Baby Budget Savers...

My posts are probably going to be pretty simple for awhile.  They will probably entail sewing and baby updates, but nothing that needs me to dig too deeply in thought.  ;)  I am a bit to tired these days to put together an entire thought, much less a sentence.  You all know understand that baby haze in the beginning months, I know.  So, I am just going to go with it, and not keep waiting for more depth in my thoughts to share with you-at least for now.

I have been very pleasantly surprised at the lack of need we have had to go baby shopping.  Because we had gotten rid of all of our baby things after Noah, I thought we would have so many things to replace.  But, honestly, I have been able to meet most of the needs for Israel(and I mean the littler things like clothing,  blankets, etc) by just staying home and being a little bit creative.  So I thought I would share some things that have helped us stretch that baby budget or in some cases, not even need a baby budget! Matt and I notice each day just how important it is to find new ways to need less with the ever growing cost of things, and I know that so many of you are feeling it so much yourselves.

Most of you know, one of my enjoyments when it comes to sewing and creating is to use reclaimed fabrics(thrifted fabrics from linens, clothing, etc).  I very rarely buy fabric from a fabric store now.  While most of the time I buy poly cotton bed sheets for the shop and my own projects, I have picked up some jersey cotton sheets along the way as well.  I finally dug into and depleted my stash of those when our little man arrived.  This is what I have used them for...

I have not had to buy one receiving blanket-I made some for Israel using a few really soft jersey sheets. I am very taken with how incredibly soft these turned out to be!  I paid no more than $3 for a sheet and was able to get multiple needs covered with that.  Here are my thoughts to pass on when choosing jersey sheets that are pre owned...make sure you check the softness-if it's not soft to the touch, it's not worth buying no matter how cheap it is.  If it's piling-skip it.  And make sure it has a really nice stretch because it's even better for swaddling then.  The one great thing about thrifting for fabric is that you get to actually see how a fabric holds up in the wash, unlike when you buy it brand new from the store.  So often i have been disappointed with a new clothing item and how bad the quality of the fabric is once it goes through the wash.  Also, do not be surprised at how crazy crooked jersey sheets are-more often than not!  But for projects like this, even the crooked ones are a good investment.  I will work from the sheet's center for blankets and then use the edges that are all wonky, for other little things.

I used the left overs from the sheets to make some teeny tiny pants-Israel wears these constantly!  After I made them, I went thrifting to match them with tops and happened to find a few that would mix and match.

These are my most favorite burp cloths ever!!  I wish I had done this for the first 5 of our kiddos!!  I have made some of these from jersey sheets, but i have also used super cuddly pjs, and shirts for their fabric.  Thick, cuddly and absorbent-not to mention very cute!

Next, as we are widdling down the scrap size-I opted not to buy those cheapy baby washcloths and I made all of ours again out of the jersey.  These were from a pair of lounge pants that I also made two hats from!  So, two hats(one will go in the shop) and 4 washcloths for $2.00.  And the quality of the fabric is much better than the store bought packages of washcloths.

And yes, hats(a real weakness of mine).  This was a tank top and I was able to make the hat and a washcloth.

I have one more quick project that may help some of you with wee ones who are growing too fast!!  This is about making the little one piece outfits go just a little longer(or shorter).  Israel's length has been where I have seen the change the most in the past 7 weeks!  Some of those little outfits would still fit if he wasn't so long-so I decided to make them into shirts.

before

after-again, wish I had thought of this a long time ago!

Hopefully this helps open up some options to make that budget go further without sacrificing the quality you would like!