Baby DIY

In preparation for the twins, Adam and I have had to buy a LOT of stuff. I've also spent a lot of time on pinterest looking at project ideas, and we were able to put some of them to good use and save some money on baby expenses. Since I'm on bed rest and can't do the traditional "nesting," instead of been trying to clean up my pinterest boards, deleting duplicates and things like that, and today I thought maybe I'd post some of the projects we've done and then I don't have to save those instructions on pinterest anymore. So, here goes:

Crib Sheets
I was intrigued when I saw instructions for making your own crib sheets, particularly because I had lots of material lying around the house (including old twin bed sheets) and figured this could be a simple way to save some money. One issue, though, is that we bought mini cribs and mattresses, rather than full-sized, so the dimensions in the directions wouldn't work for us. I showed Adam the directions and asked if he could figure out what dimensions we would need to use and he did the math to find the proportions (45 by 31, with 4.5 squares cut out at each corner). He followed that up by doing a trial run and said that he'd made it a little bigger than that, and it was a snug fit--snug enough that we didn't need to put in elastic to get it to stay on the mattress. We considered that a plus; why bother with elastic when you don't have to? We went on to make 7 or so of the sheets, which would cost about $6-8 or more each at the store (unless you find them on sale), so we saved about $42.

Pacifier Clips and Nursing Cover Strap
I found two different sets of directions for these--http://icraftforless.blogspot.com/  and http://thediymommy.com/sew-boutique-soother-clips
Looking at these, I figured it would be a simple enough project, but I also thought it could be even simpler--the pacifier clips you buy in the store often just have a loop of cord at the opposite end of the clip, so I figured we'd go that route. So, I bought some cord (don't remember the price but it was at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon, so it was less than $2) and ordered a ten pack of clips from Amazon ($6.70 total). For the ribbon part, I pulled out ribbons that had been on baby shower gifts I'd received, so the ribbon was free :) I handed the supplies to Adam and he proceeded to make 4 pacifier clips. Also, since I'd bought a ten-pack of clips, and we only used 4 here, I also had Adam make a nursing cover strap. Having seen this on pinterest as well,  I figured it could be useful to have and super easy to make. So, Adam took our free ribbon and 2 of the clips and quickly sewed a nursing cover strap as well. And we still have 4 clips leftover for some other brilliant project. Nice. The pacifier clips are close to $5 each at the store, so saved $11 on the clips, plus have a nursing strap cover and some extra supplies.

Nursing Covers
Now, having a nursing cover strap, I could use any old blanket as a cover, but I had also seen a few sets of directions for making a nursing cover, so I thought, why not? I showed Adam the directions I'd found-- http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-make-nursing-cover.html and http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/01/diy-nursing-cover.html 
We had a bunch of old sheets lying around the house, so I decided to use those and just had to buy boning from JoAnn's (again, not exactly sure on the price, but I only need 24 inches and I used a coupon, so probably no more than $2.50). Adam and I made two covers (one white, one navy blue). Since sheets are kind of thin, we put the right sides together and sewed around, leaving a hole at the middle of the top for the boning, turned them right side out, got the boning put in, and stitched them shut. Overall, I think they'll work all right; I think they might have worked better with a stiffer fabric, but I do really like the fact that I could make them as big as I wanted, since I'm going to be trying to feed two babies at once and need all the coverage I can get. Nursing covers aren't cheap--the cheapest ones I've seen are $10 but got really poor reviews about being see-through, so we saved at least $10 (I might not have bought 2 of them, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a back up since we were making them for practically nothing)

Nursing Pillows and Covers
This idea actually came from a book, not pinterest. I checked out a book from the library that had a bunch of baby projects a while ago, and a nursing pillow was one of the projects. I used some fabric I had lying around the house, made a nursing pillow, and then had no use for it. However, once we found out we were having twins, I pulled it out, as well as the pattern I'd copied from the book (which was kind of a lumpy pattern--I'd recommend just borrowing someone's nursing pillow and tracing it--although make sure you then enlarge it to leave room for seam allowances and stuff) and made a second one--the reasoning being that I can use that to cushion them even when they're not eating (not sure how well trying to use them both while nursing would actually work--one on each side instead of one in the front?). Then I decided maybe I'd make a cover for each of them; although they're washable, since I used a polycotton filling, I thought it wouldn't hurt to have covers in case the babies spit up on them. So I used the same pattern, although I made it slightly larger, and sewed the inner curve and a little ways on each side of it. For the remaining side (the larger, outer curve), I decided to just sew some snaps on, to make it easier to get the pillows in and out of the covers. They're not the prettiest things in the world, but given that I used material from around the house and probably paid $6 or less for the filling (coupons, JoAnns, need I say more?), and nursing pillows cost about $40, I'll take my not-so-cute, sorta-lumpy pillows and see how they do and save my $34 for something else...like diapers.


Changing Pad Cover
I saw a couple different things on pinterest about making your own changing pad covers; I had purchased one but thought it probably wouldn't be too hard to make another. I handed this task off to Adam, who quickly whipped up a cover, using an old sheet and thread we had on handed, meaning we paid no money for it at all. Nice! (Covers are about $8 or more a piece, so decent savings there.) He followed the same basic principle as when he made the sheets, but this time he did use elastic, and he also had to make a hole in each side in order for the changing pad's safety buckle to have a spot to fit through.


So, those our baby projects. I suppose it's a bit of misnomer to call this post DIY, since I didn't do it myself--I had a lot of help from Adam--but together, we made some pretty cool things and saved a decent bit of money. Not too shabby. And I might post pictures at some point, but right now, the camera and cord are packed in the hospital bag, and I'm not digging those out.