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Yesterday was all sewing - all day! « »
I’ve been sort of lurking on several of the cloth diapering sites you guys have suggested. My favorite so far is Diaper Sewing Divas.
Yesterday, after reading all the info on all of the patterns, ordering supplies, and getting up the steam…I did a little sewing:
That’s 6 newborn diaper covers and 6 size small diaper covers. The bright colored fabric is a laminated polyester, and the other layer is a cotton chambray. These are from the Very Baby pattern.
I also made 16 (!!) size small (Very Baby all in one pattern) fitted diapers. The yellow ones are the first batch, then the flowered ones, then the beige ones were the last ones of the day.
The yellow are made of two layers of birdseye cotton for the inner, a cotton stretch knit for the outer, and 8 layers of birdseye for the pad inside. The flowered ones are a 100% cotton flannel ($1/yard!!), using the flannel for both inner and outer and with 6-8 layers of the same flannel for the inner pad. The beige ones are birdseye for inner and outer, and 6- layers of the same birdseye for the pad.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to get to doing this…probably the overlap of my two jobs (started the new one with 2 weeks left of the first one) and just not being very confident in my sewing skills. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to follow the pattern correctly, and there are so many different kinds of fabrics and snaps and elastics. I think I was overwhelmed by all of the information.
Even now, I have no baby to test these on, so I won’t know if they even WORK for a few months yet.
I did learn a lot about the process, and even modified the pattern to my own needs. I omitted the waterproof layer from the dipes, so they’re “fitteds,” but not “all in one.”
After all that sewing, I was really stiff today! I guess I pretty much sat at the machine from 8:30 am to about 10 pm.
To move around some, Nate and I walked over to the coffee shop for breakfast, and afterward stopped by the fabric store and picked out some cuter fabrics for the next batch.
Yesterday while I was working on these, he kept telling me how professional they looked, and how much he appreciated me sewing them…it was so heartwarming! I love it that he’s into the idea of cloth diapering, and that he really understands the time and love that goes into it!
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OOH! And this yarn from Zenstring just came! It’s bluefaced leichester…for diaper covers.
(don’t worry, Medea likes being used as a prop!) 
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 6:34 pm and is filed under just chit chat, baby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
13 Responses to “Yesterday was all sewing - all day!”
Very nice diapers! You are totally set! I wish I had some sewing skills.I bought a sewing machine a couple months ago with BIG plans, but so far it’s still sadly sitting in its box. Oh well, someday!
Your finish work is great! I like the Very Baby Cover pattern too — although it is a bit, poofy… Better a bit big than a bit small, though! Once your little one moves into mediums, you may need to add a doubler or switch to hemp. LOVE the yarn colors!! Have fun.
I can’t believe how much you got done!! Looks great. I just ordered a new (pre-owned) machine on ebay as my old metal workhorse from the 80s is ready for a reprieve. And Medea is sooo cute (and tolerant, apparently!) Nice name too!
The diapers look marvelous! My mom sewed a bunch for us when I was pregnant, and I am getting ready to make some myself now. I love the Very Baby patterns!
This is my first visit to your blog…I came to check out the knitting but oh my, your diapers & soakers are SO NICE! Wool really does work if it’s well lanolinized, I’m sitting next to a sleeping baby diapered in cotton & wool right now. It is very homey and sweet.
WOW! Those are awesome! I have still yet to get my hubby’s approval on cloth diapering…. but I still have - what, 4 months or so to go?
Great work!!!
These are too cute for words! I bet it was addicting sewing them up since they are so adorable. I love the bright colors-YAY =D
He’s right they do look professional. Very nice work. I loved using cloth diapers and at one point I had two in diapers at the same time. I still have the diapers and use them with my painting.
I have a bunch of plain white PUL fabric from several years ago when I was experimenting with making AIO’s for our daughter. I no longer need it or the elastic fold-over trim I have. Send me your address via email ( to rayne AT blackrayne DOT com) and they are yours if I can find them in this mess of a sewing room, ok?
They do look really good, too… I gave up on mine after making 2 or 3 of them and just bought a bunch of AIOs instead. Making them is much more rewarding though I think.
Very nice, when my older boys were babies I used nylon covers for their cloth diapers. There weren’t any of the fancy fitted things and wool soakers never crossed my (young) mind. I used fancier covers for my two younger babies. I found that the babies had far fewer diaper rashes using cloth. And not to worry your diapers will work and they’ll work wonderfully.
They look great! Congrats on the soon-to-be bundle of joy! I have one myself (7 Month old son) and LOVE every second of it. I have some regular store-bought diapers and use vinyl pants with them, and they work wonderfully. They’re less work than most people anticipate, and the rewards are great. It does take a little extra time, but I love it. Our next child will use ONLY cloth diapers, and I hope I can sew some for that one (in a couple of years down the road!).
You are an amazingly fast “maker of things” It takes me 3 days to do a gauge swatch.
Well, this is the first time I realized you had a blog so someone else may have already suggested this diaper cover pattern…..I happened to see it on Lion Brand Yarns website and then today I got their newsletter where it is showcased: http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/BK4K70430.html
It is called the day to night felted soaker
Heh. I had a few similar days when I was about 8 mos pregnant. Your covers look wonderful!! I used a Very Baby pattern and it was perfect, esp for the newborn size when you can’t fold prefolds small enough to fit without leaving the baby sleeping at an incline bc her diaper is so big. As for sizing, it’s so hard to guess because every baby is different. I will say that the Picky Pants soaker pattern has fit my baby since day 1 and she was 7 lbs 12 oz at birth and then on the small side throughout the first year.