Vintage Tea Dyed Onesies

While my youngest daughter was pregnant with her first baby girl, she sent me a photo of a tea-dyed onesie and asked me if I could figure out how to make her some for her baby.  As you can see by this photo, that wasn’t a problem for me to figure out. These were so fun to make that I made four of them. 

You’ll need some white onesies to get started. My daughter happened to have several left over from her son’s baby wardrobe. Follow the instructions below to doll up those boring onesies. 

The first step is to tea dye the onesies: 

See photo 1 – Place black tea packets into boiling water.  Let the water turn dark brown.  Drop the onesie into the boiling water and gently stir with a wooden spoon. (I used 6 packets to dye 4 onesies.)

See photo 2 – Rinse onesie in really cold water for about 15 – 20 minutes.  Next, throw in your drier to heat set the dye.

The next step is to decorate the tea dyed onesies with lace and buttons.  I wanted my daughter to help with this, so before I left for my flight to her home, I gathered a few supplies like lace trim, left over lace remnants and buttons and tucked them into my suitcase. So, gather your supplies and get creative as you decorate your onesies.  

To form the lace skirt, cut the lace into a rectangle.  Along the bottom edge of the lace, add trim – see photo 3. Now place a gathering stitch along the top edge and pin the lace in place onto the onesie.  Along the top of the lace skirt, pin on lace trim, making sure you tuck the unfinished edges against the onesie. Zig zag those layers onto the onesie.  If you want some bum ruffles, this is a good time to make those – see photo 4.

If you like the look of the random buttons, pull out a variety of buttons – this is a great way to use all those spare buttons you’ve collected, or even the extra buttons that are attached to newly purchased clothing. Now with a washable fabric marker, place dots evenly about 1/3″ above the top of the lace.  These dots are your placement marks to sew the buttons on evenly.  Now, thread two strands of thread through a needle and fold that thread in half so you only have to sew through the button, twice per hole. Securely sew your buttons in place.

That’s it! Your vintage tea dyed onesie is good to go! If you’d like to see more photos of my newest, adorable granddaughter in these onesies, you can check out my website xoxo Grandma.

Linked to: The Dedicated House, Crafts a la mode

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Tina M

I'm six-foot tall mother of three and I'm enjoying the view! I'm currently fighting a battle with Lyme disease and am determined to come out victorious. I enjoy warm summer rain, peanut butter everything, having dance parties with my husband and kids, natural remedies and healthy living. Most days I'm just looking for another excuse to avoid the piles of laundry.

@MothersNiche

Tina M

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