When I went to Joann’s. I knew when I ran across this fabric that NEEDED to be a jumpsuit. I could already picture a little polar bear jumpsuit with white coordinating sleeves. I came home, and before doing anything else, prewashed the polar bear fabric. It’s a Doodles knit. I prewash everything anyway, but if you get a Doodles knit from Joann’s, you know you HAVE to prewash because it shrinks. So, it was washed and ready for whenever I had time for it. I went ahead and reprinted the pattern. The first one I made was a tad big on Luke and I had to hem it a lot. We just had our nine month check-up this week, and his length actually fits perfectly into the smaller size. I have no idea what I was thinking when I made the first one. But, it is super hard to measure a baby’s length. They’re squirmy and like to wiggle, so maybe I thought he was longer than he is? Ha. So, I printed and cut the pattern a size smaller.
On Tuesday, I wanted to cut my fabric out so badly, but had ZERO time all day long. Like for real, this might be the only thing I thought about all day Tuesday. Then, on Tuesday night, after the kids were asleep, I got out my stuff and cut out my fabric. FINALLY! WOO HOO!
I decided for this one to make the snap strip a little narrower than the pattern suggests. So, if you’ve made it you may notice that mine looks smaller. My husband had an old undershirt with a hole he was getting rid of so I used that for the snap placket. It was perfect, and I didn’t have to waste any precious fabric! I also added some interfacing to the snap placket. I mentioned that I wanted a white coordinate. I looked at Joann’s, but they didn’t have any. They rarely have solids that I actually like though, so I wasn’t super surprised. I didn’t have any at home either. I went to my “stuff to upcycle cabinet.” I periodically check out thrift stores, and my family checks with me before donating anything, so I keep a whole cabinet full of stuff that has upcycle potential. I grabbed a mock turtleneck shirt I bought from a thrift store a while back. The neck was a nice quality ribbing, perfect for the neckband on this. I cut it in half and saved the rest so I’ve got another white neckband when I need it! I cut the sleeves of this pattern from the sleeves of the thrift store shirt. The shirt was a nice, thick cotton interlock. Perfect for this! And, Hooray for one less hem! I took a little length off of the sleeve pattern since I won’t need to hem the sleeves. This is just another reason that I love upcycling! Now I’ve got all of my pieces cut. Let me show you one of my favorite pieces. I’m allowed to have a favorite pattern piece, right? It’s this little cloth diaper extender piece or gusset. It’s optional, takes a couple of minutes longer, but is totally worth it if you cloth diaper. You know, they tend to be a little bulkier, and you sometimes have to stretch clothes to fit over them. You won’t have to if you use this piece. It’ll give you the prefect fit!
Now, on to the sewing!! The pattern goes together fairly easily. It includes those excellent photo instructions that you expect from PDF pattern designers. The first time I made the pattern, I made it exactly as is, and it went together perfectly. As I mentioned before, it was a TAD big because I apparently had no idea how tall my child is! This time, as I mentioned, I sized down, and made a couple of slight changes. I already mentioned that I narrowed the snap strip this time. The only other thing I did was used a regular tee shirt neckband instead of binding. The binding took a little longer, and I was in a hurry. Like I mentioned, I wanted this done yesterday! Since I’m pretty quick with regular neck bands, that’s what I did.
- It is for knit fabrics. Knit fabrics are super comfy for babies! They’re just easy to wear and play in.
- It has inseam snaps. I know – this may not seem like a big deal, but it is for me. I’ve been drawn to a similar pattern before because I like the style, but there are no snaps. The whole thing pulls on from the neck. This may not be a huge deal, but I don’t want to undress the baby just to change a diaper! TOO MUCH WORK.
- It’s a comfortable fit. It’s not super tight, so it’s perfect for chubby babies ?
- It has the optional gusset/ cloth diaper extender piece. This gives you the perfect fit over cloth diapers without stretching and pulling your fabric!
- Plenty of support from the Facebook Group if you need help or have questions.
- And the sale price is AMAZING!
