Handmade Love

AIO made from a pant leg, and a receiving blanket.

So I've been making cloth diapers.  It's a great way to pass the time, and as soon as I figure out where to buy some diaper covers, we're going to be ROCKIN'.  Until then, I'm just making them, and it seems every 2nd diaper is a step ahead of the one before.  I started with the simple 2pc pocket diaper.  The 3rd diaper had a plastic liner, but still had a pocket for the soaker.  I did make an AIO diaper for a friend, which worked out better than I'd expected.  And I've made a (too small) hidden gusset diaper with a pocket.

Hidden gusset, pocket diaper.

Now I'm working on figuring out how to make an AIO with hidden gusset.  I've found the hidden gusset is kind of a pain in the ass, and it makes the outside material bunch up when you're trying to sew it...I'm telling you, I've never sworn this much.  LOL


I'm also going to be moving on to other things.  Simple things.  Things that can be done in a matter of minutes, since I do enjoy getting immediate results.  I'm talking about making baby leg warmers.  Oh yes.  They look so freakin simple, and after this whole gusset thing, simple sounds just wonderful.

There is a blog with the best tutorial I could ever ask for when it comes to making these.  You can see it HERE.

You can find this blog BY CLICKING HERE.

It's nice to be able to make diapers for my little one.  She deserves only the very best, and if I can make her some nice soft diapers and leg warmers, I'm going to do it.  And the whole thing is inspiring.  If I can make a cloth diaper, I can definitely make her some dresses.  And with the selection at the store downtown, I can make her some warm ones that are going to be WAY cuter than the ones I could buy for her.  And making my own means that I can match her diapers to her dress!  : )  No need for a diaper cover, the diapers are darn cute already!!

This one fit!  Hidden gusset, pocket diaper.

I'm going to go and buy some different materials tomorrow, and see what I can come up with for dresses and diapers.  Then I'm going to stop by the dollar store and buy some socks.  When I'm done, I'm going to have the best dressed baby in town.  LOL  My mother thinks I should be making diapers and selling them...but I'm going to have to figure out how much it would cost me to make them first.  Honestly, with the amount of people making them out there, I'm going to have some serious competition.  And I do have three kids I'd rather spend time with than be stuck behind a sewing machine making diapers on a deadline.  I want to make every one of them with love.  I think the best way to do that is keeping it to one at a time, for my daughter, or for friends who are in need of some homemade diapers.

How To Make An All-In-One Cloth Diaper

First I cut three identical pieces of material.

There are three large layers to the AIO diaper, and one small layer.

The pink layer is a waterproof material.  It's a shower curtain!  You can pick them up for $1 at the Dollar Store, and it'll make at least a dozen diapers!!!

The dark layer is denim from a pair of jeans that are too big for me now.

The light layer is cut from a flannel receiving blanket.

On the other side.

As you can see, on the other side of the materials, I sewed this microfiber towel.  (This is the fourth, small layer.)  You can also pick them up a the Dollar Store.  On this one, because of the length of the towel, I folded it down as a place for extra absorbency.  Because this diaper will be used by a little boy, that area is in the front of the diaper.  It had to be sewn ONLY to the layer of material that is going to be the inside (closest to the butt) layer of the diaper before doing anything else.  Once it was sewn on, the materials were put in order, and pinned together.

**When you buy a brand new microfiber towel or face cloth, they have to be washed a few times before they are absorbent.  Don't use fabric softener on it, or it messes with the absorbency.**

The layers were, from top to bottom:  1.Shower curtain.  2.Outer material (in this case it was the denim).  3.Flannel  4.Microfiber pad.

Remember to fold over and sew an area along the back area
so you'll have an open area to pull the material right side out.
(Just like you would on the pocket diapers.)

Sew all the way around the diaper. (I use a straight stitch.)
Don't sew the back opening closed!

This is what it looks like when you've sewn all the way around it.

 I forgot to take a photo of when I was sewing the elastic leg bands on it.  But if you can sew them just outside the stitch you just put in (all the way around the diaper), it'll make less bulk on the legs.  And by "outside the stitch", I mean try to sew it between the stitch and the outer rim of the diaper.  You have to stretch the elastic as tight as you can while sewing.  I use a zig-zag stitch for the elastic.

Once the elastic is in, turn the diaper right side out.
Sew around the outside of the entire diaper. 
BE CAREFUL not to sew over the elastic bands.
(You'll have to go out and around them.)

Once it's been turned right side out, you can go all the way around it with a straight stitch, and you can sew the back opening closed.

Finished except for the velcro.

My machine freaks me out now, ever since it's snapped 3 needles in the last week.  So I sew the velcro on with a needle and thread by hand.

So, that's it.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I'm not sure if I explained it very well, and I can't upload video to the Internet unless I want to wait 7 hours for it to be uploaded.  (I don't.)

When you wash your diaper, keep in mind that there is a plastic piece in it.  Wash it in less than 30 degree water, and hang to dry.  When it's about 90% dry, throw it in the dryer for 10-15 mins to soften it up.  Again, fabric softener will make it less absorbent.

Have fun!

How To Sew A Cloth Diaper

So, I scooped this video from HERE, but didn't follow it exactly.  Note to self: watch the whole video at least twice before attempting to make a cloth diaper.  I'll tell ya, trying to go by memory when you've never done something before...it makes for a very...trying...experience.  I told my husband that my cloth diapers wouldn't be made with love.  They'd be made with curse words.  Hahaha!  It was amazing how much easier it was when I watched the video a second time, and then played it through a third time, stopping it every so often so I could follow along.

I'm not exactly what you'd call a computer whiz. It's right up there with my sewing skills on my list of talents. (Yeah right!) So I couldn't figure out how to download the pattern. I was stuck making my own by tracing one of the baby's diapers. 

I realized during this experiment that the most I've ever used the sewing machine for was to make myself some of those really puffy hair scrunchies when I was in high school. (HEY, they were cool then!! Right?!)  I also made a home made lunch bag once in home ec., but that was in grade 7...about a million years ago.

Like I said, I didn't use a pattern to make this. I just traced around one of the disposable diapers we have for the baby, and cut a little bit farther out to allow for the seam.  I pinned it, and sewed the top (like you'll see in the video). 

At this point I messed it up...

I folded it over and sewed all the way around it, careful not to sew the pocket on the top shut. 
I watched the video again at this point and realized I wasn't supposed to fold it before I sewed it, so I had to pull all the stitching out.  Afterwards, I sewed it properly, LOL, and put on the elastic around the legs.  It's not actually as hard as she made it sound in the video.

This is the inside of the diaper when it was finished.  I used half of one of the receiving blankets we had from the twins.  We only really need about 4 of them right now, just to use for rolls in our daughter's car seat...so that means we have a stack of flannel receiving blankets that will soon become diapers!

All done!  Now, I don't have any velcro here, so these are going to be pinned right now, which is fine until I can get to the dollar store.  (I won't be using the pins in the photo because they're not baby-safe, but I don't have any of those here either.  I just wanted to show what it would look like when it was finished.

It's not going to win any awards, that's for sure.  But it's not bad for my first time!!

And I thought it was going to be just a little too small for the baby, but I think if I make some different inserts for it, it'll fit.  I made another one today that is a little more fancy (look at me getting all fancy over here, LOL!), and it's the same size and fits her just fine. 


Velcro is definitely the answer to a squirmy baby, though.  I thought the reason people didn't use pins anymore was just for the safety issues.  LOL  Nope.  It's ALSO because a baby trying to squirm away while you're trying to stick a diaper on them is like trying to dress a cat.  And believe me, I know how hard that is.  I've dressed a cat or two in my lifetime.

Cloth Diapers...I'm Getting More Crunchy By The Day!

I got this one for .97 cents!  ($4.41 s&h)

I had to laugh last night when my husband came downstairs to ask me what the heck I was doing on the computer at 1am.  I was buying cloth diapers...and not just any diapers...CLOTH ones!!
Oh yes, this is a big step for someone who has prided themselves on being "chewy" granola, as opposed to "crunchy". I never thought the day would come that I would not only consider cloth diapers, but go out and order some.
I'm actually amazed by the prices I got some of them at!!  It's amazing what I got for such a small amount of money!  And now that I have two almost completely potty trained, and the baby is at least a year and a half away from being diaper-free, I figured the investment was going to be well worth it!  I have purchased 11 so far, and have my eye on two or three more.  They're so freakin cute!!  : )

This one was .97 cents too!  ($4.89 s&h)

It's exciting.  I love saving money, and next to free diapers, cheap ones are my favorite.  I'm going to auction one (boy print) as soon as it gets here and I look it over.  We'll see how it goes, and how much it sells for, but I have a plan for the "profit" money.

I'm trying to also make my own diapers.  I highly doubt that any diapers I make will EVER look like the cute ones here.  But they'll be so close to free, I have to try.  We have a stack of receiving blankets from the twins, and our baby only uses them for rolls beside her head in the car seat.  Since she's about 2 months from being in a rear-facing 3-in-1 car seat, she won't need them much longer.  And really, until then, we only need about 4...two for the car seat, and two for when those ones need to be washed.  We only paid .25 cents each for the blankets at a mom-2-mom sale when I was pregnant with the twins, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them once the baby doesn't need them anymore.  This is just the thing!  And I have a stack of material from when I was making my mother a quilt (that's been a work in progress for more years than I'd like to mention!), and my MIL gives me all the nightgowns sent to her from HER mother in B.C. that don't fit her.  They're 2XL, and the patterns are SO nice!  Perfect for some cute diapers.  I wish I could find that AC adaptor for the sewing machine.  I'd be sewing up a storm right now!!

This was the first one I bought.
It was .97 cents...hard to pass up!!
($5.99 s&h)

 We'll see how I do when I get a chance to make my own.  If I'm any good at all, I am going to give a few to a friend, make a few for my own daughter, and maybe give a couple away in some kind of raffle.  Honestly though, sewing is not my greatest talent.

So anyways, I'll keep you updated on that diaper auction, and give everyone plenty of notice of when it will be held.  It will probably take 3-4 weeks for it to arrive, and I have a special plan for what I'm going to do with the profit.  (It will be donated...more details to come when the diaper arrives.)

I'll also keep you updated on how the whole sewing my own diapers thing goes.  LOL  I will take some step-by-step photos.  If nothing else, we'll all get a good laugh out of it.  ; )

This one cost $3.38. (FREE s&h!)

This one was $6.36.  (FREE s&h)





Cloth Diaper...BID AND WIN

I ordered this off of eBay, and want to auction it off.  If you're interested in making a bid for it, I'll be doing it on the Facebook page-for convenience reasons-and I'll mail the diaper out to the winner the next business day. 

(I will cover the cost of shipping.) 

It's got a sports theme on it, and is super cute!  The info that was posted with it on eBay is all posted below the photo.

I'll post more about it when it arrives in 3-4 weeks.  

_________________________________________________________

Material:

1 layer of microfiber insert + 1 layer of

absorbent soaker Polyester.+ 1 layer of waterproof breathable PUL

Machine washable and dryable

One size fits all: for baby weighs 4-15kg (8.8 - 33pounds)

Quantity: 1 nappies + 1 insert

Wash temperature: under 30°C. (less than 86 °F)

Type of diaper:

pocket diaper

  

Condition:

BRAND NEW