How to Make a Baby Onesie

Making a onesie with personality is easy. I'm not talking about sewing thousands of teeny stitches. This is a simple DIY project for anyone! Here are the steps.

1. Buy plain onesies. You can get a Gerber 5-pack for $12.99 on Amazon.

2. Wash the clothes. You need shrinkage to occur before you embellish the onesie. Also, some decorations are most adhesive once fabric has been laundered.

3. Decorate! Here are three strategies.

Cut designs from scrap fabric. Then sew the designs to the onesie. You can use mismatched thread if needed; it might even make things cuter!

If you aren't good at drawing shapes freehand, find simple designs online by searching for free stencils or clip art. For example, type "free whale stencil" into Google. Print the image and use it to trace your fabric designs. Some other shape ideas for a onesie: a heart, a sailboat, a butterfly and a necktie.

Colorful Fat Quarters are ideal for this project. These cotton fabric remnants are available at most fabric stores. You can buy a huge bundle or get single squares for $1.49 each. Remember to launder them before use so the color doesn't run onto the onesies.

2. Paint a Onesie

Use fabric paints, sponges and stencils to paint a onesie. For images, use store-bought stencils or make your own using cardboard and an X-ACTO knife. For the alphabet, buy inexpensive stencils at a hardware store or craft supply shop. Spell out something funny or sweet!

Using iron-on patches is an easy way to decorate a onesie. However, be sure to get unusual patches. If you just use regular patches from JoAnn Fabrics or a similar store, you'll defeat the whole objective of making a onesie that looks special.

Look for patches that are ironically edgy for a onesie, such as rock band patches or Harley-Davidson patches. You could also try a patch from a sports team, the Grateful Dead, Super Mario Brothers or whatever interests the baby's parents.