Fitted Fabrics, Questions

[macly]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking to make some fitteds for new baby arriving in a few months. I've been looking through patterns and comments in this forum. I have a ton of flannel from the overabundance of receiving blankets we received for DS that I would like to turn into diapers. I read one review that said they didn't like using flannel since it didn't stretch enough to give a great fit, but then another that said they love sewing with flannel since it doesn't stretch. I'm a pretty novice sewer, and I can imagine that sewing with a stretchy fabric would drive me batty. What are your opinions?

For the absorbent pads, do you all find layers of flannel to be sufficient? If so, how many layers? Does flannel make it too bulky? Are there other fabrics you prefer? I certainly don't mind buying fabric either, as it will still be cheaper than buying fitteds, but I would love to use up some flannel!! I know this will be somewhat of a trial and error process, but I'm trying to get as much done before new babe arrives and hope that I've made some that fit and absorb well enough for him/her.

Thanks everyone!!

[Nicole730]

We love the RRP pattern (google Rita's Rump) here. We've modified it, making it smaller and bigger and eliminated the back elastic. We stuff them with microfiber towels, gerber prefolds, chamois, and anything else we feel like. They are super easy to make, super cute - you can use different inner and outer fabrics and make them reversible. I love that the tabs overlap and you can us just one pin. We do use pins, they are super easy to use if you store the pins in a bar of soap.

They are very, very easy for a beginning sewer, I made one in one hour the firs time. Let me know if you have any other questions!

ETA: maybe it never had back elastic, I don't remember now...also we don't topstitch them, even around the leg elastic.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I just finished making 36 newborn fitteds out of flannel. They are stuffed with a microfiber towel. I picked up a pack of them at Costco for super cheap. I loved sewing on the flannel and just put elastic in the legs and back to make them fit well. My older DD has some made out of this combo and they fit great.

[cristeen]

I don't care for flannel fitteds myself. Particularly the heavy flannel that is normally used. Fit wise it's fine, but it leaves something to be desired absorbency-wise, and it takes forever to dry in the dryer (the rest of the load comes out dry, but that one dipe is still damp). However, for a beginning sew-er, definitely go with the flannel. I've been sewing for 20+ years and I still don't want to make dipes with knits.

As for doublers, I far prefer fleece or terry in doublers - they just hold more than flannel. If you have some old towels you're willing to part with, pair it with some flannel. I don't like internal soakers - those take even longer to dry than a flannel dipe, I like snap-in or quick dry soakers (sewn in on one end so they flap out in the wash).

[westcoastlady]

I just made two flannel fitted diapers for by babe-to-be. It was much quicker than I thought. I made one Darling Diapers Newborn Fitted and one Rita's Rump. Both patterns are nice but I think I'll make more of the Rita's Rump because I like the pocket and I tend to have chunky babies so I want these to work for at least a couple of months. Here are some things I learned:

1. If you are doing the turn and topstitch method (as opposed to serging) (this is where you sew the diaper pieces together inside out and then turn it right-side out and topstitch around the edges)... make sure you clip the corners around the curves. Otherwise they end up kinda bunchy.

2. Tack down the elastic at both ends first... then stick along the length. Also it took me forever to figure out what a 3-step zigzag was, it was called a multiple stitch zigzag in my sewing machine manual.

3. I used swimwear elastic, 3/8inch wide. It is supposed to hold up better in the wash and I plan on washing and drying these lots.

4. Most of the patterns I found didn't tell how long to make the elastic. What I did was measure how long is was on the pattern from the two points where you were supposed to attach the elastic. IN the DDNB pattern it was 25cm. Then I took the elastic and stretched it as far as it would stretch and measured out 25cm... let the elastic relax and then saw how much was needed to stretch that far... make sense?? In the DDNB case it was 15cm (sorry I'm Canadian you'll have to translate into inches if you want). When I sewed it up I did loose some elastic return and it ended up being about 18 cm.

5. I made my diapers from 2 layers of flannel receiving blankets. In the case of the Rita's Rump pattern where you make the pocket I put the pattern right at the edge of the blanket so that where it was serged became the top of the diaper. That way I didn't need to worry about the edges fraying when they are washed.

I hope this helps... I definitely learned a lot from the process.. I made the RIta's Rump diaper in one afternoon nap time including cutting out and still had some time to spare. Oh... and whatever you do... do not leave random lengths of elastic lying around your carefully measure ones so that you stitch them to you diaper and have to spend 20 minutes seam ripping them out. That was fun... and I really tacked them down well.

Good luck

[e_roehm23]

Here is another suggestion: have you ever heard of a 'prefitted'? It is a prefold that you turn into a fitted dipe. There are a few different methods, but the absorbancy is great for nb's and sm infants, plus, if you want to use up the flannel, you can make doublers out of it. Or, if the flannel blankets have cute prints on them you can embellish the prefold first then make the prefitted! Flannel does fade quite a bit, but if it's free then I say what the hay!

a couple links:
http://www.diapersewing.com/prefold_to_fitted.htm

or,
http://cloth-crazy.blogspot.com/2009...to-fitted.html

[e_roehm23]

If you're only making doublers out of flannel, you can buy microfiber towels from the automotive section at walmart and pair that with the flannel for more absorbency! Just be sure to place the flannel next to baby's skin because the microfiber will dry lo out!!

[macly]

Thanks everyone for such great feedback! One more question, anyone have a preference for fleece vs. cotton, or cotton vs. hemp/cotton? Thanks!