Making a keepsake from babygrows

I held onto some babygrows and outfits that held special memories from the first few months of the kids lives. I had planned out what I wanted to make out of them, and it took a while for me to get the courage to cut into them, because of the memories they held . Finally I sat down and started making a keepsake from their old clothes.

Making a keepsake cushion.

There is a number of different ways to make a keepsake from those baby grows and tiny outfits. Things like quilted blankets, bears and cushions. Liking the idea of a cushion, I created a pattern for the first letter of both the kids names.

With the material used for babygrows and vests being so stretchy, I used the old crib drape to cut out the pattern, with this not being stretchy, it allowed the cushion to retain the shape and have strenght.

Selecting each babygrow and vest and cutting out the pieces and sewing them together, allowing a 1 cm for the seam so the ends will lie flat. With all the pieces were cut out, I began stitching them all together to form the letter.

Aligning the babygrow material on the backing material using some stick and spray fabric spray and clips. Following this with a tacking stitch to join the pieces together close to the edge so to not be visible when finished.

Once both sides were complete, I cut out strips 2 inch strips of non stretch material. ( I used some fat quarters I had brought from Aldi previously.) Marking out a half inch seam on each side. Attaching each side of the letter to these strips to provide depth to the cushion. Leaving a small section open for turning it right side out and stuffing it.

All that was left was to turn the cushion the right way and fill it with hypoallergenic filling. Ladder stitching the cushion closed.

And they are finished.

With the inside section of the R, this needed to be left open and ladder stitched closed once stuffed.

If you want to make a keepsake from babygrows or vests, the key tip is to use backing material. This helps both with the structure and also reducing the risk of the item being misshapen because of the stretch in the fabric.