My frugal wooly solution

[honeybunmom]

X-posting in Frugality and Finance

While I'd love for my ds to have multiple one piece woolies to keep him warm this winter while keeping his cloth diaper covered with no shirt riding up on his back, I just can't bring myself to purchase multiples of these when there are so many other things vying for our dollars.

A while ago, WindyCityMom posted in the sewing forum looking for a tutorial for making a snow suit out of sweaters. That led me to such a tutorial and from that, these were born:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...m/100_5072.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...m/100_5071.jpg

Depending on your thrift store, you can have a cashmere romper for your little on for as little as $6-$10, plus the cost of thread - less if you use lambswool or merino, etc. I used two; cutting the arms off and making them the legs and then another sweater for the arms. The key (unless you know how to install zippers and I've never done that) is finding a sweater that buttons up, but is not a cardigan.

[Jenn_M]

Great job!! I'm planning to order some of this merino jersey fabric to make woolly unders for our family. At $18/yard it's considerably cheaper to do it this way. I can get a lot of tiny baby things from one yard of 80" wide fabric.

[honeybunmom]

Originally Posted by Jenn_M

Great job!! I'm planning to order some of this merino jersey fabric to make woolly unders for our family. At $18/yard it's considerably cheaper to do it this way. I can get a lot of tiny baby things from one yard of 80" wide fabric.

Oooh! Thanks for that link. Please post after you make them and let us know how it went. Will you be using a pattern or making one based on things your family already has?

[Jenn_M]

I really like the Ottobre magazine patterns. I think I will probably use issue 4/04 for my older girls and 5/06 for the baby.

Will be sure to update after I have made them! We are moving in 12 (!!) days and the fabric is currently out of stock. I talked to the owner and she said it would be about 10 days before it was back in. So hopefully by mid December I'll have something to show!

[E.V. Lowi]

Originally Posted by honeybunmom

X-posting in Frugality and Finance

While I'd love for my ds to have multiple one piece woolies to keep him warm this winter while keeping his cloth diaper covered with no shirt riding up on his back, I just can't bring myself to purchase multiples of these when there are so many other things vying for our dollars.

A while ago, WindyCityMom posted in the sewing forum looking for a tutorial for making a snow suit out of sweaters. That led me to such a tutorial and from that, these were born:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...m/100_5072.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...m/100_5071.jpg

Depending on your thrift store, you can have a cashmere romper for your little on for as little as $6-$10, plus the cost of thread - less if you use lambswool or merino, etc. I used two; cutting the arms off and making them the legs and then another sweater for the arms. The key (unless you know how to install zippers and I've never done that) is finding a sweater that buttons up, but is not a cardigan.

Just perfect!

[weliveintheforest]

those look great!

[Plarka]

That's so nice! So is it clothes or a snowsuit? What are the links for snowsuits out of sweaters you referred to? I'm interested in that as well!

[honeybunmom]

Originally Posted by Plarka

That's so nice! So is it clothes or a snowsuit? What are the links for snowsuits out of sweaters you referred to? I'm interested in that as well!

Thanks, mamas!

Here is a link to the tutorial I used.

[monkeyma]

Those are awesome. I'm just getting into thrifting wool and am loving all these ideas.

[sweetpeppers]

This is so neat. I just traded my friend wooden toys so that she would cut up a cashmere sweater I had to make long underwear for my son. It came out so nice. Now I want a pair! I also discovered it's really easy to make socks out of wool sweaters. You can get at least three pairs of tube socks out of one sweater for a kid. At 4 dollars a sweater, you can beat that. Especially because you can't just go to a store and buy nice wool socks for kids. Apparently they are just supposed to be cold (or stay inside all winter watching TV). Mittens are also super easy, and I made the cuffs of the mittens go way up his arm to keep his wrists warm and dry. My next project is cashmere one piece pajamas for him, footie pajamas if I can figure out how. I am in love with cashmere. I wear a cashmere sweater every day as a long underwear shirt.