Experimenting with Longies

I finally found some time to do a bit of sewing this weekend. As always, Lucy was in need of some new diaper covers, so I did a bit of experimenting with new styles of longies.

First up was this pair:



I'd recently gotten myself a "new" sweater at Goodwill, and promptly shrunk it after two wearings. (Don't you hate that?) So on to the felted-sweater pile it went. As I considered its use for longies, I realized that the big turtleneck looked just about the size of Lucy's waist. So I decided to use the whole thing as the waistband, thinking it could be folded over (as photographed) or worn high to keep her chest warm and eliminate t-shirt ride-up bare belly. I've also been having some trouble with her made-from-sleeves longies tearing at the crotch, so I decided to add a panel there to increase the width. I didn't get the shape quite right, and will have to experiment some more to make pants that actually look nice, but these fit fairly well and surely won't tear.

Next up was this goofy-looking pair of overalls:



I'd come across some beautiful made-from-sweaters overalls on Etsy, and wanted to try a pair of my own. I laid a pair of her current overalls on top of a sweater, cut around the whole thing, and sewed them up. The sides came out beautifully. But those armholes! The sweater hadn't felted very well, and required some reinforcing along the cut edges. I tried a zigzag stitch, and it was a mistake. I don't like the frou-frou ruffly result. It doesn't help that I made the straps way too long, either. Maybe next time I'll try hemming the edges? Any suggestions for how to do it so it actually looks nice? Oh, well. We're putting them on her to wear to bed, for extra protection and warmth over shorties and a shirt. Works to keep her dry, if not fashionable.