how to sew a baby grow as all mums know you can never have too many baby grows so why not stay ahead of the game by making your own expert seamstress Zoey Edwards is going to show us how step one you will need the videojug baby grow pattern soft stretchy fabric 5 press studs thread elastic sharp scissors two safety pins and the sewing machine step 2 the pattern printout the two-page pattern from the videojug website and use a photocopier to double the size printing onto a3 paper the pattern consists of three parts the front panel the back and a sleeve cut all three out lay your chosen soft stretchy fabric out on a flat surface fold it over along the grain so not as an angle to make it double the thickness position the back panel template so the long edge lines up against the fold and pin in place carefully cut around the edge again lay the fabric out and fold over along the grain this time pin the long edge of the sleeve template against the fold and pin the front panel anywhere on the doubled over fabric cut out both pieces then use the sleeve template again to cut out the second sleeve butting the long edge against the fold in the fabric unpin the templates and keep for another baby gross sewing session step 3 the sleeves unfold the sleeves place one sleeve edge against the corresponding edge of the front panel keeping both bits of fabric face to face pin in place with a running stitch sew a seam one centimeter in then repeat with the other sleeve and other front panel unfold the back piece and lay face up pin the second sleeve edge against the corresponding edge of the back piece again keeping the fabric face to face repeat with the other sleeve on the other side sew a seam one centimeter in to attach the sleeves to the back piece now all your fabric pieces should be joined up step four front facing the next step is to neat in the front edges turn in the edge of one of the front panels two and a half centimeters and pin in place with your sewing machine top stitch just inside the raw edge to secure repeat with the edge of the other front panel step 5 assembling place the front panels on top of the back piece again with the fabric face to face the baby grow will now take shape make sure every edge lines up and the front facing will overlap by two and a half centimeters from crotch to neck pin all the way around to hold in place with your sewing machine set to a running stitch sew a seam one centimeter in from the sleeve around the legs and up to the other sleeve to easily change sewing direction leave the needle down lift the foot and turn the fabric to the new direction drop the foot and continue your baby grow will now look nearly complete step 6 cuffs fold the raw edge of the sleeve back by one centimeter this will create a channel to house the elastic so nearly all the way around leaving a gap of about one and a half centimeters to thread the elastic through repeat with the second sleeve make a loop of elastic as big as your baby's wrist with two centimeters extras for joining allowance altogether this would be about 15 centimeters long place a safety pin at one end of the elastic and anchor it to the sleeve attach a safety pin to the other end of the elastic and feed it through the channel remove the safety pins and ensure the elastic is not twisted overlap by about two centimeters and a hand sew to secure in place with a simple running stitch repeat with the second sleeve to finish your sleeves set up the gaps in the channel which you use to thread the elastic through top tip before you turn the baby grow the right way around carefully snip a couple of millimeters shy of the corners under the arms and around the crop seam this will make it more comfortable for your little baby to wear at the feed snip out some small triangles to reduce the seam bulk turn the baby go around the right way it should be looking pretty good step 7 the collar lay some fabric right side down on the flat surface cut 35 centimeters along the diagonal on the fabric this is to create a bias strip cutting on the diagonal like this will allow the fabric to curve measure 6 centimeters in and cut to form a strip 35 centimeters by 6 centimeters fold the strip in half lengthways and press with an iron open it up and using the center crease as a guide fold one side in to meet it and press repeat with the other side then fold in half lengthways again and press cut the neckline on the baby grow at right angles to the front facing and all the way around taking off one centimeter raw edge to raw edge pin the bias strip to the neckline all the way around take care not to stretch either fabric using the first crease as a guide so the bias trip to the baby grow cut off the excess bias strip leaving about one centimetre fold this back to create a clean finished edge fold the middle crease of the bias strip over the neck edge of the baby grow catching the other raw edge underneath this will create a collar pin and place catching all layers of the fabric fold in the edge of the bias strip just as before before you start sewing lower the foot of your sewing machine carefully as there are many layers to sit through slowly so a running stitch all the way around the collar again making sure to capture all the layers this will give you a very professional neatened neckline step 8 the fastenings pin the top of the baby grow together place a press stud near the very top mark its position with an X of pins put the bottom press stud in position and Mark it with another pin X measure the midway point mark then halfway between those two points this will give you the position of all five press studs transfer the marks to the underneath facing with a pencil hand stitch both sides of each press stud in place Zoey suggests using a double thickness of thread for a more secure fastening when you have attached them all double check they line up and that's the baby grow completed nice work Zoey