Recycle Old Baby Clothes, Part 1

Have you ever wondered how to recycle old baby clothes? It has been stated that the average American will spend more than $2,000 on baby and infant clothes in the first 2 years of a baby’s life.  While this number varies by income levels, I found it to be an amazing number.  I can tell you with 100% certainty that my wife will not spend anywhere near this amount (She is a thrift-shop, resale shop, and garage sale queen!) I is simply amazing to me that others do.  This brought up an interesting thought to me . . . What do you do with those clothes once your child has out-grown them?

I know, I can here all the comments already, you put them away for your next child!  I understand that this happens a lot!  I was the youngest child in my family, so growing up, I almost never received new clothing.  I always received my brothers hand-me-downs.  When I became a teenager, and my older brother’s clothes wouldn’t fit me, that began to change.  The problem is that some clothes have a certain . . . sentimentality to them.

Please understand, I do not think you should keep every outfit that your child wore or owned.  Many of these outfits do not have any sentimental value to them, and those should be “recycled” or “freecycled” by donating them to a charity such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, your local thrift shop or any place where they are used to do good.  You can also choose to sell them in a garage sale or resale shop.  No, I am not talking about these clothes.  I am talking about those items that have a special memory or story attached.  I am talking about those clothes that you would not even want to pass onto your next child because of the memories you have of your child in that outfit.

We have always suggested the outfit that is used to bring a baby home from the hospital in should be placed inside our Baby Time Capsule.  We have also suggested that, if you do baby baptism or christening, the outfit used should be placed into either a Baby Time Capsule or our Any Occasion DIY Time Capsule (Set up as a baptism capsule) and saved forever.  This will ensure that these precious items are kept safe, but some people want to save more than just the one outfit and placing 10 baby shirts into a time capsule is really not a good use of the space.

Well, we have a good suggestion for what to do with all those cute Osh-Kosh and Baby Gap outfits that you simply must keep. . . Make them into a quilt.  It is fairly easy to make a quilt even if you only have minimal sewing skills.  It can even be done without a sewing machine!  You simply cut your baby’s clothes into squares of similar size, being sure to make them a little larger than you need to account for sewing and patch them together in your quilt.  Once you have them all together, you can sew a backing onto the quilt.  This can be displayed in your home, or even be used as a blanket in your child’s room or a tv room etc.  Many people choose to even hang it on the wall as a display piece.

Regardless what you choose to do with your quilt, it is sure to be a treasured heirloom and a conversation piece for all who see it.  Some of the best conversations you can have with people are about your children.  It is human nature to find a common ground and build a relationship on that foundation.  What better foundation can you lay than the stories about how the stain on the overalls in your quilt was caused by dad trying to feed Junior for the first time?  Then you get to break out the video of Junior in the overalls and day trying to play “airplane” with the spoon and missing completely!

A quilt of your baby’s clothing can bring back so many fond memories.  You will create your own keepsake that will hold so many moments in time all in one place.  When I was growing up, the photo collage was the perfect present.  A lot of photos were all put together into once photo frame and displayed.  This is the same thing, but is a clothing collage!

If you would like a good tutorial on how to create a quilt from your baby’s clothes, check out this blog by Ashley Hackshaw.  She provides simple to follow instructions, including photos, to make your quilt.

No matter what you do with these old clothes, be sure to save some of them for the future.  Preserving memories is what we, at The Original Time Capsule Company are all about.  Reminding you to Save Today’s Milestone for it is Tomorrow’s Precious Memory. Stay tuned to read part 2 of this blog next.

What did your mom do with your old baby clothes? Let us know in the comments below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark