Infant Girl Clothes: Tutorial to Lengthen Your Onesie with a Ruffled Skirt

In preparation for a whole month of onesies, I had to go out and buy some.  Some were brand new, others were purchased at a thrift store.  One of the thrifted onesies was a 12 month Gerber-brand onesie.  As I was going to start my day’s embellishment, I looked at it and thought: that’s a 12 month???  Did someone wash this in SUPER hot water for 3 days straight?  This thing is small!! Sizes vary by brand A LOT.  But regardless, babies grow, and those cute clothes we had for them don’t fit anymore.  Today’s embellishment was inspired by that 12 month onesie that was the same size as some of my daughter’s 3-6 month clothes.  This tutorial pertains to infant girl clothes today, as this embellishment extends the length of the onesie while also adding a little ruffled skirt.

What you will need:

• pre-washed onesie that is too short in the length for your child
• sewing machine with coordinating thread
• coordinating (or matching) knit fabric
• fabric pencil or pen
• pins
• fabric scissors and/or rotary cutter

First, I cut the onesie in two pieces right near the bottom.  I knew that I wanted my ruffle to start low, so that’s why I picked there.

Then with my fabric scissors (or a rotary cutter) I cut my fabric.  I used a white cotton knit that is very similar to the onesie fabric, but it does feel a little heavier.  My fabric was six inches deep by two times the circumference of the onesie at the cut (approx. 30″ in total length).

I sewed the rectangular fabric into a tube by sewing the two short ends together with the zig-zag stitch.  I used the zig-zag stitch exclusively for this whole project.  It not only allows the fabric to stretch, but I really love the handmade look of the smaller zig-zag, so that’s what I used.

With my fabric pencil, I marked on both sides of the fabric the distance I wanted my first ruffle to be.  In my case, this was 2″.

I did a quick gathering stitch along the mark I just made.  I always do them by hand.

Then I lined up the cut edge of the top part of the onesie with my 2″ mark and pinned it in place (RIGHT sides touching).

TIP: To keep the fabric gathered fairly evenly, I first lined up the a side seam from the onesie with the seam from the new fabric and pinned.  Then I pinned the opposite side seam with the opposite end of the fabric.  Then I pinned the middle front, then middle back.  Working at known points for both the onesie and the new fabric keeps the fabric manageable and the gathers even.

Here it is after sewing together:

Then I marked the point at which the bottom piece of the original onesie needed to be sewn back on.  The distance between the first mark and this second mark will be the additional length for the onesie.  My total length increase was about an inch and a half.

After pinning the fabric to the cut edge of the bottom part of the onesie (using the pinning tip I mentioned above), I sewed again. (This time the right side of the onesie was pinned to the wrong side of the additional fabric.)

Then this was what I had.

This was where I thought I was going to stop, and it’s okay, but I really felt like it needed a longer front ruffle.  So ultimately, I added a intermediate ruffle to make things look a little more balanced.  After my third round of pinning and zig-zagging, I now had this:

Okay, it’s done!

I really contemplated whether or not I should have used a printed or contrasting fabric for the skirt.  I especially wondered about this when I went and added the extra ruffle.  What do you think?  Is it too bland being all white or is the added detail enough to keep the onesie interesting?

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