Diaper repair to benefit families

I’m starting to collect, repair and redistribute (to other families in Central Vermont) cloth diapers that would otherwise end up sitting in a box, unused.

What kind of repair am I talking about? To start, I’m focusing on cloth diapers called pocket diapers and all in one’s- the ones with PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric that wicks away moisture, keeping little ones clothes dry) that have failing elastic. When these diapers with elastic are washed and dried over and over again, the elastic wears out, leaving families with lots of leaks and a frustration toward cloth diapers. I’ve been repairing these diapers (think Fuzzi Bunz and Bum Genius) and while they are time consuming to repair, I feel like it’s worth the effort in order for these diapers to get used and not lost to attics or (please, no!) landfills.

In some cases, I believe that convenience and cost gets in the way of families using cloth diapers. Each new diaper costs around $18- some more and some less. We’re talking over a hundred dollars to get your “starter kit”. Of course, once you have a second and then a third child, you see the benefits and can feel good about the initial expense. Imagine, however, a family who wants to use cloth but can’t afford the cost of these fancy diapers. If the family is really persistent, they may go with flat diapers. The lower cost of a dozen diapers is more manageable. But, when your little baby turns into a wiggly “don’t you even think of putting me on my back to change my diaper” on the move toddler, some families will put the flat diapers away, not wanting to deal with them and perhaps turn to disposable diapers.

For those families who are kicking themselves for not continuing the cloth diapering legacy, turning to disposables can be hard. I’ve talked to some of these families. So, what if there were a service in the area that could provide a small number of fancy diapers to help these families continue on a cloth diapering roll, helping them build a stash!

I will still be doing elastic repair for hire. But, for those who have diapers to donate, I’ll also be doing this service for families. One thing I could use your help with: Help me name my service- the charity (for lack of a better word, not the for hire stuff)! Let me know leaving a comment here, through facebook or my email if you have it. How do I convey the type of service?

Fitted diaper tutorial using a prefold

It’s another tutorial, folks. Thanks for hanging in there. Especially those of you that don’t have an interest in these things. I’ll get back to roaming around my brain… when it’s back from holiday.

Today, I’m going to show you how to make a fitted diaper. I went to Joann’s and picked up some cute fabric (see my flickr if you want to see folded up fabric, hehe) and let it sit on the floor of my (ahem) sewing room (aka, computer room, cd room, and other room; soon to be known as pool hall and viewing lounge) for about a week. Before starting a new diaper, I went back to one of the diapers I hadn’t finished and tried to work on it. For some reason, I couldn’t get the elastic on right. I kept sewing a zigzag along the elastic while stretching it out and it just wasn’t doing the trick. Finally, I decided to just use a straight stitch while stretching out the elastic and that seemed to work better. I tried to keep the stitch on top of the seam stitch because I figured the elastic would fold in half and I’d want it to be in line with the seam.

That worked, but then I couldn’t get the casing to work. The casing is just a stitch sewn on the outside of the diaper for a cleaner look. I particularly like this look but made the decision to leave out the casing because it was giving me so much grief (in trying to get it right, I had to rip the seams out several times). So, I’m learning a lot about this process. Plus, the diaper needs a cover so it won’t really matter in the end.

What I wanted to mention was what prompted me to go back to this “trouble diaper”. It was a comment I received from bilingual papi. I was telling him that I was having a hard time finishing this one diaper and he suggested that perhaps I was done with sewing diapers and it was time to move onto another project. That, my friends, was what got me back into sewing diapers. Just the thought that I wouldn’t sew another diaper made me want to sew more. So, thanks. Ok. On to the tutorial.

How to sew a fitted diaper with a prefold as the soaker

What do I need:

Matching (or not) thread

A strong sewing needle to get you through the prefold- I used a 14

Sewing machine (no Serger needed)

flannel cotton fabric

outer fabric of choice (your choice)

elastic (3/8th or 1/4 inch)

1 prefold (flat) infant size diaper

and the regular sewing items and tools (you may want to have a marking pen, but you can also use a pencil or regular pen)

Begin ! (Instructions will precede the accompanying photo)

1. Trace your favorite diaper (mine is now a composite) onto one layer of fabric, adding your desired seam allowance- I added 3/8ths of an inch. As you can see in the photo below, I traced it on the fold so that both sides will be the same. Then, I trace copies (also on the fold) of the other fabric I need. In total, you want 4 layers; 2 of the flannel and 2 of the print. However, you can also just do 1 flannel and 2 print since you’re adding in an entire prefold.

2. Prepare the prefold by cutting the edges off. I cut 1/2 inch off each side so that it would fit better in the diaper.

3. Fold the prefold in thirds.

4. Flip the tri-folded diaper and place on top of one of your layers of fabric. Pin and sew down (all the way around) with a zigzag stitch. Try to get the zigzag on the prefold without stitching over it and onto the fabric. What I found was that keeping the zigzag on the prefold kept the fabric from pulling in on the sides. The picture shows the pulled version. It still works, but I’m starting to prefer it the other way.

5. Layering the fabric: I put the second layer of my cute print facing up on top of the layer with the prefold sewn onto it. Then I put the two flannel layers, facing down, on top of the prints. Basically, you want to remember that you’ll be turning the whole diaper right side out, so you want the two layers that’ll show to be facing each other and surrounded by the fabric that won’t show. (The second photo just shows the two flannel layers facing down.)

6. Pin and sew the layers together, leaving the narrower end open (seen at the bottom of the photo below). This open end is the end that goes in front, when on the baby. I like at 3/8ths seam allowance for some reason.

7. Trim around the diaper (just enough so you don’t have extra bulk), leaving the open end untrimmed. You’ll want the extra fabric for when you sew it together.

8. Fold the diaper in half lengthwise and mark where the elastic will go. The only thing that matters is that the marks be equidistant so that the elastic is even. If you look carefully, you’ll see the lines I’ve drawn to mark where the elastic should go from and to (the purple lines near the corners of the photo).

9. Sewing on the elastic:

Place the elastic just before your first line and, with a straight stitch, backstitch the elastic in place. Now, stretch the elastic (but not completely stretched) and hold it together with the fabric. Keep the elastic stretched out and sew a line through the middle of the elastic. This stitch should be on top of the stitch you sewed when sewing the layers of fabric together. Do the same for the back and the leg openings.

Note: I’ve had problems with elastic and although it’s a pain, I’d recommend you take out the elastic if, after you’re done stitching it to the diaper, it doesn’t stretch. What you can also do is tack down at both ends and then create the leg casing.

10. Turn your diaper right side out.

11. Take some time to admire your work so far. You’re almost done. The photo below shows the flannel (inner) side. *Notice the opening (at the bottom of the diaper) that you’ll be closing next.

12. Take the open part of the diaper and tuck in about 3/8th of an inch toward the inside of the diaper. (You’ll tuck the print toward the flannel and the flannel toward the print.) Pin it together as you go. Sew together pretty close to the edge. If you sew it further from the edge you run the risk of missing some fabric (which has happened to me) and it takes more time to fix. So, go for about 1/8th of an inch from the edge.

*Decision point: You can, at this point, sew the leg and back casing onto the diaper. One of the three diapers I made out of this combination of fabrics doesn’t have the leg or back casings while the other two do. Below is a picture of the leg casing being sewn. Make sure you pull the diaper (and elastic) fully to sew the casing. I don’t recommend pulling the fabric with just one hand (as seen in this photo). I did this so I could photograph it while it was a little stretched to make a point.

Here’s a photo of how it looks after sewing the leg casing:

13. Measure out how much velcro (the soft side, aka the loop), pin it to the front (the side you just sewed closed) and, using a zigzag stitch at about 1-1/2 width, sew it down. You may have to help the needle get through the thickness of the prefold so be ready to help the wheel turn.

14. Flip your diaper over, measure the amount of velcro (the scratchy side, aka the hook) you want for the tabs, pin them down and, using the same zigzag stitch, sew the velcro in place.

15. Congratulation! You just finished your diaper!

If you have any questions, please let me know. I’m trying to make it really doable to make a diaper at home and want to make these directions as clear as possible. If it works for you, let me know, too.

While typing this tutorial up, I wanted to test it a couple of times so I made a couple more diapers to check to see if the directions made any sense. I hope they do. Here’s a photo of the triplets. The top two have leg and back casings and no velcro. The bottom one has velcro and no leg or back casings:

You’re also getting a preview of the next diaper stash to be sewn up. I’m currently trying to figure out how many diapers I can get out of a yard of fabric. That is, a yard of the print that goes on the outside and a yard of the flannel I sew on the inside.

Cool new diaper

Ok. The newest addition to the infant stash is now in photo form. The pins you see in it is to keep the tabs closed- I’ve run out of Velcro and just ordered some 1.5 inch Aplix (a softer hook and loop brand). I’ve got another one cut out of the same fabric just waiting for me to have some time to sew up. However, with summer bedtime you just never know if tonight’s gonna be a good night to sew.

This weekend might include a visit to the fabric store for more diaper making supplies.

More diapers/no batteries

I’m still at it making diapers although I hit a snag when I ran out of fabric for the inside part of the diaper- both for the absorbent soaker and the (meant to be) soft side. I had been using flannel for the inside and for the part that would touch baby and then any cool fabric I had for the outer part. Now, I’m stuck without any flannel that will match the outer fabric. Aaaah! I really do want to order some online but I also really want to feel the fabric before buying it. I just finished yet another diaper today once I found some fabric that would go with the cool print I had for the outside of the diaper. The outside screams “fancy pants” but the inside says “poop on me”. Great combo.

No pictures of this cool diaper today… I’m recharging the batteries.

Diaper pictures!

Here are my first two diapers:

… and I’ve got one more that’s almost ready to photograph. I just need some sewing time to finish it up and early morning ain’t the time. One of the things I want to work on is details. It just dawned on me that I could have a different color thread on the top and the bottom. That’ll become evident in the next diaper pictures.

Sewing diapers

I have to say that I’ve been really scared to try to sew my own diapers and I did try to wing it by myself, with a tutorial that was okay… but I needed some more help and way more pictures (and later I’ll reveal the notions I could probably use in future). Eventually, I found this tutorial and I’ve got to highly recommend it.

Pictures of diapers to come, no doubt.

By the way, why does my sewing machine have to be in the warmest room of the house? Why on the second floor? And why haven’t I just moved it downstairs? (See previous post re: decision making)

Gotta make

It’s not like making a baby isn’t enough but I’m entering a nesting period that’s urging me to make things for baby 2.0 (let alone things for bilingual baby, who gets trying on things that have just been sewn- so cute!). I’ve got a baby poncho on the needles out of this beautiful French Blue Louet Gems yarn. This blue is so gorgeous. I’ve just been waiting to find something to make with it and since I’m planning on wearing baby I figured a warmer that can go over her head may be useful. I don’t think I’ll go through it all so I’m imaging another French Blue something something. Maybe a little sweater or pants. It’s the softest merino wool so it’ll be super soft on baby.

I also just finished making some booties and a toddler dress for bilingual baby (it’ll probably fit her next summer and/or will work as an around the house dress now) made from one of bilingual papi’s old white t-shirts. Check out the instructions here. The booties were inspired by the pair of Robeez we’ve got. The ones I’m making are entirely out of cloth. I’m making them from these crazy prints I’ve got and a solid lining.

I’ve also got some more tiny undies to make bilingual baby, although she’s not yet at the point where she can pull them down by herself so I may just make them for later. I’ve made her two pairs so far (from a while ago) and bought her two pairs. I’m eager to try my hand at sewing a diaper- something I’ve wanted to do for a while now but have been a little chicken to start. Today may be my day. I’m so pumped.

Ok. Gotta go to the sewing machine. It’s whispering my name… and putting ideas in my head…

Phasing-in organics: Part II

… continued from yesterday…

Okay. Now that I’m done with that I can share with you what’s on my mind now. Let me tell you the story of how I’ve come to this new position on organics in our home, in steps:

1. Back in December, I wanted to make some money by having a job. I also wanted this job to allow me to bring bilingual baby to work with me. The purpose was to have a little more income, even if it was just for miscellaneous things like an outing to the coffee shop or a skein of yarn or a yard of fabric.

2. I did some searching for what other moms were doing who were in my situation- what kind of jobs did they have? I found moms saying that having a job doesn’t always mean you’ll make money. Some of them said that staying at home can save you money. These moms talked about finding sales on clothes and other needed items, making whatever they needed themselves. For some reason, this didn’t really click until recently.

3. Recently, I found myself doing searches for organic cotton/organic wool mattresses (as our current bed isn’t fit for four) and the issues surrounding conventional mattresses. I wept at the $4,000 price tag but was soon after relieved to hear more people complain that their organic mattresses weren’t very comfortable (though I’m curious to hear from anyone who thinks their organic mattress is comfortable). I then found a reasonable option: buy an organic wool topper, which is like a really thick mattress pad; buy organic sheets and find some other blanket to replace the one we currently have (though that’s lower on my priority list.

4. After finding peace with the mattress thing, I found myself wanting to use organic cotton for the kids (I’m using plurals already, yay!): diapers (though that’s also a phasing project as we have enough diapers right now for baby 2.0) and underwear. We’ve been using conventional cotton receiving blankets on top of the wool puddle pad on our bed and now I want to find a way to switch that over, too. Add to that pajamas, since they’re in those for long periods of time.

5. I realized that with the high price of all these items I had to find an economic (without cheating people) way to make this happen. My priorities for our second phase of organic introduction was pretty set (the first phase was the fruits and veggies). It consisted of four things:

Diapers/Underwear, pajamas, sheets and towels. First, for the kids. Then, for us (maybe even years down the road). It’s all happening in phases.

6. Then, it dawned on me that I could make some of these things. The sheets, because of sizing, I would try to find on sale, mismatched, and/or seconds- my priority is organic cotton and don’t care about things not matching. Underwear I’ve made for bilingual baby and can make more. Pajamas aren’t hard to make, either. Last, towels. As I searched Near Sea Naturals online fabric store, I found toweling fabric. Brilliant! I could make organic towels, too. Now, I was set. I had even done some price checking to see if it was worth it. Luckily, I love crafty projects. So, in effect, this would double as a crafty project for me AND a needed project for our phasing-in organic cotton. I could also make some organic diapers…

This phasing-in project may take some time and that’s the most economic way to go about it as far as I’m concerned. We won’t be starting a spending spree just to have organics in place today. It’ll take time. Not only to phase in products and phase out the conventional, but to get used to choosing organic over conventionally grown cotton.

Here are some resources you might want to consider if you’re interested in adding some organic cotton to your home:

Gaiam’s Outlet Sale

Under the Nile : organic underwear for kids

Hanna Andersson : organic underwear for kids (and some other organic clothes)

Don’t forget to do searches for coupon codes. I just got an organic flannel sheet (just the flat) for our soon-to-be new king size bed and searched for a coupon code and came up with this.

Here’s my new favorite diaper for bilingual baby:

Sandy’s Organic cotton fitted diaper (and I love that it’s unbleached!) Scroll down to find the organic option. We’ve only bought two so far (cos I wanted to try them out before going whole hog) and as much as I really like them I’m not sure I want to buy any more seeing that bilingual baby’s using the toilet more and more now. (I am thinking of getting rid of some of the diapers we’ve used on her this past year- i.e. Fuzzibunz and Kissaluvs. I’ll explain in another post.)

New favorite wool cover for summer:

Swaddlebees Merino Wool Cover – It even fits over her toddler-sized flat diapers, which are huge. It’s not organic merino like the Disana wool cover my mom bought her but it’s a nice (thinner and trimmer) summer option.

EC starting up again

It’s been a long winter and if you’ve been keeping up with bilingual baby you know it’s been a time of growth for all of us. With bilingual baby’s hunger attacks all day and all night now long gone (or so it seems, but it really just ended after we got back from California) she’s giving signs again that she’d rather use the toilet (her little potty, that is) than her diaper. I’ve even gone back to using the ec pants (split crotch) and the tiny undies I made for her… and even leave her diaper free a couple hours during the day.

I had heard that this might happen: after a long “potty pause” they come back to ec’ing. We’re still not back full-time but we’re also edging further and further from full-time diapering. I just bought her one pair of undies to see how I like the cut on her. They’re from Under the Nile, who offers organic Egyptian cotton clothing and I just have to say I love what they make… so far. We’ll see how these undies work out. As I mentioned, I did make some tiny undies for bilingual baby a while back and I’ll probably go back to making them myself but the next pair are going to have to be organic cotton. After buying this new pair for $8, buying a couple of yards of organic cotton at over $10 a yard (and sometimes well over that) doesn’t seem too bad.

First, I need to prioritize my projects:

1. Keep making baby.

2. For Pete’s sake, finish that sweater you started almost 4 years ago.

3. Finish the knit pants you started to make- they just need to be sewn together!

4. Work on a knitting pattern for a light sweater- maybe a shrug-type thingy.

5. Make the outfits for bilingual baby and baby 2.0 you intended to make with the fabric you’ve already bought!

6. Choose yarn and start knitting up a sweater for baby 2.0’s first winter.

7. Open an Etsy store.

Wool Diaper Covers

I’ve been having smelly diaper covers (Bummis and Mother-ease) and at the same have been knitting up a bunch of wool covers for both bilingual baby and baby 2.0- though most of them fit bilingual baby still, so we’ll see if baby 2.0 needs an even smaller one for the first few months. Check out the pics below of the covers. The yarn I’ve been using has been delicious. One of the green covers (which I felted) is made of this wool/silk yarn by Elsebeth Lavold. If you knit and you haven’t knit with it, stop reading right here and go buy a couple of skeins, in any color. They’re all beautiful!

I’m sure I’ll be knitting more wool diaper covers (I actually have another pair on the needles- knit in the round and may turn into longies or at least shorts). Stay tuned.

I should mention that the green one that looks like it’s been worn has been worn. It’s a little big on the bear but she won’t be this size forever so I’m anticipating it will get used next winter, too. The blue wrap cover (with the buttons) may be a good wool wrap for summer- light weight and trim.