How long does it take to sew a diaper?

[mama_kass]

How long does it take to make a diaper? Cover, AIO, wrap, pocket...Whatever your experience please share.

[lolo'smom]

From start to finish, including cutting, etc. I'd say it takes me 3 hours to make two. Usually I cut the patterns out the first night which takes me 1/2hr then finish them the second night. I'd like to say two hours total, but really, all of the little steps like velcro add on another 1/2 hour at least, especially if you have to change thread or respool the bobbin.

This is for the free pocket pattern from the sticky list in diaper making (nappy network medium).

[mommy2abigail]

Depends on how good you are! It takes me a bit longer, because 1.I am new at sewing, so I do everything reaaaaallly slowly, so I dont ruin it, and 2.DD wont let me sew at all, so I have to do everything either while she naps or after she goes to bed, and I usually pass out with her!

[fek&fuzz]

Probably an hour for a fitted. Not long at all for a wrap.

If you are making a bunch, cut them all out first, then sew the elastic on all, then the velcro on all, etc. Make sure you have a few full bobbins ready, and the velcro all cut to length. In an assembly line fashion you could make 8 or 10 in a few hours.

Oh, also, don't cut all the little threads off until the end. I was spending so much time trimming thread on each diaper, and it saved so much time to just leave it all until the end.

These were made by assembly line.

[JeDeeLenae]

I can make a soaker out of a recycled wool sweater in 45 minutes or less. Sometimes more if I have DS on my lap/boob.

[lolo'smom]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

Probably an hour for a fitted. Not long at all for a wrap.

If you are making a bunch, cut them all out first, then sew the elastic on all, then the velcro on all, etc. Make sure you have a few full bobbins ready, and the velcro all cut to length. In an assembly line fashion you could make 8 or 10 in a few hours.

Oh, also, don't cut all the little threads off until the end. I was spending so much time trimming thread on each diaper, and it saved so much time to just leave it all until the end.

I agree with the assembly line method, seems to move much quicker if you concentrate on one thing at a time. And I love this don't cut the threads idea, it's really the little things that get you tied up and end up taking so long. Really the more prepared you are ahead of time, the quicker it will be since you just have to sew it all together.

Ditto to mommy2abigail. When I started it took much longer and I had to work everything out. That's the problem with a free pattern now that I have made a few, things are much easier! Good luck!

[JennP]

I have found that it takes a long time to make 1 diaper, but it takes almost no more time to make 5 diapers. Assembly line is the ONLY way to go. It is great. That way you complete all step 1, then all step 2 ect. you save time not looking at the instructions 100 times between diapers!

Have fun
JennP

[mama_kass]

Great responses everyone. Very helpful advice too! Keep the responses coming mamas. I want to hear your experience.

[mama3x's]

I would say about an hour for a fitted or a cover and maybe a little longer if I put a pocket in. The most time consuming thing for me is the silly Velcro. I wish I could skip that step.

I usually make 2 at a time because I don't have a lot of space and I'm easily confused: I blame sleep deprivation.

[kayla14]

Well last night I sewed 2 covers...one pull up style, and the other wrap style. They took me probably 2 hours. I'm not very good at sewing, but I also didn't use a pattern, and just guessed along the way.

I also made a couple pocket diapers awhile back and those took quite awhile, but I was trying to follow directions, and I wasn't nearly as organized as I should have been.

[SleeplessMommy]

Use a (quilters) chain sewing method. As soon as one seam is done, put in the next thing to be sewn. You form a very long line of assembled parts at the back of the machine. When your pile in front runs out, cut the line off of the back of the machine, snip apart, and start over.

With a serger this really saves time and thread - I am always making 2 things at a time with the serger.

[tinkerpuppet]

Two weeks

Seriously I only have moments here and there that I can snag to do some sewing, and as I'm just starting everything takes sooo long. Also I'm just using scrap/recycled material for now until I get the pattern down pat, so I don't have enough to do assembly work.

But I've now made three diapers, and the third one did go much faster. I bought the Sew Darling Diaper pattern, and the instructions were great making everything go much faster. The second one I did I followed a tutorial that was so frustrating and took forever. I'm sure the process will be much faster from now on!

[momuveight2B]

I can make an AIO in less than an hour, hard to say cause I work assembly line style and have everything cut out in advance. I serge the soaker, attach by sewing machine and then serge all the layers, attach the elastic, turn and topstitch and attach velcro. A cover is about fifteen minutes and all done on the sewing machine.

[momuveight2B]

Well after my prideful confident answer yesterday today it is taking me hours and I haven't finished a dipe yet. Started out by making a perfect cover and then had several dipes lined up and ready to go on the serger. I don't know what I've done but it keeps breaking the thread and everything is a mess : So I am taking a break and will get busy fixing the serger.

So time estimates are when everything goes perfect.

[monkeys4mama]

I can make a pocket diaper in about 20 minutes and a fitted or aio in 30. I use the Chloe Toes pattern and it is the fastest one I have ever sewn b/c it uses foldover elastic and has a really streamlined construction method. I usually make several at one time and they go super fast. I used to make diapers w/ the Honey Boy pattern and it took me about 2 hrs for an aio (at least! my first ones were more like 3+ hrs!) I like things simple and these are so simple and quick. They fit great too. If I make turned and topstitched diapers, then it's more like an hour to sew a diaper. A little less if you do them assembly-line style.

[mmskids]

I agree with the others, assembly line depends on the amount of diapers but the time is about the same. Though I am lucky in that I don't have to keep changing the position of the machine since I have too many of them. I sew on a rolling chair and switch between sergers, machine for straight stitching and the last setup for zig/zag (if I'm doing elastic that way)..

Usually in one night, (without kids helping), I can make either make 1 or 5. Depends on how many I had cut out before they start helping..

I love VB for pockets and CB for fitteds though I've tried a bunch

[kbstanley3]

Well, all my sewing experience is W/OUT a baby, so I'm assuming it would take me much longer once I actually have my child. But it's also as a beginner/moderate sewer, so it would also probably be faster if I were an experienced/advanced sewer.
So I made about 12 pocket diapers using assembly line method over the course of 4/5 days spending about 1 hour a day. So that's about 4/5 hours for 12 pocket diapers, so roughly 30 minutes per pocket diaper from cutting the fabric to finished product.
I made a fitted diaper from start to finish making just one (NOT assemble line) and it took me about an hour.

So basically as everyone else has said, assembly line is definetely the way to go!

[shoefairy3]

About 2 hours, but that is me stopping to get someone a drink, then someone is hungry, then someone wants to go outside, etc :

Now it will be months b/c my sewing machine is on the fritz and it will take that long for dh to take in to be repaired