November 14, 2013

Two Months of Diaper Sewing

We've been using cloth diapers since A was 6 months old which makes it almost four and a half years. I am not a pro but I am pretty confident about using them. I've been lucky that Matt does it with me without complaining. I don't know if it has saved us any money but I am happy to think that I am saving the Earth at least trying to not throw away disposable diapers into the already full landfills.

With all the babes we would always start after they turned at least month and a half as we have to travel or be in an unfamiliar place until the babe is six weeks old. It's been easier to just use disposables for those first months. This time around though I decided to try to start from the very beginning. So when I went through my stash I noticed that I didn't have many small sized diapers. So with my pre-nesting feeling that hit me at the end of August I decided to make some fitted diapers. (Fitted diapers = diapers that are not waterproof and need a cover to not leak). I've heard good things about fitted diapers and wanted to try them. Plus they are easiest to make.

Rainy Days Fitteds

First I made fitteds from the Rainy Days pattern. I really liked the pattern as it was easy to sew the dipes and they went quite fast because I serged them. Size newborn/small. I used all the fabrics I've had in my stash, which are cotton knits as the outside layer and cotton velour as an inner layer. There's some kind of absorbent fabric in between but I don't remember which I put in which diapers.

Darling Diapers Fitteds

Next I made five diapers from the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern. I've had it for quite a while but never had time to tackle the diapers. The pattern was very detailed and not hard to make but I was a little overwhelmed by all the instructions and different options. So I kind of used the same process as with the Rainy Days diapers. Also all of them serged. I made three out of the minky fabric as I wanted some cute plushy ones, but hated sewing with it as it is very wiggly. Rest are from the cotton knits. Inner layer is made out of cotton velour as the other diapers. I think three or four diapers don't have a layer in between as I ran out of fabric but soakers are made out of super absorbent fabric (Zorb) which should help with absorbency (or at least I hope so).

It took me a couple of months to finish these. I did not have time to work on them every day so I sewed them a little at a time. I am glad I finished them all and they are ready to be used with the new baby. I just hope I like them as much as I liked my pocket FuzziBunz ones.

I also made some quick fleece soakers. As I said before fitteds are not waterproof so they need some kind of a cover. I made some fleece soakers and I am still planning to make some wool soakers. Plus I have some PUL covers.

Fleece Soakers

These are made from this free pattern. They were very easy and fast to make. I also used my serger for most of it. Size small. Fabric - fleece I had laying around.

And to finish it off I also made a medium sized wet bag to hold all these diapers in.

Wet Bag

I used this tutorial. I have made a large bag two years ago or so but I needed something more manageable in size. So medium it was and plus it is with a pocket. So I can stuff unused diapers in the pocket and used ones in the bag when we go out and about. Very happy how it turned out.
So here you have my long and boring post about diapers. I am sorry if I bored you and also for the awful lighting in the pictures. I made everything and then rushed through taking pictures so I could post about it later. Did not know the pictures turned out so horrible.

3 comments:

  1. Those are the cutest diapers I've ever seen. Almost makes me want a baby. Or not. ;-)

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  2. I love all of it. You will love CDing a newborn and using fitteds - the tiny diapers are so cute, and fitteds+covers work very well for newborns.

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  3. Those are so cute! I am so impressed you made your own and use non-disposable diapers.

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