Mama Bird NB question ?

[PGTlatte]

I just made a diaper from the NB size Mama Bird pattern. It seems
really large for a NB diaper. In fact when I lay it out on top of a
Kissaluv size 1 it matches exactly, and when I lay it on a Motherease
Sandy's small, it is only slightly shorter, both stretched and
unstretched. The Mama Bird site says the NB pattern fits 6-12 lbs.
The Kissaluv site says the size 1 fits 10-25 lbs and the Motherease
site says the small Sandy's fits 8-20 lbs. When I first received the
Sandys, I even got one on my skinny 27-lb toddler - it was tight, but
covered everything. So this NB Mama Bird does not seem like a NB
diaper to me. It seems more like a "small" diaper.

I checked the dimensions of the pattern I printed out against her
description on the website - all of the dimensions match up except the
length. Her site says the length of the NB should be 7 and 3/4 inches
long, but mine is 13.5 inches long, while the crotch and top and
bottom widths match her description. The dimensions on the little and
big sizes match exactly, and the 1-inch square printed out to exactly
one inch, so I think I printed the pattern to the right scale. Also 7
and 3/4 sounds really small - I measure a Kissaluv size 0 and
unstretched it is 10 inches long, and that is a *tiny* diaper. So I
am not sure what to think of it saying the NB length should be 7 and
3/4 inches long.

So I was wondering, if anyone else has experience with diapers from
the Mama Bird size NB pattern, what size range did it end up fitting
and was it too big for a newborn ?

Thanks !

[onediaperinmama]

Her site says the length of the NB should be 7 and 3/4 inches
long, but mine is 13.5 inches long, while the crotch and top and
bottom widths match her description.

That is so strange that your crotch and top and bottom widths match but yours sounds way too long. Can you cut your pattern in half and take some inches out of the rise to get closer to the 7 3/4" length? A 13.5" rise would be way too long for most tiny newborns.

[tippytoes26]

I have some brand new kissaluvs sitting here, and they stretch to be 14 inches from the back to the front (without using muscle to stretch it *L*).. but they haven't been washed yet. I think and overall finished rise of a nb diaper should fall between 11.5 and 13.5 inches. Usually a snap down will bring the rise down to about 11.5-12 inches and left up the rise of the diaper will be 13-14 inches. Least all the nb diapers I've purchased. Your elastic can make a big difference in the rise of the finished diaper and the seam allowance will take off close to an inch. So if you start with 13.5 inches in overall lenght, minus two seam allowances of 3/8 of an inch and then the gathering of your elastic, it should fit more like a 12 inch rise give or take a half inch. That sounds pretty normal to me.

Is your elastic creating a nice gather? Since it's in a casing, sometimes it doesn't gather as much as elastic in a serged diaper.

But, 13.5 inches long is what the MB nb pattern prints out for me at. I don't know where she got 7 3/4 inches.. a rise that low would only be for a preemie.

It's hard to comare a serged diaper to a turned diaper because the elastic gathers so differently. And kissaluv size 1 have a VERY low rise. My daughter had to stop using them at about 17lbs because they were just not long enough in the rise to go over her butt and up over her privates adequatly. They fit her from 10-17lbs. So if the rise in the MB is comparable to the kissaluv size 1, I'd say it's just about right. You could maybe reduce the rise by about 3/4 of an inch if you really want to. But kissaluv size 1 is just a wonky diaper rise wise compared to most fitted diapers.

Sorry.. lot of rambling but that's my take on it. I think it's pretty accurate as far as nb diapers go.

[onediaperinmama]

Why does her site say it should only be 7 and 3/4 then? I don't even know what the rise is on my own diapers (at least not off the top of my head, lol) so I shouldn't have said that would be way too long, but if the pattern is supposed to only measure 7 3/4 is that measurement just wrong?

[DaisyQDuck]

The information I got when I contacted her about her pattern (before she posted the info on her site) gave 13.5 in as the rise. I'm wondering if there is an error on the page.

Daisy

[PGTlatte]

I think there must be an error on the page. The NB pattern I printed out is 13.5 inches so I guess that is right.

I didn't turn the diaper - I'm not good at turning. I don't have a serger so I do a tight zig zag stitch instead. I have used this stitch for hemp inserts for my 2 yr old, mama pads for me, and making wipes from sherpa terry, and it has held up fine, so now I'm using it for diapers. Maybe the combination of not turning it and not making the elastic section long enough is why the diaper I made looks big to me. To me it looks more like a "small" size diaper than a newborn diaper. I expected it to look more the size of a size 0 disposable, and it is much larger than that. But this might be perfect if this baby is as big as my 2-yr old was - size 0 disposables only fit him for a week, so I suspect if we had used CD for him, Kissaluv 0s would not have fit him for very long and we would have been using "small" size diapers on him pretty quickly.

[pudgybudgie]

I thought the mb newborn looked kind of big when I made it too, but it was really just the right size on my 7 lb 8 oz baby. After the first few, I made them all about 2 inches wider than the pattern and about an inch longer, and she is just *now* growing out of them, at 15 lbs.