MEN'S TEE TO BABY ROMPER REFASHION

Ohhhhh, this little man. I seriously cannot get enough of him. I could not have imagined the absolute bliss of having a newborn to snuggle all the time! Don't get me wrong -- I'm exhausted. And I've been peed on. Spit up on. And as of yesterday, pooped ALLLLL over (Does that officially make me a member of the Mom Club?! I feel like it is a rite of passage! haha) 

BUT. Having a baby... that's all yours... is the most dreamy thing ever. 

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I had so much fun making baby leggings for G a few weeks ago that I decided to try baby clothing project #2. One of the fun

things about baby clothes is that they are itty bitty. Which means they're extra cute, of course, but also way faster!

In trying to decide what to sew for this little chunk, I perused his closet of clothes that are still way too big for him and decided on a romper. I love them. And, I decided to make this a refashion instead of making it from scratch! So I ran to the thrift store and picked up a couple of men's tees with necklines and fabrics that I liked. I loved this particular one for the buttons on the front, and felt like these were small enough to pass for baby clothes, too. 

**Sewing hack -- when you're actually really not a good seamstress (like me), refashioning is great, because you can "cheat" and use the little and often tedious details that someone else already did! Like buttons and necklines and hems! Yay!**

Anyway! Scroll on, my friends. This was a fun project to take on! But even if you're not interested in the tutorial, keep scrolling anyway and bask in the dreaminess of this little squish. It'll make your day better. Promise. :) 

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Before beginning, you will need to find an article of baby clothing to act as your guide in creating your pattern pieces. I used a simple onesie and modified the shape to add the shorts, sleeves, etc. You will have the following pieces:

1. ROMPER FRONT
2. ROMPER BACK
3. INSEAM LINING 1
4. INSEAM LINING 2
5. RIGHT SLEEVE
6. LEFT SLEEVE

**When cutting out your romper front and back, use the neckline of the men's tshirt as your new neckline. When cutting out your sleeves, use hems of the shirt to save you the step of having to hem them yourself. :) **

Your pieces should generally look like the ones pictured above.

Step 1.
Lay ROMPER BACK down, right side up. Lay ROMPER FRONT down, right side up, with legs pointing away from ROMPER BACK. Lay the top of the ROMPER FRONT onto the top of the ROMPER BACK, overlapping the points you created at the shoulder. See photo for reference. Increase or decrease your overlap according to how big of a neck hole you desire.

Step 2.
Take your SLEEVE piece and lay its middle point over the overlapping shoulder points, wrong side facing up, as pictured.

Step 3.
Pin SLEEVE piece to entire arm hole created by the ROMPER FRONT and ROMPER BACK. Sew.

Repeat Steps 2 & 3 for second SLEEVE piece.

Step 4.
Turn Romper right sides together and match up ROMPER FRONT and ROMPER BACK. Pin & sew along bottom of sleeve and down both sides.

Step 5.
Turn romper right side out. Lay INSEAM LINING 1 piece on top of ROMPER FRONT at the crotch, as pictured. Sew. Repeat for INSEAM LINING 2 + ROMPER BACK.

Step 6.
Fold INSEAM LININGS over to the wrong side of the ROMPER FRONT and BACK. Iron well. If still too much bulk (depending on how sharp your curve is, carefully cut slits in INSEAM LINING in the curve to allow it to lay flat.
Carefully sew snaps to INSEAM LINING 1 and INSEAM LINING 2, making sure to line them up properly. Do not sew snaps to the ROMPER FRONT and ROMPER BACK layer. Sewing only to the inseam linings will create a cleaner look and hide these stitches.

Step 7.
Sew along outer edge of INSEAM LINING 1 & 2 to attach and secure to ROMPER FRONT and ROMPER BACK.

Step 8.
Hem pant legs to desired length.