Growing, Growing, Gone!

Have you ever wished your children would stop growing, for just a little while? I remember several years ago when our 3rd child, JP, grew 8 inches and 5 shoe sizes in 1 year! We had to either put him in Payless brand shoes and thrift store clothing or have a naked kid running around (If my neighbors wouldn't have taken offense to a naked kid, we might have been able to get by with that until winter).

As we all ride the never ending roller coaster of the economy, (for you youngin's - yes, it's a roller coaster ... although hard to believe, I remember past economic times that were tougher for our nation than what we are currently facing), many are looking for ways to cut back on spending. I personally know many who've reduced their weekly grocery budgets, began cooking more from scratch, stopped eating in restaurants, forgone vacations and other travel, sold 3rd or even 2nd vehicles. Instead of going to the theaters, many are opting for home video rentals. But how do we keep our children from growing out of their clothes? Well, I haven't figured out how to stop them from growing but as of late, I have come up with some thrifty clothing solutions for my precious little OG.

Recently, OG has had a desire to wear more dresses. Our extended family continually blesses our children with an abundance of clothing, for which we are extremely thankful. Unfortunately, OG receives more pants/blouses than she does skirts/dresses. So, tired of seeing her wear the same two dresses for play, day after day, week after week, month after month (O.K. - that is a little bit of an exaggeration ... ), I have had to put on my thinking cap, because I'm too cheep to buy new skirts/dresses. And, of course, with skirts/dresses one also needs petticoats, aka slips. Our fabric store has had some really terrific sales this past month, but I am not an advanced seamstress. Years ago, before I had a little girl of my own, a lady was describing to me how to make a shirt/blouse into a dress. I decided to give it try. I also made OG a new denim skirt and two slips (her others are way too small for her), all for under $20.00. Below are photos of OG's new "play clothes". one of the two slips

a new denim skirt w/ kick splits at the knee

she will be pretty in this lavender dress (tee-shirt with attached skirt)

she loves this long sleeved tan blouse with the longer attached skirt, the skirt is embellished with ribbon.

I didn't have a pattern for the slip and skirts. They are a basic "tube", hemmed, and either gathered at the waist before attaching to a blouse/shirt (dress) OR have elastic sewn into the waist (skirt).

As always, I hope my sharing sparks your creativity and helps you also find ways to save, save, save!