I think I'm in love! I absolutely love vintage embroidery and haven't done any embroidery in years. So I thought it might be fun to add a bit of detail to these plain white onesies for Ruby and it was SO much fun! And addicting! I don't think that she will have a plain white onesie in her drawer left soon.
I love how they turned out so sweet and classic. Bright colors, but subtle at the same time. And since embroidery floss is so inexpensive, and I inherited a bunch of it years ago....they were cheap too!
I think they'd make fun baby shower gifts for the future. Maybe add a little name on the bottom or an initial.
If anyone has a great way to transfer images to onesies, I'd love to hear about it. I printed out some designs that I liked and thought it would be as easy as putting it under the white onesie and tracing it. Wrong! It was very hard to see and it isn't that easy to draw on a onesie with a pencil. SO...I ended up looking at most of the designs and lightly free handing the basic shape with a pencil and then just stitching it on there without any guide to go by.
I'd love to do more intricate ones, so if you have ideas, I'm all ears. I used to have some of the old iron on designs from the 50s, but got rid of them on one of my craft closet clean out days and I'm kicking myself now!
I will attach links to the designs I found in case anyone else would like to try one too! I used google images to find these by simple typing in "vintage embroidery patterns".
After I embroidered each one I fused a piece of interfacing on the back to cover up the strings and any knots. I thought that would be nice and soft against baby's skin. Then I stitched a circle around the entire design, making sure to carefully tuck in any knot or thread so that it didn't irritate baby's skin. I stitched mostly circles, but with the bird pattern, I turned it into an embroidery hoop. Even though the interfacing was fusible, I knew it would peel after washing, so that is why I added the round hoop shapes. To keep the facing on. I've washed several of the onesies and they are holding up perfectly.
There are SO MANY darling designs out there. I can't wait to embroider more projects soon!
Miche' says
There is actually a simpler way to transfer, go to a craft or fabric store and pick up a transfer pen and draw over the image then use an iron to iron the design on. Easy peasy. 🙂
Brandy says
Awesome! You learn something new every day. I will have to grab a pen the next time I am at Michaels. These make such great baby shower gifts. Thanks!
Brandy says
Heidi, thanks for the tips! I will definitely have to try that!
You ladies are so awesome! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and suggestion!
Heidi says
So cute! Have you looked through the Aimee Rae embroidery book? Her designs are so fun, esp for children, and it comes with the designs on a CD so you can resize them to whatever you need and then transfer. You may know this trick already, but it opened up almost ANY design to become an embroidery transfer for me! Print the design on regular printer paper. Shade the back REALLY heavily with a pencil (old school pencils are the fastest since they have a wider lead), all over the area behind your design. Flip it over, place it on your fabric and trace over the design with something pointy but dull - like a knitting needle. You may need to go over it a couple of times to get the graphite to transfer. Good luck!
Maria says
Awww these are soo precious!!!!! Just adorable!!!!
Christine @ Angel Stitch Embroidery and Jezebel says
These are so cute!! For white fabric, I just hold the whole thing up to my computer monitor and trace it with pencil, lol! You can also find transfer pencil at the craft store. I just print my image in the size I want and trace it on the back side of the printed paper (then the image is properly flipped). Then just iron it on to your project.
Lisa says
These are adorable! I just taught myself how to embroider and they would be really fun to make!
Here's my tip: draw or print out your image on paper and then pin it onto the onesie. Then embroider right onto it and the paper will be easy to rip (carefully) off once you're done. I did that for a bib and it worked great!
Kierst says
I love these! Last year I traced pictures that London drew onto fabric and embroidered them and framed them for my mom and Taylor's mom for mother's day. I think embroidery was another Grandma-taught thing. It took me FOREVER, though! Did these take a long time?
On another note, I have a friend who has been making these for years and selling them on etsy! My kids have some of her designs and we all love them.
Kristin @ Brilliant Like Fireflies says
Adorable! I love how these look. The puppy is so cute!
Shannah @ Just Us Four says
These are so cute! I love the puppy one.
Would you consider linking up to my Pinworthy Projects Linky Party over at Just Us Four?