Recycled waffle-knit sleep sacks

[lil_abi]

So it's getting cold, and babies aren't supposed to use blankets. 

Hmm...$22 each for polyester fleece sleep sacks...or $2.50 for two cotton waffle-knit shirts from Salvation Army + $2 for two 22" zippers = these awesome snuggly sleep sacks?



They were just basic waffle-knit shirts to begin with.  I traced a sleep sack for the shape, bound the armholes in bias tape, and used the zipper on the bottom, not up the front, for ease.  That way I could use the original neckhole, and churn two of these bad boys out in an evening.  They're super soft and cuddly. 

I have two wool sweaters awaiting the same treatment.

[Craftsunderground]

What a great idea. I wish I had known of it when my kids were little.

[ivoryh1632]

what a great idea! i'm totally pinning this to make in the future gifts.

What size shirt did you use to start with?

[lil_abi]

My kids are a year old (20lbs), and needed a "large" sleep sack. I brought the largest shirts I could find: XXL. For smaller babies, you can use smaller shirts.

[ivoryh1632]

XXL in toddler, childrens or adult size?

[elderflower]

They are lovely and what a thrifty idea.

I didn't know babies aren't supposed to have blankets.  Why is that?  Of course mine haven't been babies these 20+ years  but I only put them in a sleeping sack when they got to the stage of standing up and kicking their covers off.

[ivoryh1632]

They are lovely and what a thrifty idea.

I didn't know babies aren't supposed to have blankets.  Why is that?  Of course mine haven't been babies these 20+ years  but I only put them in a sleeping sack when they got to the stage of standing up and kicking their covers off.

babies aren't supposed to have blankets because they can kick them off and theoretically wrap the blanket around themselves and choke themselves with it, it just goes with the whole thing of babies aren't supposed to have anything in the crib with them. but back in the day people just swaddled so it wasn't a big deal because a baby's not gonna get out of a good tight swaddle. but noone swaddles anymore, they just use products that simulate swaddling, i'm not really sure why though because swaddling is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying all those other things

[lil_abi]

XXL adult size shirts, the largest I could find. 

We swaddled in regular swaddling blankets for a long time, but once they outgrow swaddling, sleep sacks are still nice.  There is theoretically a reduced risk of suffocation (and SIDS) since a baby is not wiggling all over and moving loose blankets around.  Even though my kids are past the SIDS high-risk age, we're still using sleep sacks since I don't think they'd keep blankets on all night.  This way I know they're warm!