V and Co: how to: appliqué doilies onto a onesie

alrighty. so i heard from a few people, that lots of people are afraid of appliqué. is that true? this boggles me. it's not scary at all? but then again it's one of my favorite things because i can take it anywhere and work on it anytime. and i like the hand work.

but i get it it might be scary. so i'm going to talk a little today about appliquéing a doily onto your newly dyed onesie. and then in the near future we'll continue to talk about appliqué, because i think if you knew how to do it the easy way (no not with the raw edges though that would be find too) but with the right tools you to can do some great turn over looking appliqué. ah but i'm getting ahead of myself here. first lets just talk about this onesie at hand.

to make this onesie you will need:

doilies: now if you have heirloom ones and you wont be making anyone roll over in their grave or upset your great aunt maltilda by dyeing them or using them on something other than a decorative coaster...awesome.

if you need to buy some of your own: go here and joanns has a ton as well. i got mine at joanns (just make sure you buy the crochet doilies not the paper ones).

you can also just use doilies as is. like in my book:

where i make this simple yet elegant gathered border doily quilt. 

see you don't have to dye it...but it sure is kind of fun to do so. :)

okay so lets keep moving:

what you need:

-doilies.

-dyed onesies and doily

-needle and aurifil or any thread to match your color of dye. (i used aurifil)

-embroidery scissors

-pins

and for more thin doilies (and my favorite wonder web  to use for appliqué):

Pellon Wonder-Web 807  <-- we'll show you how to use it next.

okay so first things first:

placement.

where do you want the doily? i wanted most of the doily to show on the front but because it was kind of big i wanted it off center. and i thought it would look cute going around to the back.

so from looking at the onesie from the front i liked the off centered look of the top picture...

so next i shifted the onesie on its side (with the hem facing me) and started to pin it in place. (now disclaimer: i am not using a stabilizer because we wont be sewing it on with a machine, it will be done by hand, if you do not feel comfortable skipping this then by all means place a stabilizer.)

make sure your doily is laying completely flat.

and start to pin the front side of your doily down making sure you only pin through the top layer of your onesies.

once you have a little over half of your doily set in place with the pins, shift the onesies so it is facing down, and make sure when you lay your onesie down flat there are no puckers or loose fabric under the doily.

take your threaded needle and bring the needle up through the jersey and the doily.
next take your needle and place it close the first stitch and go back through the doily and the jersey.
take small stitches first around the whole doily, then making an X through the middle. continue to stitch more X's until you feel like it is secured onto the onesie good enough.

okay now lets look at a thinner more delicate doily:
get your pellon and cut it out the shape of the doily. (it doesnt have to be perfect you just have to cover most of the doily so it won't sag where the stitches aren't placed)

next pin in place...

and flip your onesie so the backside is showing. (you may want to place a protective thin cloth under the onesies (so any of the webbing wont get on the ironing board) and a cloth under the iron-just in case) 

iron gently till the webbing has melted and adhere's the doily onto the front of the shirt (again the edges might not be perfectly kept down we just want to make sure that the doily stays put)

after you check that it indeed is secured in place repin just to make sure it doesn't travel or anything. 

and then repeat all the other steps we did with the doily.

and now you have two adorable looking one of a kind onesies.
next how to will be the ruffled ombre flower onesie...and then i have another fun thing we'll make with all the doilies i bought. :)