Can these covers be saved?

[sheandaru]

I have three small "litewrap" covers that were freecycled to me a while ago. The elastic is shot in all of them, but I'm not sure how to fix them. I'd take them apart, but I don't want to get stuck not knowing what to do.

Has anyone here managed to rescue old covers?

Here's a picture of all three, FWIW.

[sheandaru]

no one?

[xenabyte]

There was a post I read (not sure if it was on here or on the 'sew diaper' forum...but there was a mom that used the following technique to 'save' some fuzzi bunz that had lost their leg elasticity (I have some that need to be fixed as well, just haven't done it yet... )

She 'felt' where the leg elastic attached at the upper and lower ends of the diaper leg area. She made two small slits in the fleece right near where the elastic attached. Then she attached a small safety pin to one end of 1/4 inch elastic and 'threaded' it into the elastic channel. Once she had it out the other end, she stitched it down. Then she just pulled it until it was about the right 'tightness' and stitched the other end down and cut off the excess. She 'slip stitched' the opening closed and they worked great!

I noticed that those wraps have gussets, and not regular 'leg channels'. So if you think you can get an opening big enough to allow you to re thread a new, thin piece of elastic, I would think it would work. Since it's a wrap, the spot where you 'slipstitch' shouldn't actually come into contact with baby's skin and cause any irritations.

Otherwise, it'd be a pain to rip the seams, create a new gusset elastic, and re sew...doable, but a PITA..

If it has elastic in the back/front tummy areas, the 'leg channel' technique should work easier.

Good luck!

[*~Danielle~*]

I would totall just rip out the stitches that are holding the fold over elastic at the gussets. Then I would take new fold over elastic and zig-zag stitch it on where the old stuff was hold taught the whole time you are sewing. You may even just try on one of the back waist on one of them taking some fold over elastic and stitching it right on top of the old stuff holding taught.

I think you won't need much to get them functional. Gussets and the back at the waist.

[xenabyte]

Doh! I guess that is FOE on the gussets...I couldn't tell from the picture, until you mentioned that and I looked closer!

Danielle had a much better suggestion for handling the gusset elastic and back, just stitch over it with new! Well, if you get any loose elastic in casing diapers you could try the other method..

I hope it works out for you and you have some FOE!

[sheandaru]

Argh! I knew that would be it. I've never worked with FOE, so I may just see if I can send these to someone who has time to fix them. I'm thinking by the time I get around to them, my guy will be too big for them anyway.

[cshort4]

I recently fixed some large litewraps with shot back elastics. The gussets are a litte loose too, but I don't think enough to hamper function, and I'd rather not mess with them! I took out the stitching on the fold over casing--I don't think they were elastic--no stretch at all. Inside was 3/8" elastic. I didn't go all the way to the serged part, but cut the elastic pretty close to the seam. Then I cut a new piece of elastic (I have a new litewrap that I used for the size of elastic). I tacked it to the little bit of elastic I had left and then pinned, pulled, and sewed the elastic to the pul. Then I folded the binding back over, pinned, pulled, and *tried* to resew as close to the original stitching as I could. I had to do it a few times because I kept missing it on the other side. They don't look perfect, but they are definitely better then they were (not usable at all). I may try to fix the casings like someone else suggested with the little slit and a narrow piece of elastic. Or, I may just leave it and see how they work as they are. My dd is still in mediums, so I'm not using them yet.

HTH