Making your own cloth diapers and diaper covers (sewing & knitting) - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[wrenmoon]

Something went funny with my phone a few days ago and some of the text from the above post was dropped.
It was a free pattern online, baabaababy, but has no instructions. It's not terribly complicated but I'm figuring out the best way to make them as I go.
These are made with an old flannel sheet double thickness and now I'm thinking I won't use snaps but will pin instead.
I might sew the liner to the top inside of the diaper so it doesn't get lost in the wash along with all the socks that are missing. A friend suggested sewing another liner to the opposite end (front) and use it as a nighttime diaper. The liners are the same flannel sheet, double thickness.
This project is convincing me that I might just ask for family donations for a serger and take the plunge onto the learning curve. Does anyone here use a serger? Is it worth working your way through another how-to manual? Is threading a real pain? Do you love it?

[lolliegee]

I have serger but can't answer your questions because I haven't used one for a really long time. This one was given to me by mom a few years ago, but needed a $40 repair which I hadn't bothered doing because I wasn't doing much sewing at the time. I'm getting ready to start a business making cloth menstrual pads, so I've gotten it repaired and am going to be doing a couple projects to refamiliarize myself. One thing I remember loving is not having to trim the seam allowance. I can let you know my answers to the rest of your questions as I go.

[wrenmoon]

It seems like for any kind of production sewing it makes sense. I'm pretty proficient with turn and top stitching but I don't love the extra steps. Impatient me.
Maybe I'll buy one and sell some diapers to pay for it! (Do you like that justification?)

[g&a]

If you decide to sell some diapers, you might find some takers right here on this board <wink> <wink>

[Eilis]

I don't have a serger but wish I did. They are so nifty! There are definitely some patterns out there that you "can" make without a serger but turn out much better with the serger.
 

[wrenmoon]

Wool cover madness

[heyitskalista]

Originally Posted by wrenmoon 


Wool cover madness

Sooo cute!  Which pattern do you use?

I just sat down and made my knit list (we got our tax refund and hubby gave me the go ahead to order all the wool I'll need...he has no idea what he's in for! ;)).  Here's hoping I have enough time to get it all done!  I may be getting a little ahead of myself!

[zeeohee]

Kalista, where do you order wool online? I'm realizing that's probably the only way I'm going to get the yarns I really want without driving multiple hours....

[zeeohee]

Also, that little collection looks AMAZING, Wrenmoon!! 

[wrenmoon]

Originally Posted by heyitskalista 


Sooo cute!  Which pattern do you use?

I just sat down and made my knit list (we got our tax refund and hubby gave me the go ahead to order all the wool I'll need...he has no idea what he's in for! ).  Here's hoping I have enough time to get it all done!  I may be getting a little ahead of myself!

Its the curly purly pattern with smaller and larger yarns, some of the yarns are recycled sweaters from goodwill and some are from knitpicks.com
I can link it if you can't find the pattern online.

[talldarkeyes]

Wrenmoon: That pattern is awesome and the soakers look great! Are you going to felt any of these?

OT I spent a while this afternoon dreaming about living in a yurt in Virginia. When I saw how cost effective they are and that we could finally own land and have animals! Very exciting. Are you in there permanently? You don't happen to live in Floyd do you?

[wrenmoon]

I wasn't going to felt them because I went down needle sizes and up pattern sizes to make them more dense. So the ones for newborn are really smalls but made with size 2 needles for waistband, up to 6 for the body of it. When I make my smalls I'll use the medium pattern numbers. Felting is so unpredictable for me with a front loader that I will do anything to avoid it. (Although my DH has managed to felt my socks pretty well)

I don't live in Floyd but we bought our yurt from Blue Ridge Yurts in Floyd. We have some family there, it is so so beautiful. We live outside of Charlottesville and are on our fourth of six years in this yurt. When we did the numbers we realized it was cheaper in the long run to buy a yurt and rent land than it was to rent a house, although the work involved initially was pretty intense to get all the water and electric and loft and decks built etc.
I love it

[talldarkeyes]

Oh my goodness! I never thought about going down needle sizes! I am still such a newbie, especially at customizing/modifying patterns. I know what you mean about felting in a front loader. Everything that I don't want to felt gets felted and everything I do want to felt either takes forever or never felts entirely.

I lived in the Lexington area for two years and would LOVE to move back, especially to the Charlottesville area. I have had this dream that once my dh completes his masters he can be an adjunct professor at UVA. One can dream...

[here we are]

So jealous of the beautiful homemade stuff. I stayed up all night reading about how-to's &i still dont get it. I am a hands on learner, wish someone lived nearby &i could watch, youtube is too fast. I dont mean to be a downer but its painful to want to make something &feel so lost.

[rainbownurse]

there are some really great tutorials on youtube, and you can always pause and rewind them! for crocheting, mikey's mail (spelling?) is AWESOME! he goes really slow, and repeats himself, so you have plenty of time to learn. 

[zeeohee]

hereweare, what exactly are you hoping to make? I know that frustration of wanting to make something, and I also get being a hands-on learner. What I have found is that at a certain point, I just have to psyche myself up and say "I am going to knit a vest! (or whatever!)" and then just start trying. I think online tutorials suddenly make a lot more sense once you have some frame of reference, especially with knitting. Knitting videos only make sense to me if I have the piece of knitting in question in my hands! 

Sewing is even easier because there are fewer places to get lost. I have definitely done some silly beginner sewing things (like spending a LOT of extra time tracing lines for myself to sew on) while I learned, but they can really help. And for me, the biggest barrier to sewing in the past has been frustrations with the machine itself. Luckily, hand-sewing baby things doesn't take too much time. I have hand-sewed a wool soaker from a recycled sweater just for the pleasure of it -- what if you started somewhere like that? Low initial investment, and nothing complicated to learn?

[wrenmoon]

Longies!!
The small ones are leftover sock yarns and my own pattern-a make it up as you go along pattern-and the bigger ones are Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants.
Those stripes are making me so happy.

[zeeohee]

Those are awesome! I love the dark/colorful stripes!

[wrenmoon]

Originally Posted by zeeohee 

Those legwarmers are awesome, wrenmoon! I am a *very* newbie knitter, but I would love to tackle a more complicated project if it was something so cute and tiny. Is there a pattern you can link us to?

Zeeohee-I just saw this. The leg warmer pattern is from a book called "what to knit when you're expecting" by Nikki Van De Car
It has some really nice patterns. And most of them are on the beginner-intermediate end of the scale.

I'm moving on to ripping elastic out of my fuzzi bunz to replace it (27 medium and large diapers. 27!!!) and then I'll be making some small fitted diapers for the first few months... Not terribly excited about it but it needs to be done.
Knitting has to take a back seat. Sigh.

What's everyone else doin?

[Mavis]

This past week I made 2 boppy type pillows that need covers, a pair of knit  slippers and I'm almost done knitting a vest.  It helped that my family was on our spring break. 

  Up next is a wool sleep sack ( winter is cold ) and some diaper changing pads. I may have to move knit pant up the list though, those are cute !

I also found a free pattern for short sleeve kimono top, newborn size. so cute! My to make list is long......