If you’re a mom, on Facebook, who has had a baby in the last few years, chances are you’ve heard of, or are in, some sort of Mom’s group. Well I’m in one too. Our group is seriously awesome. Its a bunch of girls from all over the country who happened to be pregnant at the same time and happened to join the most amazing group ever. Over the last year we’ve all grown so close. We’ve been there through the births of our children, though those early weeks of being up all night, and wondering if our baby will always be so needy. We’ve answered each other’s questions from “what-the-heck-is-this-rash?” questions, to “how do I keep from shooting my husband?” questions, and “does this dress make me look fat?” questions and everything in between! Some of us breastfeed, others use formula, some of us had magical unicorn hippie natural births, while others had c-sections. We’ve shared joys and losses, ups and downs, moments where we think we’re gonna lose it, and moments where we all just laugh at each other. We’re all different, but we all have something in common- we’re moms and we’re there for each other. Its been a beautiful thing to see how so many different women, from all over the country, from such vastly different backgrounds, can come together and support one another with virtually no drama. It really is a miracle.
So one of the things we like to do is send each other gifts! We do several gift exchanges a year. For our babies 6 month birthday I got paired up with a sweet momma with an absolutely darling little girl who loves birdies. Isn’t she just precious? I wanted to do a homemade gift and I had seen some super cute custom onesies on etsy that I knew I could totally DIY, and you can totally use scraps of fabric that you already have lying around. So here’s how you can make your own custom birdie onesie that makes an awesome homemade gift!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Plain onesies
- 2 complimentary fabric scraps.
- Embroidery floss (various colors)
- Sewing Needle
- Scissors
- Iron
- Paper and Pencil
- Iron on interfacing
- A couple beads or a button (for the eye)
Start by getting your onesies. I got the Carter’s pastel set with the lace edges on Amazon. They are simple and sweet. Just what I was looking for.
Next, you’ll need a template. I just freehanded a birdie shape onto a piece of paper and cut it out. Or you can print out something like this
(I just did a simple google image search for “birdie vector”).
You’ll need three templates, one for the outside of the birdie, one for the beak and one for the wing. Again this is a simple enough design that you can easily freehand the template.
Trace your birdie, beak and wing onto your fabric. Then flip the templates backwards and trace them onto your interfacing. You will need to cut out two of the birdies from the interfacing (I’ll explain why later).
Cut everything out. You’ll want to use a different fabric for each piece so you will have a nice contrast. Iron the facing onto the back of the large birdie piece and onto the wing and the beak. Peel the paper backing off the back.
Using a contrasting thread color, stitch the wing onto birdie. I made my stitches about 1/4 inch long, to give it a nice, old fashioned, homemade look.
Next, stitch a little eye onto your birdie. You can do this with a bead, or a cute little button. Or simply stitch a little circle or X to make an eye.
After you’ve stitched on the wing and the eye, lay your second piece of interfacing on the back of the birdie and iron it on, over the stitching. This will ensure that everything lays nice and flat on the onesie.
Now its time to sew the birdie to the onesie. Use a different color thread for even more adorable contrast. Be sure to only sew to the front layer of the onesie. Don’t be a ding-dong and sew through the whole thing. Lol, I believe you are smarter than this, but you never know. I’ve done much dumber things when sewing!
Now that your birdie is on, you can stitch on the beak, and make some little legs with yellow or orange stitching. So easy and super fun to make. You can get so creative with the colors and do all sorts of nice combinations. Make several for a sweet, homemade, baby shower or 1st birthday gift. Have fun and do send me pictures of your finished projects!
