Baby Clothes

Upcycled Clothing Blogs

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I’m always looking for inspiration for sewing and new ideas for upcycling so I thought I’d share my favourite upcycled clothing blogs. I’ve also got a few sewing and upcycling blogs I’ve subscribed to too, love the newsletters and free patterns that drop into my inbox!

Criss cross baby dressOne of the first projects I made for this blog was a criss-cross dress with ruffled pants to match. (you can see it here). The pattern was free, delivered to my inbox from Melly Sews. You have to subscribe for the free patterns but don’t get bombarded with emails. Around one a month, usually with a free pattern included. The patterns are well written and with easy to follow instructions, worth the sign-up for me!

 

 

 

free baby dress sewing patternAnother favourite of mine is Sew Kate Sew where I got the free baby dress sewing pattern. I didn’t need to subscribe for this one, it’s freely available on her site. I decided to subscribe anyway and again, not too many emails, only every couple of months.

 

 

 

Diaper BagI made this diaper bag from a tutorial at Karen’s blog. It’s probably one of the most useful items I’ve made for baby Lilly and has been in constant use since she was born. I plan to do another one for my latest expected Grandchild, a boy this time! Karen has some neat ideas for kids clothes, not many tutorials or free patterns, but I like her ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

the thrifty coupleOne of my favourite sites for upcycling and thrifty living is The Thrifty Couple. It’s easy to spend hours on there looking at all the great ideas! From tips to saving money on diapers to DIY around the home and printable guides it’s a great resource for upcycled living.

 

 

 

diaper cakeThe Tip Junkie is full of ideas and tutorials for upcycling and where I got the idea for making a taggie blanket. I have a long list of projects I’d like to make starting with a diaper cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

kids activity blogIf you’ve landed on Upcycled Baby Clothes you’ve more than likely got kids or grandkids. Keeping them amused can be a challenge, especially during the winter months. Kids Activity Blog is loaded with ideas for keeping the kids happy. There’s also ideas for outdoor activities. The kids menu is sectioned into age groups making the site easy to navigate. I particularly like the printable colouring pages, a great resource.

 

 

 

Make baby sewDelilah at Make Sew Baby has built a great collection of printable patterns and tutorials. She covers everything from clothes to accessories for the nursery. She also covers baby food crocheting and knitting. I love the baby peasant top pattern and have made that one myself.

 

 

 

 

These are just a few of my favourite upcycled clothing blogs and other resources I use for helping me craft. Please leave a comment below if you’d like to add to this resource.

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Baby Christmas Dress

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I was thinking about making a baby Christmas dress for Granddaughter Lilly and wondering about fabric when this appeared at my door. 

Christmas CurtainsA bag full of curtains!

There were four pairs of curtains in the bag, all lined with red fabric. I didn’t take measurements but there was a LOT of fabric in there!

 

 

 

 

 

Unpicking

First was the job of unpicking, Unpicking the fabricI like to reuse as much as possible so the curtain tape came off first. That will get saved in my haberdashery box for future use.

 

 

Then I separated the lining. Christmas FabricI’ll only be using the printed fabric for this baby Christmas dress and will hardly use even 1 of the curtains. Enough to make a dress each year as baby Lilly grows!

 

 

 

Making the Dress

Then it was time to start making Baby dress patternthe dress. I used a BurdaStyle pattern, 9752 which gives a few different options on style.

Following the instructions I pinned the pattern onto the fabric. There’s a tutorial here for how to read sewing patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

I usually find Burda patterns easy Sewing the Collarto follow but the collar on this on really had me stumped. I spent a long time trying to figure it out but after a bit of trial and error and the help of a sewing forum I got there.

I used to have a problem inserting sleeves but have finally mastered that skill!

 

 

This is the top half of the Top Half of dressdress finished ready for attaching the skirt.

 

 

 

The skirt was straight forward with a simple gather around the waist. I’ve used this technique on many baby dresses and will be posting a “how to” tutorial soon. It gives a nice fullness to the skirt and makes sure there’s plenty of room around baby’s hips.

Baby Christmas Dress Finished!

Because of the problems I had with the collar this took me around 8 hrs to make. I did manage to run up a matching bib in that time though. Now Lilly will have this cute baby Christmas outfit to wear over her first festive season!

baby christmas dress

Baby Christmas dress Baby Christmas dress

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Free Baby Dress Sewing Pattern

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I was searching for a free free baby dress sewing patternbaby dress sewing pattern (I’m using this resource while I  learn how to make my own) and found this
one at See Kate Sew, so simple and I love the elasticated shoulder straps very effective!

I decided to make 2 of these at the same time, they looked so simple. I had some cute apple print cotton which was purchased in a sale and some cotton velvet, (I have a massive bolt of this from a close down sale).

 

 

 

 

I downloaded the pattern then cut all the Pattern pieces cut outpieces following the instructions on Kate’s blog. The velvet frayed terribly and I thought about not bothering with it, bits everywhere!

 

This where my Brother Overlocker came in handy and I went round all the pieces with it. If you don’t have an overlocker you can use pinking shears or the zig zag stitch on your sewing machine or, just stick to a cotton fabric.

 

It’s worth taking a bit of time Overlocked Velvetto do this, it gives your seams a much nicer finish.

 

 

 

From there the instructions were straight forward with clear images to guide you through the tutorial. Three hours later I had 2 cute dresses! The seams on the velvet dress were a bit bulky so if I was using it again I’d just have 1 layer of velvet for the outer bodice and use a thin lining for the inner bodice. I had the butterfly motif in my box so hand stitched it on for a bit of decoration.The velvet dress could be worn over a top with a cardigan making it suitable for colder weather, versatile wee dresses and all from a free baby dress sewing pattern!

2 baby dresses from free sewing pattern

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Onesie Dress Tutorial

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Babies spend a onesie dress tutoriallot of time in sleepsuit/onesies, they’re easy to get on and off a wriggly squirming baby! The thing is, when you have a new baby girl you want to dress her in girly things so I’ve found a solution, this onesie dress tutorial from Emma’s blog

Now I’ve done my own take on this, I live in Scotland and we’re coming into the cold weather so I used a sleepsuit (see right). I also upcycled an old shirt so had to fiddle around a bit to get enough fabric.

 

 

 

I took the back of the shirt and Materialscut 2 strips, overlocked around the edges the joined the 2 sides.

 

TIPPress your fabrics before you start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long-Tube overlocked

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there I followed the Gathered tuble to make skirtinstructions on the blog, doing the gathers was fiddly but keep measuring against the sleepsuit till it fits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some trim in my stash so edged the hem with it to pretty it up, then I made a wee bow for the kneck and VOILA, a pretty but cosy dress for your baby girl!

Complete onsie dress

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How to make Plush Baby Booties

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As promised I’m going Plush baby bootiesto show you how to make plush baby booties like these, and the ones in an earlier blog post Here’s one I made earlier.” I used fleece but you can use any fabric or trim. These are small enough that it wouldn’t take long to sew them by hand if you don’t have a machine.

 

First download the pattern here  Upcycled-Baby-Booties

The pattern is for 3mths but I’ll explain how to make them smaller later in the tutorial.

 

Next gather your materials: Materials

  • Fabric (fleece and cotton work well)
  • Elastic (1/4″)
  • Pattern

 

 

 

Cut out the pattern pieces from the paper. Paper pattern pieces

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold the fleece (it doesn’t matter which way) Paper pattern pinned to fabricand pin the pattern pieces to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then cut out the pieces remembering to cut 4 for Pattern pieces cut outthe upper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the 2 “back and side” pieces and stitch a hem alongHem stitched for elastic the straight edge wide enough for the elastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thread the elastic through the hem using a Elastic being threaded through hemdarning needle with a large eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hold onto both elastic ends and pull to Pulling elastic ends together to form top openinggather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To secure the elastic in place stitch backSewing elastic in place and forward over it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidy up the ends and you’ll be left withFirst 2 pieces complete 2 pieces like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, this is the bit that’s tricky to explain Sandwich upper pieces with elasticated bitshence the extra pics! Take 2 of the uppers and sandwich the elasticated pieces between along the straight edge.

 

 

 

 

12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch along the straight edge.Stitch along stright line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidy the seams.Tidy up seams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flip the back/side over and mark the centre.Mark the centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mark the centre 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Line up the centre of the soles to the centrePin soles to uppers of the uppers, pin and stitch.

This is where you can make them smaller by sewing the seam further in.

 

 

 

 

 

Stitch and trim seams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidy up the seams.Tidy seams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn right side out.Right side out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that’s left is to add the trim, you can use anything here, just make sure it’s well secured on the bootie!

One pair of finished plush baby booties!

Finished plush baby booties with trimPlease contact me if there’s anything about this tutorial you need help with.

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Upcycled Bandana Bib

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Bandana Bibs are simple to make and great for making use of fabric scraps and towels. You can use left over fabric from a baby outfit to make a matching upcycled bandana bib. They’re also great for gifts, make a set of 3 with pretty fabric, a baby can never have enough bibs (you might recognise the fabric in this article!). Firstly make your pattern or you can use the one below. I used an existing bib, folded it in half,  laid it on an A4 sheet of paper, then drew and cut round it. You can do this for any style of bib. I’ll generally do a few at the same time as they don’t take long.

Download PDF File here bandana-bib

TIPCheck charity shops and car boot sales for towels or keep your ears open for friends who are changing their bathroom colour scheme and buying new towels!

Next gather your materials:

  • Pattern
  • Fabric of your choice, cotton works well for this.
  • Toweling or microfibre fleece.
  • Fastener, I use hook and loop/velcro but you can use press studs if you prefer

Materials

Fold your fabic in half and pin the pattern on, putting fold mark on pattern against fold in fabric.

paper pattern pinned on

Cut out and repeat for towelling, you’ll then have 2 pieces like this:

Cut out fabric

If you don’t have an overlocker, at this stage do a zig zag stitch round the towelling edge to stop fraying (not needed if you use micro fleece). Pin the pieces right sides together and overlock/sew together leaving a 4″ gap (for turning right side out).

Pin fabric pieces

Sew and overlock fabric pieces

Turn right side out and press turning the gap edges in.

Turned right side out and pressed

Top stitch all the way round making sure you catch the folded in edge.

The last thing is to sew on your fastening, I prefer hook and loop as it’s easy to whip on and off a fidgety baby!

Sew on hook and loop for fastening

And that’s it, simple! Here it is beside 2 others I made previously in a different size and style.

3 upcycled baby bibs different styels

 

 

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Here’s one I made earlier.

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As I mentioned on the “About” page, I ‘ve a grandaughter due (6 days and counting UPDATE –  SHE’S ARRIVED!) and I’ve been making baby clothes for a few months now, hence the title “Here’s one I made earlier!” I found a simple pattern for a baby dress to start me off, free here

A clear and concise tutorial and such cute pictures of her twins. I made a couple of dresses with this pattern and plan to do more but upscale in size.

This one was made from a summer skirt that had a light lining. Made-earlier1There wasn’t quite enough fabric for sleeves so I used the lining for them. There was just enough left to do a wee hairband, can’t wait to see it on new baby!

TIP: Keep all your leftover scraps from projects, great for trims/bows and making hairbands .

 

 

 

 

 

The fabric in this one I love! This wasn’t stictly upcycled as I Made-earlier2purchased the fabric from Hobbycraft for a festival belt project. There was enough left for the dress and matching headband, size 0-3mths, it’s tiny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m going to be doing a tutorial (UPDATE, TUTORIAL HERE) on these baby booties, so quick and simple to do. I purchased a fleece baby blanket (out of bargain bin) for £2.50, plenty ofBooties-2 material for lots of booties and another opportunity to upcycle scraps for the decorative bit on the toes. I found it a bit tricky to get the toes evenly rounded on the first pair but was getting better by the second ones, I’ll show you how on the tutorial coming soon.

 

 

UPDATE…..

I wrote this post a while back, have completed more projects since then and baby Lilly is growing fast Here she is wearing the baby Christmas dress I made out of some Christmas curtain fabric!

here's one I made earlier

 

 

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Upcycled Baby Outfit

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A few weeks ago I picked up some upcycled baby outfitbedding at a charity shop, bargain at £1.99, loads of fabric in there with very little unpicking to do. I’ll be able to get more than 1 outfit out of the fabric depending on what I make. I thought I could make an upcycled baby outfit for the summer with this bedding.

Tip: Keep your eyes open for bargain rails in charity shops. They often have garments you would never wear but nice re-usable fabric

 

Which Pattern

I used Burda kids pattern 9437 for the trousers and suntop and McCalls M6575 for the hat, not beginners patterns but easy to do. My new overlocker sewing machine (review here) makes things much simpler and neater! The Burda patterns were on half price sale so another bargain there! The Mcalls pattern had so many different options for both boys and girls. The Burda pattern could be adapted quite easily as it’s a simple shape.

51o96uFzX7L._SY300_ 9437_KSBBUR9437

The BurdaStyle Website is a great resource for sewers from beginners to advanced and they have a special offer on seminars at the moment, 30% off with the code NSM30, BARGAIN!     

Making the Outfit                                                BurdaStyle.com

The whole outfit took about 8hrs total over a few days, once I get used to my new Brother overlocker sewing machine (did I mention I have a new overlocker!?) this will speed up. The pattern was fairly easy to follow but if you’re just starting to use patterns check out my guide on how to read patterns.

I did the 18mths size but I’ve noticed the Burda patterns make up quite large so I reckon it’s more likely to fit a 2 yr old. The hat was quite fiddly to make, sewing the hat rim to the crown was trickier than I thought. I did managed to achieve it without gettting any puckers though. There was nothing in the instructions about the best way to do this so I Googled for tips. I think I’ll baste and sew next time, rather than go straight from pinning to sewing.

I like the way the dress ties at the top, makes it a great dress for on the beach. I don’t have a toddler to model the outfit yet so the photos don’t do it justice, it really is quite pretty!

So there it is, how to make an upcycled baby outfit using charity shop bedding, best of all it only cost pennies to make!

Dress PurpleCheck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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