the corners nicely turned.  Press with seams down the middle according to pattern instructions.

For the next step, I ran a gathering stitch across four petals at a time.  I then pulled the bobbin thread to gather the petals.  Once I had them gathered tight enough, I tied the ends of the threads together to hold them in place.  I also opted not to top-stitch each petal just because I prefer this look.

Place four of your petals on top of the other four petals in an alternating position.  Then run a stitch around in a circle to hold them in place.

Here is my flower before the addition of the button.  Choose your button and add it to the center of the flower.  I stitched the button onto the flower at the same time I sewed it to my top.

And there you have it - a fun, flower accessory.  I love the idea of adding this flower to a headband or even adding a pin on the back.  I think it would be really fun to make one of these for myself to pin to my purse or cardigan when Savannah's wearing this outfit.  A little bit of "mommy and me" never hurt anyone, right?

Tomorrow is day 5 of our sew along where we will be working on the capris/shorts.  If you've reached your final destination of the sew along and were just doing the dress, don't forget to add pictures of your completed sew along look to The Cottage Home Flickr Pool if you want to be considered for the contest and $50.00 gift certificate.  And for the rest of you, see you tomorrow!

Click HERE to visit The Cottage Home Flickr Pool