My baby-related-sewing game has been strong of late.

I finished off a batch of seven baby boy outfits recently to give to friends that will be having (or had) baby boys this year. Isn’t that wild that I know so many people having boys? What a wonderful season of life this is.

I was pretty pleased with how efficiently I was able to church out this many outfits and this is how I managed it.

Step 1: Plan it all out on paper and refer to it as needed.

I wanted to make all the little outfits different. So I used little diagrams to plan out which colors/fabrics to use with which pieces. This helped me be efficient in my cutting and kept me straight with all the different pieces. No drawing skills necessary.

Step 2: Cut all the pieces fabric-by-fabric.

I found it fastest to cut out the pieces fabric-by-fabric. For example, I cut out all the yellow striped pieces (Hat pieces, shirt front and back, shirt sleeves, pant cuffs, etc) before moving on to the next color.

Step 3: Sew your pieces according by thread color.

I like having my serger threads match the project. I think it looks more professional that way, but I also didn’t want to take forever with this project. I am not intimidated by changing threads on my serger, but I wanted to be efficient. So I used 4 different basic thread colors – navy, cream, grey, and blue variegated. Then I sewed as many seams as I could, switching between the outfits sets, before moving on to the next color thread. I found it to be a nice balance of pickiness and just-get-er-done-ness.

Step 4: Give away and enjoy the influx of pictures of adorable babies wearing the outfits.

It feels so good to give these handmade gifts to the new babies in my life, and the best part is the pictures their moms send me of them wearing them.

Baby Boy Layette Project Details

• Patterns:
  • Pants: B&T Drawstring Leggings: 22
  • Shirt: B& T Ringer Tee: 99 (Free Pattern!)
  • This is my Brindille & Twig referral link. If you use it, you get 15% off your first purchase (and I get credit in their pattern shop.)
  • Hat: Zaaberry Baby Hat, but I increased the size a smidge.
• Fabric: I used cotton-lycra jersey for all parts of this project. Specifically Robert Kaufman Laguna Knits for the solids, and Art Gallery Knits Striped line for all the stripes.