About 80 experienced and beginner sewers got in on the action, at TasTAFE, that was led by Melbourne designer Adele Varcoe and Firth Loone of Onesies World. 

The onesies will be free at the party, with Varcoe saying the project was about connecting people. 

“It’s really inclusive and we want people to come and wear a onesie if they want to,” she said. “The idea is to make people feel really connected through wearing and having conversations with people they otherwise wouldn’t talk to.” 

Varcoe designed the onesies with simplicity in mind so people who had no sewing experience could take part. 

“The design process has actually been going for a while. It’s actually the second time this project has been run. The first time was in July this year in South Africa when we sewed about 650 onesies,” she said. 

Varcoe, who has been wearing onesies every day for the last six years, said spots are her thing.

“They’re almost like a disease … For me, it’s really interesting to see how something that is worn on its own might be seen as strange, but when 1000 people are wearing onesies with spots it becomes the norm,” she said. 

“[The spots disease] starts to spread and shifts the perception and that garment is no longer seen as strange and people start to want to be a part of it.” 

The project’s aim was to bring people together through making and wearing, she said. 

Loone said the response to the project had been overwhelming. 

“I think people want to be involved so they can come together as a community,” she said.

“Sewing is a normal thing to do by yourself, so to be able to come together where there is 40 people sewing and having a bit of a joke is great.” 

The free block party is being held on January 14 at the Queen Victoria Museum courtyard. 

Violent Femmes will headline the party and will be supported by indigenous punk lyrical activists Dispossessed, Amy Sako and Bassekou and the Evan Carydakis Quartet. More than 4000 people have already registered for the party.