The Josephina 2-Piece Outfit Tutorial

I decided I needed to start naming my creations. I'm thinking about putting one or two of these little outfits on Etsy just to see if I can sell them. What would you pay for one of these?

They aren't expensive to make and I love that I make the hair bows to match the outfit. I haven't decided if I'm going to definitely do this or not. If I do, it will only be a couple of outfits at first so that I'm not out a bunch of money if it doesn't go well. And for those of you who would rather make one yourself, here is the tutorial!

Supplies:

A piece of fabric. I buy 1/2 yard and that is enough for Chloe Jo. If your child is smaller, you won't need as much. If she is bigger, you will need more.

A blank T-Shirt

Elastic

Thread

Wonder-Under. You can find this in the fabric section. It is sold by the yard. Here is a close-up of the directions sheet. If you can't find it, ask the person working there and they will be able to tell you where it is.

First, you will need to decide what you want on the shirt. I chose a sassy high heel because it coordinated with the sassy pink and red zebra stripe fabric. Cut the shape out of a piece of paper and lay aside.

Cut off a piece of wonder-under, big enough to trace your shape on. Follow the directions to iron it to the underside of your fabric.

You can cut the shape out of the wonder-under first, but I think it is easier to cut the shape out after the wonder-under and fabric are fused together.

Trace your shape onto the wonder-under. I drew a purse since I had some space on the wonder-under, but ended up nixing it.

Cut the shape out and take the backing off of the wonder-under. Lay the shape on the t-shirt where you want it and follow the directions to iron it on to the shirt.

Now you will need to zig-zag around the edge of your shape so it won't come off. You can also use puff-paint to seal the edges. My sewing machine has several stitches. The zig-zag stitch is #10.

Make sure your machine is on the right stitch before you start sewing! It is ever so annoying to have to rip out stitches because your machine was on the wrong setting. Yes, I know from experience.

Zig-Zag around the shape. This takes some practice. I have to go pretty slowly to get the zig-zag right on the edge.

Since the t-shirt fabric is stretchy, the edges will ruffle as you sew. Just iron the shape and the ruffles will go away.

Now, for the skirt. You will need two pieces of rectangular fabric. I usually use a skirt of Chloe Jo's to go by, but if you don't have one, you will need to know how long you want the skirt and the waist measurement of the child you are making this for. Take the length measurement and add a few inches for hems and the waistband. That will be how wide your fabric will need to be. The length of the fabric depends on how full you want the skirt to be. I usually double the waist length so the skirt will have some fullness, but not a lot. Lay the fabric on top of each other with the right sides together.

Pin the edges.

Sew the edges.

Iron the seams flat.

For the waistband, first fold the top over about 1/2 inch and iron.

Fold it over again (I do it twice so there won't be any raw edges to unravel), enough to accommodate the elastic.

Pin.

Sew the waistband close to the edge. Make sure you leave a space so you can get your elastic in there. Pull the elastic through and stitch together. Stitch the hole where the elastic was inserted.

Hem the bottom and you are done with the skirt!

I went ahead and made matching bows for this outfit. If you want to know how to make these bows, just leave a comment and I'll put up a tutorial for them. They are my favorite right now.

Here is the finished product.

And here is my little sweetie in The Joshephina!