The Outfit

As a mother of a little boy, I knew that Little Bub's first birthday outfit wasn't going to be some adorably ruffled and bedazzled number, but I wanted him to have something special and homemade. Looking around the internet I found this shirt that I absolutely loved! I wasn't spending $28 on one shirt for my baby.

I found Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric online at Fat Quarter Shop and bought a couple half yards, then dug out one of his many onesies. Using Heat N' Bond, I created this:

The only snag I ran into was how to sew down the edges...I couldn't figure out how to do it neatly, quickly and efficiently on my machine, but one of my lovely co-workers at school volunteered to HANDSTITCH it for me. I owe her big.

I also wanted to have special caterpillar themed birthday hats without buying them. I was inspired by this hat on Etsy, but again a $25 hat was not in the budget. I found this easy to follow tutorial at Project Balancing Act about using paper hats to make fabric ones. It worked out great! I made 4 for the kiddo guests to wear and a different one for Little Bub. A little fabric, glue, yarn pom-poms, jumbo rickrack and elastic - they were surprisingly quick and easy to make. I also made a bib backed with a little bit of leftover fleece for Little Bub to wear while devouring his cake.

 

 

And all of this (including the price of fabric) is still less than the $50 I would have spent buying the hat and shirt from Etsy. I'd say it's a success!