Tuesday, March 15, 2011

How to Retread A Sleeper

     I love watching Baby 2 walk around the house.  He has this cute and wide "I just learned how to walk a month and a half ago" gait.  He is now able to bend over and pick things up with out sitting down.  He is mastering the turn and change direction maneuver and is even gaining speed.  My baby is officially a toddler!   
      His new found skill highlighted one problem with our hand-me-down pajamas.  It seems he only had problems walking in his sleepers.  Maybe it isn't fair to call his sleepers just his.  Baby 2 is the lucky recipient of Baby 1's hand-me-downs, many of which came from mom2mom sales or a cousin who also has two boys.  So it is easy to imagine that his pj's have been worn by at least two others, in many cases, but the grippy life of a sleeper is short, even if you are the proud first owner.  So my little toddler was walking or falling in fairly slick sleeper feet.
     My fast and easy solution to this problem was to puff paint the bottoms of the sleepers, to retread the grippies, so to speak.  I even let Baby 1 help paint some of the bottoms.  The puff paint made for a fast and easy solution that seems to be standing up to multiple washes with out a problem.  My little guy is able to walk our hard wood floors with out slipping and our old sleepers are good as new for the cost of few tubes of puff paint.  (I think I got six tubes on clearance for about $3.)
     I got the idea to use puff paints from reading Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home.  She has a project that gives the option of using puff paint on the bottom of a bath mat.  I thought this was the perfect way to combine being crafty and frugal with recycling.   
     I made sure I used a very thin layer of puff paint in rather big designs, avoiding big round polka dots, to ensure that the little one didn't attempt to pull pieces off and stick them in his mouth.  He's not known to do such a thing, but it is better to be safe, then sorry.  I had fun painting little hearts across the bottom of a few pairs and Baby 1 loved dictating which color choices I should make. 
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