And if it fails, I'll break out the even older back-up to my back-up sewing machine. It's in the old sewing table I use as a nightstand in our guest room, but the lady who gave it to me said it worked the last time she used it. :)
But anyway, over the next couple days I'll be posting everything I've been sewing the last few weeks with my new/old machine...
Newborn Fitted Cloth Diapers
I've been giving cloth diapers another go. It's not going as well as I hoped. Ha ha. My hopes do tend to be a little high. Anyway, I decided to start practicing with newborn diapers. Not because I need them yet, mom. ;) But because they use less fabric (so I'm not out as much if I mess up) and because I'll want newborn fitteds with covers anyway so I can make these without using the more expensive waterproof fabric until I know what I'm doing. This is the outside of my first attempt:
The
outside is just a cute cotton knit from Joanne Fabric. For a tiny
newborn the front snaps down below the belly button . Nifty.
The
inside is organic bamboo velour, and there is an extra soaker layer
made of hemp french terry sewn in the middle. I may need to make a
lay-in soaker to add more absorbancy because now I'm doubting my little
layer-and-a-half will be enough!
I
actually tried a couple different patterns out to see which I like
best. Unfortunately none of them turned out awesome, but part of that
was my sewing machine & sewing skills failing me. Ha. The two on
the left are two different sizes of the free Newborn Darling Diaper pattern.
While it's free, it's a pattern only with no instructions. They want
you to pay for those. Um.... no thanks, I think I'll fly by the seat of
my pants instead! For the one on the left I used the double row of snaps
and the middle one uses just a single row (which seems like plenty for
such a small diaper). I did the elastic on the left one wrong and it
turned out stiff and weird, but the one in the middle turned out nice
and fluffy (if a little uneven)!
That's enough practice, don't you think? Tomorrow I'll recap how I dove in head-first to make a one-size, water-proof diaper!
Looking up the Darling Diaper pattern, could this be made using flannel with a PUL lining (as a cover) and then had soaker pads laid inside?Also, where do you get bamboo velour and hemp french terry fabrics? I'm interesting in CD our next little one from day 1, and as our DD was 5.5 lbs at birth, we just might want to have some tiny CD on hand if our next is small, too.
ReplyDeleteNature's Fabric (http://www.naturesfabrics.com/bamboo-fabric.html) and Diaper Sewing Supplies (http://www.diapersewingsupplies.com/categories/Bamboo-Fabric/) both have bamboo and hemp fabric. I've ordered from both, based on who had what I wanted in stock at the time. :)
ReplyDeleteTo use it as a cover, the soaker pads would have to be pretty tiny. These are made to be used with a cover, so they are small and trim to fit inside. But you never know until you try! Let me know if you do!