A Flannel Memory

In my last crafy post, I shared a flannel onesie that I had made. I had to be pretty cryptic about my inspiration, because it's a surprise. Now that it is officially finished and in the mail, I can no longer keep it a secret.

My mom's dad (we call him Bobo) always wore button up shirts. Mostly the pearl-snap, flannel, or plaid variety. When he died last year, one of the things that often crossed my mind was the fact that my (future) kids and my husband would never get to meet him. It made me sad, because I knew they would have loved him and he would have loved them.

When my grandma had to move and didn't have enough room for everything in her new house, I knew that I wanted to get some of Bobo's old shirts to make into baby clothes. Even though my kids will never get to meet him here on earth, I thought it would be special for them to have something of his. 

When my nephew was born in September, I thought that he should have something of Bobo's, too. So after figuring out the logistics with the first, practice flannel onesie, I (eventually) got to work. 

I have to tell you, I had a lot of mixed emotions when I got out the shirts. I was afraid to cut them. I didn't want to ruin them. They still smell like him...these shirts that my grandpa wore every time he hugged me and kissed my cheek. I was both happy and sad as I remembered.

But, I'd like to think that my nephew, and someday my own kids will wear his old clothes, and remind us that memories can be more sweet than sad. And even though one life has ended, we all carry him with us. These new lives that are just beginning will get to wear his memory and will eventually treasure something so precious from a great grandpa they never got to meet, but will love anyway.

Update: Here is a picture of my nephew, Zayden, wearing Bobo's shirt...sitting in Bobo's chair. 

Flannel Onesie

Even though I can't yet share just yet where a great deal of my inspiration came from, I'm really excited about this post. (I'll share my main inspiration some other time.) But I had a plan to make a flannel baby onesie. And luckily for me, I found a pattern and tutorial for one! You can try it out here.

I didn't follow the pattern too closely, mostly I just used it to get an idea for size. I found this shirt at a discount store and really liked the look and the price wasn't too bad. I used it more for a guide than the pattern.

Before

(Forgive the poor quality, at this point I can't go back and take another picture! :))

I don't know how well you can tell, but the original shirt was put together in a pretty interesting way, but I knew it was going to make it difficult to get the look I wanted out of the onesie. So somewhere along the way, I had the bright idea that I was going to completely take apart the shirt. Yes, you can imagine how tedious that was. I even had to take off and reapply some of the pearl snaps. The center button placket (if you're like me, I didn't know what a placket was until I started this...in this case, it's the strip of buttons where the shirt opens) was about the only thing left standing.

So it was pretty slow work, what with the seam ripping and figuring out how the shirt was put together, but I finished it!

Are you ready?...

  After

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add pocket(s) or anything else, but I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out!

I'm sure I'll be making more of these for all of the lumberjack/cowboys in my life!