For two weeks, every spare minute has been about sewing. A friend of mine lent me her sewing machine and I promised myself my project would be finished by the time she came home from her vacation. It has been years since I have sat down at a sewing machine. My last diaper projects were stitched by hand. Yes, I was nesting crazy enough to stitch eight newborn cloth diapers by hand before I had Dominic, my third child.
After pricing all the diapers I like to buy ready made (Kissaluvs and Flip diapers), I really wanted to see if I could get the price down. There are some great ways to recycle cloth to make diapers. This is what I did with my first set of eight, but this time I knew what kinds of things I wanted in a diaper. I love fitted diapers and covers. This kind of a diaper system is great because one rarely needs to change the cover if the fitted is well made. Dads have very little trouble with the system either. It also costs a little less than getting all pocket diapers or AIOs (all in ones).
Anyway, this new diaper journey would be more organized. I poured over websites, diaper making demos on utube, and looked up the best places to buy diaper making materials. Instead of printing out one of the many free diaper pattern options, I decided to make my own pattern based on measurement of basic newborn diapers. My kids tend to be slim, so I made them a bit more trim. One can get some supplies from places like JoAnns, but a lot of things are hard to find. I was able to find just shy of a yard PUL (the waterproof fabric used to make covers or part of a pocket/AIO daiper). They also stock a lot of terry cloth, so I found some random amount for super cheap to add to soakers. One can also buy some flannel too. Elastic and industrial velcro are easy to find, but I am not sure this is the most thrifty way to buy it. I went ahead and bought two and half yards of velcro and four yards of 1/2 inch elastic.
The next step was to fill in the gaps for the cloth I really wanted the bulk of my diapers to be made of. If one is looking for hemp fleece, I found it at multiple sources on the internet. This is what I decided would be the best fabric for us. I have some Kissaluvs hemp fitted diapers that I love and hemp is super absorbent. I went ahead and purchased two yards of this hemp. It was enough for my entire project, though I did not line my diaper covers with hemp in the end. In fact, I did not line them since I plan to use them with fitted diapers. I bought some fold over elastic for the covers. I would say I must have spent about $70 dollars by the time I was done buying all of my supplies.
Now research and actually making these diapers was a different story. I assumed using fold over elastic would be pretty easy. Plus, making diaper covers did not involve many steps at all. I was wrong. Trying to line up the elastic is quite tricky and not super forgiving. One needs to line up the edges perfectly. I found myself missing the fabric and just sewing the elastic at times. Every single cover required me to try at least two times. It took me a long time to discover how to make the leg holes tighter than the rest of the diaper, even after watching videos over and over and reading careful instructions. Keep in mind I have never worked much with elastic so some basic concepts were lost on me.
From covers I worked on two pocket diapers. These are pretty easy in comparison to the covers. I used regular 1/2 inch elastic in the back and leg holes of these diapers. I watched a video where a woman measured the length of the elastic to one leg hole and then cut the piece in half. This made both sides even and just enough stretch for the diaper. I used the same concept for the back. With a pocket diaper one makes the soaker insert more carefully than with an AIO. Pocket diapers require the cover and soaker to be washed separately. After two pocket diapers I got sick of doing this and decided there is much less work in making an AIO diaper. I may regret this when I try to dry my diapers, but we will see.
With an AIO diaper one can simply sew the layers of fabric into the diaper instead of making a tidy insert. I made three seams, one at each end of the diaper and one in the middle. It worked out well. the rest of the diaper is made the same as the pocket diaper except one sews up the back since there is no need to stuff the diaper. Now one may choose to leave it open to add more soaker layers. I have seen this done in all my research. Makeing AIO diapers were the most fun and rewarding. I think these look the best out my newly made stash.
If you are interested in making diapers here are some of the websites I love:
www.diaperjungle.com
www.kidsinthegarden.com
These both have some great links. Also, one can search for diaper making videos and I found most of the utube videos this way. My obsession with diaper making continues to grow. For a fraction of the price of buying diapers, one can have an impressive stash of cloth diapers. Plus, having the freedom to choose the exact size and fabrics is a lot of fun. I have to admit, it is so much fun, I wish I could make diapers everyday. I am kind of sad I am done for now.
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