I had to go to wallyworld for some goldfish and observed 3+ aisles of Christmas decorations and wrapping paper at 75% for most of it...and it was still there! A real sign of the times. It seems where ever we go, we can all see the effects of the recession. There are just somethings we can do to save ourselves from overspending and this is my contribution for today.
As you all know, (oh my Lord, she is gonna bring it up again!), my kids, the earthfamily are expecting and are very frugal people. My son had pointed out to me that he found a pattern for making diapers from old t-shirts...so I ran with it.
I checked google for expectant parents on the cost of cloth vs. disposable. The range went from $1600-2400 per infant, and that is not even the carbon footprint you are starting the baby out with. I had no idea. Then I started thinking about, what do parents do in a disaster situation for diapers? I can't fix the milk issue but the nappies are easy peasy and literally free. There are a jillion places online, including ebay and etsy, that sell the "new" cloth diapers. They are made from PUL...a sheer soft plastic underlining with a pretty double knit cover. I bought 3 yards on etsy from
this seller and have made re-usable breast pads. The PUL is a breeze to sew, comes in 60" widths and washes very well. My daughter has been using them with her baby and loves them. If you check etsy, you can find a lot of sellers who make these. Very tres chic...but, the baby is going to pee in it! They can be rather expensive. They are, what we older mommies from Noahs' era, used to call rubber pants. They still need the liner, hence, the t-shirt nappie.
I checked at my local favorite thrift store and asked the owner if she throws out clothing...like t-shirts. Yep, several a week. So I had her save some=free. I washed and dried them and cut all the seams out. (a typical fabric/hoarder stash...a huge box of t-shirt knit fabric minus the seams, lol!)
I cut a template out of an old piece of plastic and shaped it like what I perceived a diaper should look like.
I had some pieces of sleeve that I folded up and laid into the center, then took the other piece of (the same) shirt and folded the edges under and laid it on top and pinned it in place.
(The hardest part for me was finding the "right" setting on my machine. This is the important part: I AM NOT A SEAMSTRESS....I AM A QUILTER! Whoa, I feel better now. Anyhoodles, play with your machine, get wacky with the dials and stuff. Every setting I came up with was a bigger mess then the last. I went thru 5 machine needles and lots of nasty words before I finally found the setting for this. T-shirt fabric, since it is knit, is a pain in the butt to sew. This worked for me!)
Lets see, oh yeah, right. So pin the little dickens together and sew with 1/4" seam. I did go over a few areas with the intent to keep the wadding (am I not just getting the greatest words from my bloggy friends in the Southern Hemisphere?) from shifting.
No, it's not very pretty...but it's free and it's use belies the aesthetics. I purposely made the underside a little thicker...it's a girl. For a boy, I would have added a little more padding to the front part. This nappie is for use with the AIO cover
AIO=all in one
or a wool soaker. I haven't finished the soaker yet, still in the thinking stage, but it's cut out. I just can't decide if I need to do it by hand or machine, after all, I do have a few needles unbroken.
Now, here she is, Vanna, do me the honors please:
I have read that a lot of the AIOs don't fit the newborn, this is perfect! No plastic for the earthbaby...lol. I know this is a quilt blog, but I had a request on my blog and 2 emails asking for this tutorial. Thanks for bearing with me.
I am actually working on my embroidery quilt pattern, don't give up on me yet...and a little peek at another embroidery...yep, a baby quilt, lol!
Maybe tomorrow ,oh it's delicious!
Are any of you doing anything special to save money or stockpile or just another way to do something a lot cheaper...hmm, I am curious.
I have re-homed these little blocks, @ 11 1/2" square, more or less. The petals are like the Lafeyette Orange peel. Rumor has it a young lady attended a ball with General Lafayette where he supposedly ate an orange and she carried it away. The petal shape itself, if pointed at each end, has also been called Bay Leaf, Tea Leaf and Lovers Knot, just to name a few. The pieces are all sewn down with a very thin white thread, not needle turned. The black ring is a little over 1/4" wide. I have never seen this before, very strange. Every block uses scraps with the muslin and black the only unifying elements. 
Some of the blocks are age spotty. I love these blocks, all 23 of them. I think it might be wise to remove these flowers and re-applique them to new muslin. What would you do...try and wash the blocks as or re-attach to new fabs?
