Repurposing Baby Dresses and Pants into Toddler Tops and Capris

My oldest daughter was pulling all of her toys out of her toy shelf in her bedroom and found a size 12 month, brand new dress that I totally forgot about (probably because it had been hidden in the toys for so long). My youngest daughter is now wearing 18 month clothes, but can still squeeze into a 12 month. I was so disappointed, because the dress was so cute, and it didn't get worn as much as it could have.

Then I thought, this dress can just be paired with leggings and can make a really cute tunic top! Heck, even my oldest could probably wear this dress as a top. Hey! I bet I could go through all of the baby clothes I put away and find dresses that can be worn as tops for both girls!

So that's what I did. I didn't worry too much about finding tops for my 13 month old because her drawer is filled with clothes, so I searched for tops and bottoms for my 33 month old. She wears a 2T right now. I searched through her old 9 month clothes and found six tops (previously dresses) and seven pairs of capris (previously pants and leggings). We tried them on and they fit perfectly. They all kind of go together too, so I have multiple "new" outfits here for free! This was awesome, because I was recently thinking of buying her some new summer tops since she didn't have too many. Now, she has plenty.



Previously a short sleeved dress and jeggings, now a top and capris!

Why do we have to stick to the sizes on baby clothes and put away or sell all of the old ones? Save some money and repurpose those things. Reuse dresses as tops, and leggings as capris. Who cares what the tag says, if it fits, it fits! You'll also be excited to bring out those old favorites to see them again and bring back memories of her as a baby wearing those items.

I understand this probably isn't as easy with little boys, and I wouldn't know because I only have girls (for now). I'm sure there's a ton of sewing projects you can do with old baby clothes too, but I haven't ventured into that yet. Why? I might be having more children so I'd rather reuse them as intended and I only have very basic sewing knowledge.

How have you repurposed old baby clothes?

This post has been featured on Raising Homemakers Homemaking Link-up on July 25, 2012.