The Bottom Line: The Cost of Competing in PR&P

Hello Everybody! - if you are newer to my blog there are a few blog posts that may help you understand my sewing background and why I upcycle/recycle/re-purpose (Here and Here).   But at the end of the day the short answer is that I am cheap.  I live on a tight budget with three kids under 2 and I started sewing for them to save us money - not spend a ton.  It can be a bit intimidating when you see the big blogs buying up all the awesome new fabrics and patterns; but don't think you can't sew amazing things without breaking the bank!!!

 Winter Wear-Wolf:  $0


OK, technically $2.50 (which is what I paid for the grey bias tape in the fall, but I only used half of it, and if I hadn't already bought it I just would have made my own from one of  the fabrics in the outfit).  All of the fabrics were upclycled; two skirts and two shepherds costumes.  The buttons came from an old coat, and the elastic loops were made from 2 hair ties I had.

Collegiate Cool: $.83

I never could have pulled this one off for $0 if it wasn't for my mom gifting me access to her stash as part of my Christmas present.  This outfit used the most yardage of any of the PR&P looks.  The jacket, jacket lining, shirt, and tie all used yardage from my mom's supply - but that's the thing, there are always people you know that have some kind of left overs hanging about that they are willing to share ;o).  The sweater was made from a men's sweater that I scored at Goodwill for 83 cents.  The pants were an upcycle from a women's skirt.  The buttons for the shirt came from a men's button up in my stash. *Oh and I won the pattern for Melly Sews' Basic Blazer.

Elephant Shoes: $7
I spent $1.99 on the fabric paint to print the Elephant fabric.  Another Goodwill score gave me a grey knit T for 83 cents.  I caught the teal corduroy and grey fleece on super Christmas sales combined with coupons and picked up a yard of each at about $2 a yard.  The black knit came into my stash in a donation from one of my friend's grandmother, the teal knit was a women's T, and the black lining of the pants was a women's skirt.

Butterfly Kisses: $0
Yep, every once of fabric on this one was upcycled.  The gorgeous butterflies were an old skirt, the velvet was a sleeveless woman's top, and the green knit was a T-shirt.  I stole a hook off a skirt and the two snaps for the jacket were in my button jar.

Mo-Squish-Le: $5.60
Once again, the fabrics were all upcycled - two button up shirts, one white dress shirt and one flannel plaid shirt.  All of the buttons on the top were from the original shirt.  But then there was the boots- they needed a special button to make the look.  Once I decided that I wanted cool buttons on the boots, I decided that I wanted to tie in the shorts with the same/similar buttons.  With the help of a couple coupons, I was able to get 2 large, 2 medium, and 4 small silver buttons for a total of $5.60.  Oh yeah - and those cool leather boots came from an old leather jacket of mine from middle school.

Gabba Ga: $5.30
I was actually willing to spend more to get this outfit 'just right'.  I was prepared to spend as much as it took to find the perfect green on green striped knit at the store for the Brobee hoodie.  But it didn't exist - nada in stripes.  Boooo!  I had gone through all the green in my stash and taken swatches with me of anything I thought might work.  I decided I could rework my design a bit and 'create' stripes using two knits.  The maternity top in my stash was the perfect fit, so I grabbed half a yard of the dark green knit to compliment it - I also had used up all of my 1 inch elastic and needed to buy more for the pants, a coupon came in handy for that.  Muno's outfit used the remaining fleece from Elephant Shoes, a grey knit skirt, a red Tshirt, a white women's knit top, and a women's sweat shirt.  That red sweat shirt had been my mom's and dearly loved - to the point that it became her painting sweatshirt.  The seamed bum was divine inspiration as that section of the sweatshirt torso had large paint splatters (the arms were too short to use as pant legs because this was a women's M/L).  Brobee used more of the grey knit skirt, the remainder of the women's white knit top, the maternity waffle knit top, the purchased  green knit yardage, the remainder of the red T, a curtain panel   and a separating zipper stolen from one of my pre-pregnancy sweatshirts.  Oh, and those cool zippered pockets on Muno's pants - the zippers were stolen from sleepers the boys wore last year.

So there you have it, a Grand Total of  $18.73
Yep, under $20 for 7 full outfits - I think that counts as saving my family money!!!

Now, you probably couldn't make exactly the same outfits for the same amount - but you'd be able to do similar things with what you can find and build into your own stash.  And yes there is always thread ;op
Where does my stash come from???  Well, it started with me going through my own closet and weeding out what no longer fits my larger body and my hubs' smaller body (yeah that isn't fair, but let's not dwell).  Then friends of mine read on my blog about my goal last summer to make fall clothes for the boys without spending a dime, and they started offering me first dibs on bags of clothes that were destined for Goodwill.  Then my mom started cleaning out her closets (both crafting and clothing), and the piles grew and grew.  Recently, I've started getting some yardage from friend's whose parents or grandparents are downsizing and cleaning out.
The biggest thing I do is start at my stash.  Yes I have a design in mind, yes I have a desired color pallet; but almost every time things work out better than I could have expected by starting with what I have and 'Making it Work'.
Now don't get me wrong - when our budget allows I WILL be buying some pretty fabrics and patterns - and I am already plotting exactly what I will spend my prize gift certificates on!!!!  My only birthday and Christmas requests this past year were sewing notions.  And someday soon-ish, I will need to purchase a newer sewing machine.  But until then, I will continue to use whatever comes my way to create cool new clothes for my three quickly growing babies ;o)

Huge hugs to all!!!
*oh and ask questions - I love comments and questions, I try very hard to answer them all via e-mail, so make sure your profile is set to receive reply e-mails!!!