What does clever mother “Frugal Babe” do when she has a little time on her hands? She sits on the couch and turns old sweaters into diaper covers.

She attaches the sweater cuffs to the leg holes to prevent leakage, or adds arms from the sweaters to turn the diaper covers into wool pants.

Here’s some help on how to do this:

• First, here’s a link to a “baby bum sweater” pattern from Frugal Baby Tips.


• Click here and here to read posts about how this project progressed.Frugal Babestarted with a sewing machine and sweaters that had been lined with felt, and later begansewing the sweater parts together by hand with crochet cotton.


• Here’s a photo of how her finished product looks.

She writes, “I love little projects like this that don’t cost anything and provide tangible benefits for our family.And recycling materials into new projects always makes me feel good.”

Why stop there? Frugal Babe was inspired to go with cloth diapers by this comprehensive post about them at Not the Jet Set, which includes the amount of money saved and the apparent benefits to baby’s health. Not unexpectedly, Frugal Babe ended up making her own.

Related reading:

Life without the Diaper Genie

Frugal (and green) tips for expectant moms

Cheapskate image makeover: Call us ‘eco-friendly’