Today is a first in what will likely be an at least 23 week long blog series. Why 23 weeks? I'm 17 weeks now. I've yet to have a baby come early, so I've got at least 23 more weeks of this whole pregnancy thing to complete a full layette for our baby.

This week, I actually went through all of our saved items from my 3 babies (all girls). The results are pretty dismal. I have exactly 3 pairs of pants from sizes newborn to 12 months. I've got a ton of short sleeve pink shirts in different sizes, very few pajamas and only 1 jacket. While at first I thought I just had to sew up a layette in case it was a boy, but I now realize, unless I want to do laundry every day, I've got a LOT of work to do!

I promise I'll have a full pattern round up for you soon, but for today, I'm going to talk about a pattern that I've had for a LONG time! Today I'm talking about The Little One Layette by Fishsticks Designs. The Little One Layette (LOL) was one of my first PDF pattern purchases. Copyright on this pattern is 2009, so of course it doesn't have any of the new features. No layers, trim pages and the pattern pieces are all in black/white (but with different patterns in the sizes).

The LOL includes a lap t-shirt, lap gown, pants and a full jumper with both short or long sleeves. When you consider that you can build a complete layette with this pattern, the $9.75 pattern price really is a steal.

For today, I've sewn up the lap t-shirt and pants in size newborn. After reviewing the pattern, I've got a few critiques that I definitely did not catch the last time I sewed this up (nearly 4 years ago!).

#1- The pattern uses a seamless front/back. This is great for doing those cute butt appliques. BUT, the inseam seam is not trued. It comes to a very sharp point. To release the fabric in this area, I clipped to the stitching line.

#2- The front and back side seam is the same length, but they are not the same length at the seam allowance. That means you get a little triangle bit at the top of your side seam. Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

#3- The arm and leg cuffs are the same for all sizes, newborn-12 months. I realize that the arm/leg widths don't change TONS between the sizes, but the scale of the length really should change from one size to the next.

#4- There are no snap placement markings on the pattern.

When you consider the age of the pattern, I'm surprised that these are the only problems! That said, for $9.75 you have all the patterns you need to complete a wearable layette. That works out to less than $2.50 per piece. While there are other designers with similar patterns, none of them are at this price point.

My one suggestion if you're going to sew up the lap tee. The seam allowance is 1/2". Once you sew the neck binding on and have top stitched, I HIGHLY recommend trimming off the remaining seam allowance. The neckline will sit MUCH nice.

Would I sew it again? Absolutely. I'll be making another t-shirt with pants in size newborn (pictured here) and then 2 in sizes 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Then of course 1-2 of the super cute rompers in each size. Of course that barely covers the full layette I have planned (from sizes newborn-12 months) but of course I need to save some of my fabric for other styles too. See you again as soon as I have another adorable baby outfit ready to share.