Fabric Harvesting: Summer PJs

Can't quite say that spring is here, but my eldest son has switched over to only wearing summer PJ's and unfortunately only has one pair.

Time to whip up an extra pair for him. Hunted through the fabric stash and found a shirt I'd picked up at a second hand store to re-fashion and it matched some fabric I had actually transferred to the donation pile.



After re-measuring my son it was time to trace off the size up. I sewed him up a Nico for the top and a pair of Gerald's for the shorts.


The neckband is a bit more stretched than the normal Nico as the fabric did not have as much of recovery. Mental note that cotton lycra really is the best, and to always use it at least for the neck band.

I also did an exposed waistband rather than the covered to give a little extra length to the briefs as the green fabric didn't have the required lengthwise stretch.

Then to get a bit of extra wear out of the shirt over the course of the week and because my son is definitely growing and will soon be growing out of the briefs he has in his drawer I made up two more pairs using the left over scraps.


There is something strangely satisfying about using up most of the fabric, especially as I try to focus on using up my stash this year. 



Total costs for this project: 
Old T-shirt: $4
Green Fabric: $1
Elastic: $3

Total: $8 (Pattern and thread previously used)

Total Cost to purchase: PJ set: $15-20 (on sale), 
Extra briefs: $5 each ($10) 
Total: $25-30

Total savings: $17-22 for about 2 hours worth of work. 

So while most sewing projects are never a massive win in terms of savings when you factor the time required, I do get great satisfaction out of creating something my kids wear, reducing the waste headed to the landfill and making something useful to us. Also just knowing that the worker (me LOL) had good conditions as I'm not always the greatest at putting my money where my social responsibilities lie is a huge benefit. 

Another reason I like to do this is I've started to create a game with myself where I transfer money to my FIRE savings account each time I do a frugal weirdo thing to save money. So this project will mean transferring $25 to the account (always round up). To keep up the motivation and because my income has been decreased while unemployed it has been nice to find a source to keep adding to my savings, however small. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Favourite Pattern Series: Jalie 3355

Jalie 3461: Éléonore Pull-on Jeans

Sewing Plan update - I love my dress!