Well Dressed Man Onesies and Shorts

The practice onesie that I'll be hanging on to for my little guy.

 My brother was married last month, and I decided to take on the responsibility of making some little outfits for  two of my sweet nephews.  I found some men's dress shirts on clearance at Old Navy, and thought that they would make some darling, and lightweight,  little wedding outfits.

The tops have an appliqued tie, and a vest that is attached at the side seams of the onesie.  I ended up using interfacing on both of the vest pieces to provide it with a bit more structure.

The shorts were designed by me, and made to match.  They feature a faux fly, and some decorative tabs on both the side of the short pant, and on the back pocket.  The vests and shorts have several yellow buttons to pull the whole outfit together.

I love that the men's dress shirt's provided a lightweight material for the shorts.  Who wants to make a little baby suffer in the summer heat?  I was able to squeeze both outfits out of the two shirts, but I did have to be very careful when laying out my pattern pieces.

I don't have a tutorial or pattern prepared, but maybe in the future. I was really pleased with the fit of the shorts, and the overall appearance of the outfit, but these little cuties could make anything look good.

I recently took a trip to my local library to hunt down some books on sewing with knits.  I did find a bit of information that helped me research my post on sewing with knits, but I also found this little gem.  A beginning sewing book that includes 10 free patterns.  I love free patterns, and it is always nice to try something new.  The book is S-E-W, Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp.

The Pattern Box 

The Patterns

As you can see the book itself was a bit beat up.  I wasn't quite sure what I'd find inside the box of patterns.  I expected there to be missing patterns, and cut up patterns, but to my delight every pattern was nicely folded and in it's original form.  The book includes a variety of patterns including a wrap around skirt, a naughty secretary pencil skirt, a  cape mod pattern, an elephant stuffy, yoga pants, boxers, a power tie, and many more.  Apart from the paper patterns there are several written patterns that include dimensions for additional projects.  Honestly, I wanted to sew my way through the book, but I knew I'd never make any headway on my TO DO list.  So I picked out a couple of patterns that I was interested in making (and that I had available fabric for) and set to work.

Repurposed Neck Tie Organizer/Hanger

I don't know if this ever happens to anyone else, but I get so sick of picking up my husbands belts and ties off of the closet floor. It seems that anytime clothing is shuffled around in the closet the belts and ties are knocked loose and slip to the floor. Granted we don't have the best organizational system in place, but it is none the less a bit of a bother.

As I was packing boxes for our last move I was ready to throw out several of the hangers that Clark's onesies came on. They are odd little hangers, and these particular onesies came in a set of five. I never hung the onesies back up on the hanger, but I have a really difficult time throwing things out (thanks to my mom). Anyway, as I was ready to toss them I thought that maybe I could use them to organize my husbands ties. It was probably one of my most brilliant ideas yet. We have been using these hangers to organize his ties for almost 8 months now. The ties slip nicely under the curved ends, and never leave a mark on the tie. Each hanger can fit 10 ties. Oh what a dream. Rarely if ever do I have to pick his ties up off the floor. I often have to hang up his ties, but that is a completely different issue. I also use one of these silly little hangers to hang up cotton camisoles. Now if only I could figure out an inexpensive solution for the belts.