Friday, April 13

Cloth Diapers = Fun

Let's take a short break from all the birthday talk and take a peek at my newest cloth diaper adventures!

One of my favorite things about cloth diapers is how cheap they can be. But being my notoriously cheap self, I wanted to find an even cheaper way to use them! So I'm making my own. And it is seriously fun.


This was my first attempt and I'm really happy with how it turned out! It's a pocket fitted which isn't my favorite because I have to stuff the pocket AND use a cover, but I think it was a great starting point because the pattern was free and it is made from flannel which is really easy to find locally. It also gave me a good understanding of basic diaper construction that I think I'll be able to copy with other materials and diaper styles to get what I really want. That's another great thing about making my own!


The Pattern I used was "Rita's Rump" pocket fitted, and the site also has a few other patterns for covers and all-in-one diapers.  I found my flannel on sale for $2/yard at Joanne and bought about 8 yards to start practicing with. It was probably the best deal I've seen for flannel! So I picked out some really fun and cute prints to work with. The sewing pattern doesn't include any kind of closure for the diaper (you can use a snappi if you want) so for now I am just using a cover to hold it in place, but I ordered some snaps so I can try putting those on for a snapping diaper!


I can get 2 diapers from 1 yard of flannel, which means $1 of fabric per diaper. Add in with that a little elastic and thread and we're at about $1.50 per diaper. Like I said, it needs some help to be functional. An insert averages about $3 new, but I've found them cheaper on diaperswappers.com and making your own can be cheaper too, and since I don't usually pay more than I have to, we'll say $1.50 for a used one. My cover also came from diaperswappers.com and was about $7, but the beauty of covers is you can use them more than once before you wash them. If we use it 3-4 times, it's like having 3-4 diapers that were about $2, right? So that brings our total cost per diaper to only $5! You can't beat that with a stick. Once I start adding snaps and trying pricier fabrics that number will, of course, go up, but I think it will still save enough money to be worth it. Of course I'll let you know some exact numbers when I head that way. :)

 Here you can see how well it fits him before I put a cover on. It fits really snugly around the legs and is actually trimmer than his pocket diapers. It is a one size fits most diaper (probably too big for tiny babies) and the rise is adjusted by folding down the extra fabric at the front or back of the diaper. Baby B still has a good amount of room to grow and it could definitely be folded down more for smaller babies. And it looks so cute. :)


And how great is this robot fabric?? Robots = instant fun.


 Of course Baby B has to check it out.


He runs some very vigorous quality control tests. It passed!


I also tried a variation of the pattern to make ruffly leg casings which would be cute for little girls. It was much harder than the other version and I didn't like how much more stitching was visible with this technique.


 Here is a closer look at the ruffles. I actually think they look pretty cute from a distance, but up close I'm not sold. I might try once more to see if they get better with practice, but so far I'm liking the robot style diaper better.


One of the things I'm most excited about is that I'll be able to make natural fiber diapers. All the pocket diapers I bought so far have all been fleece & microfiber which honestly is working fine so far, but I've heard that natural fibers are more absorbent, easier to care for, and better for baby's skin so I think it's worth a try. I'm planning to order some bamboo or hemp (or both!) to try and even the flannel I've been using is cotton. I also bought some PUL (waterproof fabric) to try making my own pocket diapers (and wet bags!).

While we're talking about my new diaper adventures, I'll go ahead and talk some more about a couple new things I'm trying. The first is a Dippee Dypee (sold on Etsy) I just ordered during a sale and I am very impressed with it so far. This is a fitted diaper (so it needs a cover) but it is made of super-soft bamboo, it's one size, the workmanship is excellent, and did you see those robots?!? It is hands down the most beautiful diaper I have ever seen. This will sound ridiculous, but I actually haven't put it on Baby B yet because it's so pretty, haha. She also has excellent customer service and was happy to answer any questions before I ordered. I am so impressed that I just ordered another style of diaper from her to try as well.



The other thing I bought were Econobum covers and prefolds. I haven't used covers & prefolds since Baby B was tiny and I hated them, but I also never felt like the fit right. They are one of the cheapest ways to cloth diaper so I wanted to give them another try. I found some on diaperswappers.com and a local diaper selling page and got them pretty cheap. I LOVE the covers and have been using them every chance I get with both the prefolds and my home made diapers. I actually think they fit Baby B better than anything I've used so far. I also really like the prefolds because they are nice and big and really absorbent. It's a little trickier to get them on, but I don't mind for around the house. Another big difference is that before the prefolds were no match for newborn blowouts, but now that Baby B is older he doesn't do anything they can't handle. Well, not usually. :)


So now you are once again up-to-date on our diapering habits (if you want more diapery goodness, check out my intro to cloth diapering post and my first follow up post). You're welcome. I'll leave you with these pics of Baby B and his food.

 Berries, bananas, and bread for breakfast. Followed by a bath.
Helping himself to some cereal.

Anyone else cloth diaper? Have you made your own? Did you make your own breakfast today like Baby B?

4 comments:

  1. I don't have a baby and know nothing about cloth diapers, but I just loved this post. Robots indeed always = instant fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are awesome for posting this! :) I'm hoping to make my own cloth diapers at some point so I'll be referencing this again shortly.

    PS - I love your blog!! You have so many quality posts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! Good luck with the diaper sewing. I'll keep my eyes open for a post about it. ;)

      Delete

Subscribe