Girl's Jumpsuit

When Jorja was 1 year old I use to love putting her in this little blue jumpsuit in the warm weather.  Don't you just love those chubby little thighs.

Anyway, last year I picked up 2 remnant's at spotlight and had been planning on making a dress using the tutorial from Craftiness is not Optional, Ice Cream Social Dress .



photo taken from Craftiness is not Optional




My fab find at Spotlight



So where to start first, measure Jorja of course.  I took measurements of her chest, waist, hips and from under her arm down to her knee.  Then using these measurements I cut the fabric into 2 rectangles, adding about 2 inches each side.



Now to pin each side and sew the side seams.  After I did this I ironed the seams flat before I made the top hem.

Now for the top I wanted to make a channel for some elastic.  I made 2 seams, the first I measured at 1cm to hide the frayed edge and save having to overlock:

Then I rolled it down again and measure another inch and sewed.  To make a channel I then sewed about 3/4 of a centimetre from the top of the dress, leaving a gap to insert the elastic:

This is where I should really be shirring the jumpsuit but alas I have not given it a try yet, so now I need to make a channel at the waist for the elastic.  By the way the elastic I am using is 4mm.



I measured 1 inch and folded that in half before sewing



Then I sewed the channel flat:

look of channel inside

how it looks from the outside

At this stage you could just hem the bottom to finish as a dress instead of turning it into a jumpsuit.   Now for the legs. 

I really thought about this one for awhile and finally decided to draw a line in the middle and then measured half an inch either side of that line.  Then I rounded the top.  I'm pretty sure that the line in the middle measures 4 inches from the bottom:

 After hemming the legs, it's time to insert the elastic into the waist and the top hem of the outfit.



after elastic has been inserted

For the straps I cut to strips about 11 inches long, sewed, turned right side out and ironed flat.  Then I sewed along both edges to keep it flat: 

Now just to pin the straps in place and sew:

And here it is, the finished jumpsuit and my little model:

 And when she gets to big for it I can just cut the legs off, hem and turn it into a little top.  If anyone has a better idea of how to create the legs please let us know.

Happy Sewing!!!!!