T-shirt to Adorable Festival Onesie (FestiOnesie)

Earlier today I was on Etsy yearning for adorable festival-wear to hoop, dance, and flounce around in at Burning man this year, until I got tired of lamenting the fact that if I want to afford actually getting to burning man, I will not be purchasing any new clothes for it. It was in this dark moment that the idea for the T shirt FestiOnesie was born! All you need for this little wonder is a t shirt that is either a bit big for you or a long fit, and skims right at your crotch: you can't quite see your underwear (unless you move at all). A sewing machine is a nice touch but not necessary, a needle and thread will do. Let us begin the Festi Adventure!

Find the center front and center back of the bottom hem of your shirt. In the front, I cut a curve that rises about an inch and extends two inches. In the back it rises an inch and a half and extends two and a half. I wear about a medium in pants, so fine tune these measurements for yourself if you are a drastically different size than I. For example, if you are an XL usually, I would suggest making the curve 2 by 2.5 inches in the front and 3 by 4 in the back.

This also varies depending on the stretching as of your shirt: mine was not incredibly stretchy but the fabric was thin so it had some give. Try on your shirt and try to estimate how much crotch space you need. Only you can tell this sort of thing.

Now, it's time to decide how big your middle bit will be. In order to keep the nice hem edge in the middle part of my shorts as well, I decided to cut my middle bit from the edges of a sleeve of my shirt, which also has that hem. For this piece, I folded my sleeve so the hem lines up nicely, and I cut it with the measurements in the second picture. Once you cut the fold on the 4 inch side, it will be two opposite pieces. Sew them right sides together on the diagonal side opposite the hem.

To finish up the shorts portion, follow the third and fourth picture, which will result in something looking like the fifth picture. The longer sides match up and the shorter sides do too, making two lovely leg holes with finished hems!

So, because we just made a closed onesie with no entryway, we have to decide on a neckline/closure situation. This can also be done before the shorts but I like to see how the legs pull on the front before I decide these things. I'm not sure what I want yet, so I'm going to cut the sleeves at the shoulder seams to open up the top and step in: this way, we can sew them back up later if we decide we want a different neckline.

Halters are by far the easiest to deal with when it comes to very warm, dance-intensive situations. They don't fall down, they are cut low enough to avoid armpit sweat marks, and they leave your back open for ventilation and maximum sexiness. I prefer halters. That said, I actually decided to make it semi-backless with spaghetti straps and some cool weaving patterns: I will include pictures of the original FestiOnesie, for it is a halter.

A good tutorial for what I did on the back can be found here:
(bonus dance moves and energetic music included)

For the straps, I just put it on and cut little bits out of the front until I liked it. This is the easiest way to do it, but if you super like to use patterns you can trace an existing shirt and then do fun things to it afterwards.

The awesome thing about working with jersey, or T-shirt fabric, is that you can cut it up in so many fun ways and not worry about the edges fraying. Play with the fabric! Try to plan it out somewhat so you don't cut off too much and have to start over with a new t shirt or awkwardly patch it; that said, this is a perfect opportunity to accidentally make something too revealing. A FestiOnesie can easily be layered under/over other clothing for a unique look. Plus it will never come untucked or fly about when you're upside down!

Some ideas for alterations:

-Make a hood! If your neckline doesn't have to be untied and has a good bit of fabric to sew onto, trace a hoodie or something you already have, and sew up the curve. Attach with seam allowance facing your neck. Make it extra big for extra festival points; this can fold down around your shoulders as a shrug, too.This will require another t shirt or other fabric.

-Play with the legs. I cut ovals out of the sides of the leg-hems, and tied the resulting points together to make my shorts tighter/gathered/adorable/shorter (of course).

-Cut holes everywhere because why not

-Sew a little pocket somewhere inside the garment, like the sideboob or the hem of the leg, in order to keep small items on you discreetly (like skittles) (or granola)

Enjoy your playful new outfit! Show me pictures in the comments if you make any!