More Frugal Homemade Baby Stuff

We had a very productive weekend. On Saturday we started painting our house. We decided to paint it the same color it already was, which is making the whole process easier. We bought a five gallon bucket of paint ($106) and a couple paint brushes, and we had caulk left over from our kitchen remodel. We will probably need to buy one more tube of caulk, and maybe two more gallons of paint. We’ll also need a couple gallons of trim paint. All told, the whole project is looking like it will be less than $250, which is very good news.

On Sunday we spent most of the day with my parents, and spent the evening with my brother and sister and their friends. My mother and I did lots of sewing yesterday. We made a Maya Wrap sling, using the directions on this site. It worked great and only took us about an hour (maybe a little more because of all the breaks we had to take to watch the baby learning to smile!) I ordered the rings from slingrings.com ($4) and used a flannel sheet that I had originally bought to make into diapers. Those wraps sell for about $50 – $60 online, and ours cost about $6. In the evening we went to an outdoor concert with my siblings, and then to a bar to watch the b-ball game, and our little munchkin was snug as a bug the whole time. I nursed him three times in the sling, and it was amazingly convenient. I was even able to nurse him standing up, with the sling supporting his weight. I’m thrilled with how easy it was to make, and how great it works.

Once we finished the sling, I started altering diapers. We made 24 diapers a couple months ago, but our little guy is growing so fast that they were starting to be a hard to velcro shut in the front. So I added flaps to the back of the diaper and moved the velcro to the flaps. Now when we put the diapers on him, the flaps wrap around the front – with lots of room to grow, lesson learned! – and velcro easily to the front of the diaper. I didn’t have time to alter all of the diapers, but I’m going to try to find a used sewing machine on craigs list or at a thrift store so that I can continue the project without always having to hijack my mother’s sewing machine.

We also made a pair of wool diaper cover pants, which are super cute. I made them pretty much by myself, which is a big accomplishment for my non-sewing self. I used this site that shows how to make pants out of an old sweater (thanks for the link Michelle!). The pants took about 30 minutes to make, and they work great. Last night he wore them to bed, and although I did change his diaper a couple times during the night, he didn’t leak at all. I have a whole bag of old wool sweaters that a friend gave me. She shrunk them and was using them to make wool pants for her son several years ago, but had some leftovers and passed them on to me. So I’ll be able to make several more diaper covers once I get a sewing machine. I made them with a drawstring in the waist instead of elastic, so that they’ll fit him for longer. For now I have to turn up the cuffs at the ankles, but as he gets taller I’ll just leave them down. These pants should fit for quite a while. I love how easy they were to make, and they’re just so darn cute!