Instructions for making your own baby diapers

1420 Views 13 Replies 10 Participants Last post by yllek, Jun 30, 2004

MamaAllNatural

Discussion Starter · Jun 29, 2004

I am trying to get my sister to cloth diaper. She is due in two months with her first baby. She says she's going to "try" by using our mother's old supplies. So those will be decades old and I don't know how well it'll end up working out! :LOL

She can sew though and I'm thinking maybe she'd be willing to make her own dipes. I can't sew - at all!

: - so I'd have no idea how to go about it.

So, any instructions for the best materials to purchase from the fabric store and how to go about making a simple prefold (that'll last through a lot of sizes) and liners/doublers would be greatly appreciated! TIA

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nym

· #2 · Jun 29, 2004

Diapersewing.com is the best place I know of. Has great pics!

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MamaAllNatural

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 29, 2004

Thanks so much Nym! I'll send her the link.

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nym

· #4 · Jun 30, 2004

no problem

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mehndi mama

· #5 · Jun 30, 2004

I wouldn't even bother going to the fabric store, if she's wanting to "make do" - try old clothes as a fabric source!

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MamaAllNatural

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 30, 2004

That's a great idea! I never thought of it. I'm passing this onto her. Thanks.

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nym

· #7 · Jun 30, 2004

Also, I get a lot of fabric from the thrift store. Baby flannel receiving blankets, old towels etc work really well

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Jachut

· #8 · Jun 30, 2004

Flannel is so cheap and easy to get and works quite well. I've been sewing up a storm lately and selling on ebay, and making enormous profits. Its ALL in the detail - even the most basic fabric can be jazzed up and made to look really professional. Some of my successes have been:

basic flanelette prefolds - simply four layers of coloured flannelette (at $A2.20 a metre) sewn together, and sewn into thirds to be trifolded. Serge round the edge with variegated jeanstitch, and voila - a gorgeous item a la those FCB squarefolds. I've been selling these with a coordinating wrap - I just made the pattern up by tracing a prorap - with a knit outer, FOE binding and am getting about $40 for a wrap and three prefolds. This is SO quick and easy to do. The prefolds could certainly be pinned, and to snappy, you could just make an outer layer of towelling. I made some topped with velour which are so gorgeous I kept them for Eliza.

I also made fitteds out of towells I bought on sale - a layer of knit outer (you could use an old garmet or printed flanelette), a layer of towelling with an extra layer just sewn in the wet zone, and an inner layer of coordinating coloured flannel, with a lay in soaker of two layers of towelling topped with microfleece. Pretty coloured serging and again, a beautiful item which has sold brilliantly - like over $20. Sadly, I have to use velcro closures, but might be able to buy a snap press soon.

If she has a serger, all of this is extremely quick and easy to do, I can churn out about 20 of those prefolds in a days work. Its cheap too - I could have sewn Eliza's newborn stash for about $75 compared to the hundred's I spent buying ordinary, non WAHM items from the US.

You can certainly do it all without a serger too - just turn and topstitch instead - but I find that that leads to hard seams, lumpy corners and just a not quite so comfortable diaper.

And certainly you dont have to go to so much trouble to make them pretty, but I think it makes diapering so much fun to have gorgeous items, alas, its taken me till now to realise you dont have to spend a fortune to get them.

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Kim2002

· #9 · Jun 30, 2004

Here's a great source for making dipes from clothing:
http://fernandfaerie.com/frugaldiapering.html

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mimim

· #10 · Jun 30, 2004

There are a couple of yahoo groups that are great resources for diaper sewing. Diaper-Sewing-and-More and sew your own diapers are good ones. The Sewing and Crafts board here is also an excellent resource. One Stop Diaper Shop has all of the specialty fabric and notions needed at good prices. They are closed ATM though. They should be opening at the end of the week.

Unless you are planning to work from a pattern, it would be hard to make your own fitteds and wraps unless you have one to use as a reference - or a baby to use as a model. So, I'd recommend picking up a pattern or a couple of inexpensive fitteds to use as samples. Try the TP or maybe http://www.nanipoos.com/ for some good quality newborn fitteds. Of course, you could use a sposies as a pattern template too.

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Trishy

· #11 · Jun 30, 2004

Moving to Sewing and Crafts.

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01txaggie

· #12 · Jun 30, 2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim2002
Here's a great source for making dipes from clothing:
http://fernandfaerie.com/frugaldiapering.html

This is the best sewing directions I have seen nice clean website. Easy to use. Thanks for the link. I will have to try the patterns.

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oshunmama

· #13 · Jun 30, 2004

I really like the poopockets pattern, personally. Very easy to sew and very cute. The side snapping is my fav!

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yllek

· #14 · Jun 30, 2004

While you are at One Stop Diaper Shop, take a look at the Very Baby patterns. I LOVE these patterns! I have tried Cuddlebuns and a couple of freebie online ones, but the VB patterns are my favorite. Very easy and very trim. And there are lots of options for the patterns at www.sewdiapers.com... AND Jess is such a sweet person to work with. Truly helpful if you have a question. (NAYY - just really pleased with the way my dipes are turning out).

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