Mama Gone Green is a blog dedicated to raising happy children and reducing our impact on the Earth. My name is Taryn and I am the mother of 2 young kids and an environmental studies instructor at a community college in Portland, Oregon. Please join me as I journey through life as a mama, teacher, knitter, photographer, gardener, and environmentalist!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Upcycled Baby Pants

I love to make things for Finn, and have found that I have been knitting and sewing up a storm for the little girl I am waiting on. And, as you all know, this blog's true focus is about ways to live and raise your children more sustainably. When I make handmade gifts for my friends and family, I am reducing my impact as that item does not come with packaging, it hasn't gone through a corporate middle-man, isn't being transported to China and back, and I have a better sense of the resources that went into that gift. But, I will admit that my gifts still do have an environmental impact.. I try to use organic fabrics and natural yarns when I can afford it, but I do buy new non-organic fabric and acrylic yarn on a regular basis, neither of which are particularly good for our earth. And I do feel somewhat guilty about this (trust me), but try to mentally justify it by all of the resources that I have saved by crafting the item myself.
That said, I have felt more of a push lately to craft with things that were headed for the garbage or the Goodwill donation box. I have a whole stack of old clothes that are stained, full of holes, or just don't fit any longer... and instead of getting rid of these, I try to give them a second life. My husband hates the fact that we have a pile of old clothes in the garage, but he hasn't left me yet!
So, I made my belly-baby a couple of pairs of up-cycled comfy pants, made from the sleeves of some of my old sweatshirts that were destined for Goodwill. They literally took about 15 minutes a piece, and are pretty darn cute. Note that I did not do the embroidery, that was part of the sleeves (that would have taken me a bit more than 15 minutes!).
Check out my previous post for making baby pants for more specific instructions on how to make your own. But, they are easy enough for even a novice sewer and these didn't cost me a dime! Recently I have also made some cloth diapers from old shirts (another post on that soon!) and have some more up-cycled projects in the works.
Do you create from waste?
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4 comments:

  1. Ren- Lady Of The ArtsFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    Those are so cute- I would love to see a Before and After photo- of the sweatshirt turned pants-
    I felted a bunch of sweaters that were destroyed by months- and our biggest impact for creating from waste would have to be compost!

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  2. HeidiFebruary 17, 2011 at 8:45 PM

    Those pants are super cute! I have a bin of old clothes too that I am saving cause I like the fabric. We should have a fabric stash busting sewing challenge or sew-along. Can only use what you already have!How about this summer, after you get all settled as a mama of two?

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  3. sylviaFebruary 18, 2011 at 5:26 AM

    awesome! i love upcycling things. i have made shirts and pants from old adult t-shirts for my little one. great projects, aren't they?!

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  4. Mama Gone GreenFebruary 18, 2011 at 7:11 AM

    Heidi- that sounds like a fabulous idea for this summer! Let's do it!

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