The Onesie Dress Tutorial

When Stella was teeny, I made her a onesie dress.
It is the perfect little dress for a little girl, and is pretty simple to make.

Here is a tutorial:

None of these instructions need to be followed exactly, just fyi.
They are more like suggestions.

Step 1. Gather your supplies.
You will need:
a onesie, any size
1/3 yard fabric for dress
less than 1/4 yard fabric for ruffle (really just a 3 inch wide strip), optional
1/8 inch wide elastic, length depends on size of onesie
(I needed 15 inches for my size 3-6 month onesie.)

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Step 2. Wash and dry onesie and fabric.

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Step 3. Measure the onesie.
Put your measuring tape straight across the front, directly under the sleeves.
(My onesie measured 7.5 inches across.)

Then measure the length, starting about where you measured the width.
(Mine was 9.5 inches.)

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Step 4. Cut (or rip, as I prefer) the fabric.

For the dress:
You will need a long rectangle.
Take the first measurement from Step 3 (7.5 in) and multiply it by 4 (30 in).
This is the length of the rectangle.
The width is the second measurement from Step 3 (9.5 in), minus about 2 inches if you plan on adding a ruffle (7.5-ish).
Rip a piece of fabric to size.
(I prefer ripping because it is fast and accurate.)

For the ruffle:
Take the length of the rectangle for the dress (30 in) and multiply it by 1.5 (45 in).
This is the length of your ruffle.
The width can vary, but I find 3 inches (it will be 2 inches when finished) to be a good size.
Rip a piece of fabric to size.

Press torn edges.

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Step 5. Sew side seams together on dress and ruffle.
(I prefer a 1/2 inch seam allowance, but anything will work.)

Press.

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Now finish the top edge of the dress and the bottom edge of the ruffle
by turning the rough edge under about 1/4 inch, and then again, and stitching.
(If you chose not to add a ruffle, you would finish both edges of the dress.)

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Step 6. Gather the ruffle and attach to dress.
After gathering, pin the ruffle to the dress, right sides together, matching side seams, and making sure to spread the gather evenly.
Sew in place.
(This step is a kind of a pain.)
Finish the rough edge inside with a zig zag stitch.
(This keeps it from raveling and just looks nicer.
Also, this is when I dream of owning a serger.)
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Step 7. Topstitch
This will make the ruffle lie flat and pretty.
It also looks more official this way.

See?

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Step 8. Attach the elastic.

Remember when you measured across the front of the onesie way back in step 3?
You need that measurement again (7.5 in) times two (15 in).
Cut the elastic this length.
Position the elastic on the wrong side of the fabric, just under the finished edge, and sew it on, pulling tight to stretch it as you go.
(I like to mark the halfway point of the elastic and the dress with some pins. I try to match these up as I am sewing so the elastic will be even throughout the dress.)
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Step 9. Attach the dress to the onesie.
Pin the dress to the onesie, making sure the top edge is straight.

Sew in place.
I use a small zig zag stitch directly over the elastic.
Take your time on this step, and make sure the onesie is flat underneath.

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Step 10. Give to a pretty baby girl.
{This one is headed to Mrs. Dub, and another just like it to Josie
(two more of my favorite old roomies).
They are both expecting girls this summer. Hurray!}

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This dress leaves a lot of room for embellishment, if that is your thing.
Piping, ric rac, ribbon, etc. would all dress it up a bit.

I know the fabrics I chose are not exactly understated, like I talked about here, but I just couldn't help myself. I think it's ok to be bold and colorful sometimes.

All measurements can be approximated, because a gathered dress leaves a lot of room for error.

What I love most about this dress is that since it still has the onesie underneath, when you pick up the baby, it won't ride up under her armpits.
I hate when that happens.


a note: A few alternate instructions can be found here.


Good luck!
Feel free to email me if you have questions.
barefootstephanie@gmail.com