Onesie for Baby Benjamin - Part 2

Remember when I made those cutie pie onesies for Ben in this post? This was my first time attempting to machine applique something for a little boy. I was a little low on creative juices that night but managed to make a few really cute ones....with one exception:

Gah! Ok, stop looking at it! I know it's bad! To be honest, it looked girly to me and the poorly executed dark blue satin stitch around the light blue wonky rectangles (the "shooting" part of my shooting star) looked odd. I was torn because I couldn't stand the thought of giving it to my sister like that and I knew if I took out the stitching that the knit would tear.

I decided to take the stitching out carefully and see what I was left with. I won't show you...it was scary. I knew if I was going to keep the onesie that I would have to do something fairly big. I asked Matt what he thought would look good on a star background for a boy and he said "a rocket ship, or a solar system". I went with rocket ship because I figured I could make the rocket pretty big and cover up the holes that were left behind.

I did not have a template or anything but I am fairly good at drawing so I thought I would give it a whirl. I started with a piece of red fabric and drew the basic shape of a rocket with a couple of windows and other little details. I sewed some fun yellow fabric pieces behind my "windows" and cut them out from the front. I added some blue for the top and legs of the rocket and cut out some wonky yellow stars. I laid everything out but some of the holes were still visible so I used a light blue Kona charm pack square as a background behind the rocket and stars which covered up the last couple of questionable spots. I also sewed the holes closed from the inside.

Ben's rocket onesie

Rocket close up

I did some decorative stitching up at the top between the red and blue but otherwise used a straight stitch around the applique pieces. I left the raw edges out for all of the applique pieces because I think they will fray in the wash and look cool. So what do you think? Improvement?

Happy Quilting!

Onesies for Baby Benjamin

I have the hardest time coming up with cute ideas for boys but my sister has two little boys (Coleman and Benjamin) so I thought I would try. I haven't made much for them yet like I have for baby Gracyn. I found these onesies at Walmart for $1.50 and thought they would be the perfect canvas for some baby boy themed appliques for Benjamin who is 10 months old.

Shirt 1: Wool Lobster Applique

My sister actually requested this one. I went with a more cutesy design rather than realistic. The red is a piece of wool blend fabric and I ran a satin stitch all the way around the edges.

Shirt 2: Batting Scrap Star Applique

This one is probably my least favorite. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to put on this one. I couldn't get past the little stars on the onesie! So I just did a shooting star design but to me it looks girly. The dark blue star is actually a bit of batting/backing scrap from one of the wedding attendant quilts! I did a satin stitch around the star (intentional) and the lighter blue pieces (unintentional because I forgot to change my thread). I think the satin stitch around the lighter blue pieces looks heavy but it was late and I wasn't thinking clearly...I would take it out but I think taking it out will probably make holes in the knit fabric and will look weird.

UPDATE: I did take this applique off. It did make holes but I think there's still hope. I am re-working it so that it's not so girly and so that you can't see any holes from the outside or inside. I'll update when I'm done. 

Shirt 3: Zoo Buddies Applique

I have no idea what print this is (if you know please feel free to leave it in the comment section) but I thought the little animals were cute. I got a scrap of this in a scrap pack I ordered on Etsy awhile back. I just cut around them so some of the brown background of the fabric would outline the colorful circles and ran a blanket stitch all the way around both. The monkey is appliqued on with red and the rhino is appliqued on with green.

Shirt 4: Elephant Applique

I free handed all of these and it is most apparent with this elephant. I think it looks pretty good all in all. I ran a straight stitch in a light blue thread all of the way around. It needs a little something though so I think I am going to ask a friend if she can embroider "Ee" in the middle of the elephant.

So there you go, my first attempt at machine applique for a little boy. What is your favorite boy sewing project?