Upcycled Onsie into a New Dress

The other day as our family was getting dressed and ready to head out for the day, I realized that both my daughter and I were wearing the bottom half of a cashmere sweater, but upcycled in different ways. Pictured here is me wearing a cowl that is the bottom half of a cashmere sweater, and the skirt part of my daughters dress is also the bottom half of a cashmere sweater.

I just finished the dress, hat, and bottoms last week...still have to finish the booties...

Notes on the Dress: This was a really fun project to tackle, but also sat on the back burner for a while after I had started it, due to running into questions regarding the stretchability of the waistline once the basting stitch was in, and uncertainty in what stitch to use with the gathers so that the skirt and onsie together could stretch. I never did figure that out, and near as i could figure, i would have to pull out the basting stitch carefully after sewing the gathered skirt to the onsie if i wanted the whole works to stretch. also my gathers slide back and forth slightly. why is this? Is it because I am using a loose knit fabric? Perhaps a second time around, I'll experiment a little more and see what i can figure out. It turns out that my onsie was wide enough to not have to be concerned about the skirt having any stretch to it.

Notes on the bottoms: Originally I cut the bottom of the onsie with enough extra on top with what i thought would be adequate to just add elastic to the waistband, but i decided to attach a wide waistband for the comfort factor. I cut fabric from a t-shirt to make the waistband.

Notes on the hat: The hat was made utilizing the short sleeves of the cashmere sweater if i remember right, so i didn't have to hem the edge of the hat. In the photo she is wearing the hat so that the seam is down the midde of her forhead which makes it look like a peter pan pixie hat. It was made intending for the seams to go on the sides.

For the dress project, the sweater was not felted, but after cutting it up, I lightly felted some of the smaller remnants for the hat, and booties. For the cowl, the sweater was also lightly felted.

Photo story below, and showing the bottom half of the onsie.

Discovering mama's sewing drawers for the first time.

ooooh, what are all these colorful things inside?

Beginning to empty the thread drawer. (notice large stash of merino sweaters for upcycling on the side of cabinet)

I have been challenged with picking a name for this post. Here is the list i have come up with:
Upcycled Onsie Dress
Two Rectangles(this one's a little more abstract)
Extend the Life of an Old/Outgrown Onsie
Juniper's New Dress
Transform an Old Onsie into a New Dress
New Life for an Old Onsie