Sewing Tutorial: Teddy Bear Onesie

I'm in the process of putting together a baby shower gift for my sister-in-law who is expecting baby #3. Of course, I knit an afghan, that's kind of my thing. I want to include a couple other little treats for the baby, as well.

Now it's been a long time since my girl was a baby. As memory serves, one of the essentials in our diaper bag was a clean Onesie. As a new mommy, I didn't have much time for personalizing such items for my daughter. Perhaps I was too sleep deprived. However, as an aunt, I have plenty of time to brighten up a basic five-pack of Onesies with some crafty TLC.

My first idea, applique!

Materials

• Gerber Onesies, washed and dried
• Teddy Bear Cookie Cutter from the Wilton 1993 Christmas Set
• paper
• pen, pencil or stamp pad
• scissors
• fabric scrap
• lightweight, fusible interfacing
• iron
• embroidery floss
• needle
• pins

Directions

So, you may be looking at my materials list going, "Huh! Why would you need a cookie cutter for a sewing project?" Here's my crafting secret. Cookie cutters make great templates for applique. Even better, you probably have a stash of them buried in your cupboard somewhere. I used a teddy bear that is about 4-inches tall, but just about any simple shape will work.

	Make a pattern by tracing your cookie cutter onto a piece of paper. Too tricky to trace? Tap the cutter onto a stamp pad and "stamp" the image onto your paper. Tip: If you don't have a cookie cutter handy, there are tons of line drawings available on the internet.
	Use an iron to fuse the interfacing to the back of your fabric.
	Pin the paper pattern to your fabric.
	Cut around the pattern.
	Position the fabric piece onto the Onesie and pin.
	Finally, blanket stitch, around your fabric with tiny stitches.

Here's a quick refresher on how to Blanket Stitch.

Pulling this little Onesie out of the diaper bag is sure to make any mom smile.