Sewing!

My baby nesting mode has consisted of sewing, sewing, sewing so far!  I continuously tout to Michael the cost benefit of my making items over buying them (though he informed me last night that he would rather me buy things than having to listen to the clacking of my sewing machine, ha).  However, I haven't exactly laid out the savings we've seen so far.  So let's start with a project I completed yesterday - a breastfeeding cover (I followed the tutorial over at Freshly Picked).

• just over 1 yard of giraffe print fabric on clearance at JoAnn's - $4.25
• 16 inches of boning - $1.25 with coupon
• brown thread since I didn't have any - $3
• D-rings, pack of 4 (you use three) - $2.50

Total cost of materials -  $11. You can find a giraffe-print one through Walmart for $6.25, but reviews say it is thin and provides inadequate coverage and privacy.  The cheapest reputable cover online I've found is through Amazon for $16.50 (see the Aubrey).  However, none of those patterns appeal to me.  So for $5 less I get one in a print I prefer.  Yay!

Some of my projects concern me as far as usability.  I've recently discovered the Babyville Boutique line of diaper-making products at JoAnn.  Let me say those bad boys are harder to make than they look!  My first two projects were newborn-sized diaper covers--no gussets, velcro closures--easiest project in the book--using an adorable rubber ducky print PUL (polyurethane laminate).

While they turned out pretty good, I have some concerns about the leg opening size and potential leakage because of that.  I'll just wait until the little guy is here to make some more.  So let's see the cost savings for the two covers:

• Rubber ducky PUL - $11.25 for a three pack that included yellow and frog print, so $3.75
• fold-over elastic - $5.25 for the package, and I got three covers out of it, so $3.50
• Velcro left over from previous project
• already had white thread

Based upon those figures, I spent $7.25 on two covers.  In comparison, this morning I ordered three one-size seconds Flip covers from cottonbabies.com for $7.25 apiece.  Savings!

So next I decided to give the all-in-one (AIO, for those of you who aren't familiar with the cloth-diapering acronyms) quick-dry diaper a go.  Wow, was that one hard!  No, there will not be a photo.  I have classified it as "a diaper to use when the others are dirty."  Some of that was my fault.  First, I used a scrap of yellow PUL to make the diaper.  The directions called for using a square tab shape at the closures, but since 1) I didn't have enough fabric, and 2) I didn't read that part of the directions until AFTER I had cut out my pattern, I had to make the rounded tab work (Tim Gunn moment!).  I used some white dotted minky fabric I had purchased as a remnant from Hobby Lobby--remnants are my friends!  As for the absorbent pads sewn inside the lining, I whipped up a couple from flannel scraps and quad-folded flat cloth diapers.  We'll just have to see how this one works.  Since I used pretty much all scraps for this diaper, the cost was negligible.

Lastly, I extended my diaper making to wool soakers.  I found another handy tutorial through Scrimply Thrifty.  Using a $4 cashmere wool sweater I purchased from Goodwill, a clearance turtle applique purchased from JoAnn for $1, and some green thread I already had, I managed to make a soaker and a pair of longies.

Gah, turtle butt is so cute!  I purchased a bottle of lanolin oil from My Precious Kid for $7.  Wool covers are the most expensive ones to purchase--for instance, this site that shows up as the first Google hit for "wool soakers" sells them for $40!--so my savings, provided the covers are successful, is tremendous.  Yay!