Transitioning to Cloth Diapers (Part 3)
Well, today’s the day… I am going to sew a cloth diaper!
Wolf found my sewing machines, which had been buried with all our stored stuff, and I cleared off my desk to use temporarily as a sewing table.
I have been accumulating the fabric, patterns, and notions I need from various sources. I’ve tried to be very frugal about getting the materials together, searching for people selling off their excess, stores with cheap shipping, and so on. And of course recycling our old t-shirts and towels into the mix takes a big bite out of what the budget would be to buy everything new.
- I have PUL fabric for the waterproof outer layer, which I bought as an assortment of remnants from someone online.
- I have a pattern for an adjustable one-size pocket diaper that will work for the new baby as well as Miss J, as well as a couple other varities of patterns I got free online. Since it’s a .pdf file and I can just print out more copies as needed, I’m not going to worry about transferring it onto a more durable medium right now (lots of people apparently love using clear vinyl “tablecloth” stuff for that).
- I have polyester thread and ball-point sewing machine needles from WalMart.
- I have the specialized notions from an online vendor (same place I got the pattern) - Fold-Over Elastic and polybraid elastic (for different kinds of diapers), and TouchTape (harder-working type of hook & loop) for the fastener.
- I have a good-sized piece of suedecloth for the inner “wicking” layer of the dipes, purchased at JoAnn’s Fabrics with my 40% Off One Item coupon.
- For absorbant inners, I have the prefold diapers we’re already using, for covers, or “pocket” diapers that get stuffed each use (but are easier to wash and dry!), plus the Goodwill pile to raid for styles that have absorbant layers sewn in.
- And I have the basic basics already in my sewing kit - pins, marking pencil, good scissors (although it seems a wheel cutter is the popular thing for this), stitch ripper (who me? mistakes??), etc.
All the fabric (and elastic) has been pre-washed and dried. The sewing machine is threaded.
Now all I have to do is… Do it!
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February 19th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Cloth diapers! Hurray for you, great for baby. I had cloth diapers for all three of mine. The synthetic feel of the disposables just didn’t feel right. At it was costly. We used the wraps to hold the diapers in place without having to use pins. Is that what you’re going to do?
February 19th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I am still experimenting with styles of covers (wraps). I have a pattern for one that is a “snugwrap” and hold the diaper with no pins… But I am leaning towards one that is adjustable enough to fit the baby and the toddler with the same cover! With that one, we will use the “snappi” fasteners to hold the dipe in place.
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 am
[…] I mentioned in my last diaper post, I got my hands on some fabric and a couple of patterns, so all that was left was to take the […]