It's a Priceless Life: I'm BACK!!! Preemie T-shirt for Teddy Bear

Sorry I have been gone for sooooo long! I had family priorities that needed to come first. My dad had quadruple bypass surgery, so that took priority over posting :-)

Here he is a day after surgery!!! Looking better already!

That teddy bear he is holding is called Sir Koff-a-Lot. He is a specially made bear that heart patients get after surgery. They are stuff extra firm and are used to help patients recover. The patients hug the bear when they need to cough and that helps their chests not hurt as much. They also use the bear to help them use their legs to get up and down instead of their arms. When they hug the bear, they have to use their legs...this way, they are not putting pressure on the chest trying to lift themselves up.

He's a cute lil' bear, but my sister-n-law thought he needed to be 'Hawaiianed-up'!! I thought I had a Hawaiian onsie at the house for one of the grand kids...but I couldn't find it...so, of course, I had to make one!

We were a hour and a half away from where my dad had surgery. My husband and I decided we would drive back and forth each day so we could take of our dogs also. So when I decided to make a shirt for the bear, I didn't have a lot of time. I told my husband 'give me 15 minutes' and I'll be ready to go!!!

I found a swimsuit bottom that I had ordered a few years back. It was on clearance, of course! when I ordered it, but the top sold out. They sent the bottoms anyway??!! What would I do with just the bottoms??!!! Well, fast-forward a few years and I finally figured out what to do with those bottoms! Make a t-shirt for a bear, OF COURSE!!!
It was Hawaiian print and red & white...PERFECT!!!

I found a pattern for a preemie t-shirt onsie HERE. I was trying to remember how big the bear was and thought a preemie would fit ok.

I cut the side seams of the skirt to get the fabric to lay flat.

I first put the pattern where you see it in the picture, but they decided to move it down and use the seam of the skirt to be the seam of the shirt (less sewing). I cut out all my pieces and followed the directions on the pattern. The only thing I did differently, was I just made a t-shirt and I didn't make a collar. I was running out of time and just stitched the 'collar hole' to finish the edges.

Here's how the shirt looked before putting it on the bear. When I went to show my husband what I had made, he kinda laughed and said - that's way too small for that bear....I took it anyways, it was made out of swimsuit material, so I hoped that it would stretch!

When we got to the hospital, I stretched that baby over that bear and it 'fit'...it's 'busting' at the seams, but it fit. We said it was a 'board shirt' like the surfers wear! Ha!! It ended up being perfect and 'the talk' of the floor!