As a photographer we often spend quite a bit of money on props. When it comes to newborns we always have that one client who asks for something that you don’t have. If you are anything like me, I always say I have it. I’ll either buy it or make it!

I have a newborn session coming up and my client said she wanted something rainbow. Well, I didn’t have cheesecloth wrap in every color. So what did I do? I made 14 new wraps that I didn’t have before! For super cheap! The key? Let me tell you!

I went to Walmart and bought two packages of 15 yard cheesecloth. Each costs $9.97! 😱 this makes 7 wraps for one package. Plus a little bit extra for headbands!

Now for the fabric dye I really hit the jackpot. Hobby Lobby had a sale for 40% off all Tulip products and that made each packet of dye $1.79!!! I got 7 different colors.

The key to making these:

Bring a giant pot of water to a boil (about 2 gallons.) Then pour in 1/2 cup salt. Stir until dissolved.

*This one pot was enough to make 3 different colors. Working in small batches!

Next I cut the fabric in 2 yards each. One packet of 15 yards made 7 wraps + about two feet extra.

Grab three big bowls (preferably stainless steel because it will get stained.) and pour about a tablespoon of dye of one color in each bowl. For me, I used Red, Orange, and Yellow in my three bowls. Stir in about 5 cups of the boiling water until dye is dissolved.

Then take one wrap and place in each bowl with dye. Stir often.

Helpful hint: for lighter, more pastel color, only leave the fabric in for no more than 3 minutes. For darker color leave in until you get your desired color. Be sure to Stir the fabric often so that the dye is nice and even throughout the fabric!

When you get your desired color, drain the fabric and rinse with warm water until water runs clear. Then hand wash the fabric with a tiny bit of detergent, rinse and flatten out the fabric, hang dry away from heat and sun. I just draped them over my kitchen chairs and they dried within 20 minutes.

Do the same steps for the rest of the dye! You will have dye left over so I just put them in ziplock bags and am storing them for later usage.

This project took about three hours to do all 14 wraps. Here is my new collection!

All of this cost me about $36! 🙃🤗

DIY Newborn Wraps for CHEAP!