Baby Girl is here!

Our baby girl was born 11/11/11 weighing 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 21.5 inches long.

She’s now 10 days old and between the two kids, we’re pretty busy around here.

I’m not comfortable sharing the actual birth story on a public blog.  But I was able to have a  completely natural childbirth experience and do many things I had always wanted to.  I was lovingly cared for during my pregnancy and birth by midwives.  I labored in warm water, and gave birth in a full squat.  It was an amazing experience and I’m proud of the way my daughter came into the world.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I’m Still Here

It’s been a good long while since I updated this blog. This whole pregnancy I have had a hard time being interested in blogging.  I guess this time around I’m feeling too private. 

My first pregnancy I shared everything with everyone.  I found out that made me uncomfortable so this time I just kind of went with what felt right, and that was to keep to myself more. 

So anyway, I’m still pregnant.  Not that it’s a surprise.  My due date is still a few days away and I know it’s just a number.  However, as with my first pregnancy, I’ve been having weeks of pre-labor symptoms and a very convincing false alarm.  I was left quite discouraged afterward and overly anxious to be on the other side of the labor/birth event.  I kind of feel like it’s never going to come now.

I need a distraction.  I need to find some sort of project to get into that will keep my mind off this whole waiting for baby game.  Any ideas?

Wool Dryer Balls

I honestly don’t know how I’ve been cloth diapering for 22 months and never heard of wool dryer balls.  I recently saw it mentioned in a cloth diaper forum, so I decided to do some research.

I googled “Wool Dryer Balls” and the Good Mama tutorial was the first link to show up.  I did a little more reasearch and found out the benefits of using them.

Basically they soften the fabric in the dryer and cut down on drying time without adding harmful chemicals to your laundry.

So anyway, I followed the Good Mama tutorial and made some of my own out of scrap wool yarn and yarn I wasn’t crazy about.  In the category of scraps I had some roving sized alpaca yarn that I had no use for.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a good felter.  I don’t have a top load machine and they are better at felting than front loaders.  After making the wool balls, most of them came apart in the dryer and wrapped themselves around the clothes creating a huge rat’s nest.

A few days after starting to use them, my husband told me about these long blond hairs that were all over our wash cloths.  I looked at them closely, and oh crap!  It was from the Alpaca yarn.  It was shedding long, hairy fibers all over everything.

This first attempt at dryer balls was a huge (but quite comical) disaster!

While I was at the local cloth diaper store, there were a few wool dryer  balls by the register.  They were the last two and the store owner seemed more than happy to have me take them.  She gave them to me for a huge discounted price.  I still can’t figure out why she didn’t want them.  They’ve been working extremely well.

Anyway, these purchased wool balls appeared to be needle felted roving.  Upon close examination, I figured out exactly how to make the wool dryer balls and not have them come apart! 

I went home, flipped through “Itty Bitty Toys” and landed on the felted bouncy balls pattern in the book.  The pattern uses loosely knit wool pouches around giant bouncy balls that get felted so the balls will be gentler indoor toys.  I immediately fixed my wool balls, and began knitting pouches.

The cool thing about the pattern is that I didn’t have the make any modifications.  It was so nice to have a pattern to follow and not make up my own.  The first pouch I did modify, and it didn’t felt well because I didn’t make it big enough.  But it still works fine.

After making the pouches and stuffing them with my felted balls of wool, I began to felt them again.  This time I think I have found how to felt successfully!

First, I boiled them for about 45 minutes.  They were just kind of sitting on the stove while I waited for the washing machine to be free.  After the boiling I was still waiting for the washing machine so I put them in the sink, rubbed them on a washboard and against each other.

When the washing machine was free, I put the balls in a mesh lingerie bag.  I ran a hot cycle, heavy soil level with a little bit of detergent.  After the wash cycle, I shut the machine off, and ran the cycle again.  When it was over, I had perfectly felted balls!  I did a little happy dance and had to show everyone in the house.

This was a lengthy process, but when I was felting the wool yarn balls it was a longer and much less successful process.  Most felting tutorials make it seem like felting is so fast and easy, but that has been anything but my experience.  So yes, it takes a long time.  But I rarely felt and when I do, I want my items to be felted perfectly.  So yay for finding out what works!!

The balls after following the Good Mama tutorial:

The balls after knitting the wool pouches for them but before the final felting:

And finally, my finished wool dryer balls!

I am really happy with the end result.  There have been absolutely no problems with them. 

We have not used fabric softener in years (not risking central nervous system damage for soft clothes!), but sometimes they can be a bit stiff and crusty.  These balls soften the fabric extremely well, especially towels and diapers.  And finally, I don’t know what’s better than making something yourself and having it improve your family’s quality of life!

If you’re interested in wool dryer balls and their benefits, this Etsy shop has the best information I can find.  It also has good information about adding scents to them too.

My Charlie’s Soap Story

If you’ve been reading my blog at all, specifically the posts about washing cloth diapers, then you will know that I have been a loyal Charlie’s Soap user for two years.

In my last post, I was talking about a Dawn dish soap buildup in my front loader that was taking a long time to go away.  I would wash diapers in the washing machine, then rinse them in the bathtub until the water ran clear.  This bathtub rinsing went on for just a few days when I noticed the diapers were no longer sudsy in the final rinse in the washing machine.  For the week of the Dawn suds and bathtub rinses, my diapers came out perfectly rinsed, clean and smelled fine when they had been peed in.

Shortly after the suds went away, the ammonia smell returned.  It wasn’t strong, and it wasn’t in every diaper.  Mostly just nighttime and nap diapers, or if we were out and he was in a PUL cover.  As soon as I smelled the ammonia again, I got a little upset.  I’ve gone through a lot in the past month or more to get my diapers perfectly clean, and they’re already smelly! 

Again, I tried changing my wash routine.  At this point, I feel I have tried everything except one: changing laundry detergents.  I’ve used Charlie’s Soap on all my clothes for the past two years.  I don’t want to change detergents.  It’s worked for us until we moved to our current home, so what’s different?

I know that Charlie’s Soap is controversial for cloth diapers.  Shortly after I started cloth diapering, I began seeing testimonials from parents talking about severe burns caused by Charlie’s.  I started reading about stink problems with it too.  I didn’t understand why all the negative feedback since I had personally experienced such happy results with it.  But now, we’re having stink issues too.

I am lucky enough to have a few cloth diaper shops in the area.  Yesterday I went to one before my appointment with the midwives.  I told the shop owner about my washing problems and everything I had gone through recently to get my diapers clean.  She patiently let me finish my dramatic story, then simply said, “We don’t recommend using Charlie’s Soap on your diapers.  It’s actually on our detergents to avoid list because of the burn reports from cloth diaper users.  Since it’s different from most detergents, it doesn’t clean diapers well enough.” 

I went in to the shop looking for a new detergent anyway so I wanted to know what she found worked best.  The nice thing about talking to someone who lives in your same area is that they have the same water conditions.  She recommended Country Save and said it was the best thing she’s ever tried. Being a cloth diaper shop owner, she’s tried everything.  I know about Country Save and have done research about it, so I was happy to buy some.  I was also interested in the Thristies Prewash and since she had some in her shop, I bought some too.

This morning I woke up kind of sad.  I don’t know why, but I think I have an emotional attachment to Charlie’s.  I don’t want to switch, but that’s what it’s come down to.  That’s really the only thing I can do shy of buying a new washing machine.  That doesn’t seem to be the answer since all the soap is rinsing out.  The diapers just aren’t getting clean enough.

I reflected back on my experiences with the soap.  About it being recommended by Green Mountain Diapers, how it was all the rage in the cloth diaper community two years ago, how I’ve used it successfully.  I used it in top loaders, laundromat machines, my hand crank washer… we’ve used it happily until we moved here.  So what is different?

The new front load washer, obviously.  But then I got thinking harder.  I originally bought Charlie’s at a Natural Foods Store in South Carolina.  It used to come in these little brown sacks, like lunch sacks.  Right before we moved from there, we saw that they were on clearance.  We bought all they had (something like 6 bags for $8 each).  We asked why they were on clearance and were told it’s because Charlie’s had come out with a new formula and they had to get all the old stuff off the shelf before they could put the new stuff up.  We were more than happy to take the old stuff off their hands.

This stash of clearance Charlie’s Soap lasted us until we moved to our current house.  We had been so happy with it that when we ran out, we ordered the 4 gal bucket from their website. 

As I was thinking back about this, it occurred to me that was exactly what was different!  We had been using Charlie’s old formula with no burns and no stinkies.  When we started using the new stuff, the diapers haven’t been getting clean enough!  It’s so simple now that I figured out what was happening.

Sorry Charlie – but it’s not working out and we have to switch.  I wish they never changed their formula. 

I’ll update with my results from new detergents.

Tying up loose ends

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 8

As for the current problem I’m facing (a buildup of Dawn in my washing machine that won’t go away), I have a plan.  It can’t stay in there forever, and until it goes away completely, I’m rinsing my diapers out in the bathtub after they’re finished in the washer.  It takes about 3 warm rinses to get all the soap out.  It’s really not that big of a deal and at least I’ve found a temporary fix that works.  I just hope that the Dawn goes away and that I haven’t ruined my washing machine.

As for the wipes solution: I may have found something that makes me happy.  Last night the three of us enjoyed some Chamomile tea before bed.  There was about a cup leftover in the teapot, so I put it in my wipes solution bottle and added a drop of Lavender Essential Oil.  It smells great, the Lavender EO is antibacterial so I think it’s better than just plain water.  There is no soap and oil in it so it rinsed clean this morning in the wash.  I know that essential oil can be a bit harsh, even when extremely diluted, so I’m keeping an eye out for any rashes or irritation.  I’ll definitely talk about it more if it becomes a problem.

I have 12 more diapers to make, 4 PUL diaper covers, and some recycled wool sweaters that have plans of becoming longies for the new baby.  I only have 2.5 months to finish all my projects for baby so I’m feeling a sense of urgency.  I hope I can get it all done.

I have really enjoyed writing about my recent adventures.  I got a little long winded in some posts, and maybe some of them didn’t make much sense.  I’m just happy to have a place to write down things I feel are important to me.

All this started with sewing two diaper covers for a friend.  It’s funny how a seemingly small act can change the trajectory or our lives, even just a little bit.  If I had never made them for her, who knows, I would probably just be ordering another two dozen prefolds and calling it good.  That would have been fine, but I wouldn’t have gained all these skills and experiences that may very well become a livelihood if ever needed. 

I also may have never figured out my washing machine, or might still have slightly stinky diapers.  I’m sure I was getting close to stripping them anyway, but I feel like because of this series of events, I learned a lot about washing diapers and just about laundry itself. 

I’m truly happy for this series of events even though it was almost unbearably frustrating at times.  That’s not to say that it’s over (I still have a crisis to deal with) but for now, this series of blog posts is coming to an end.  Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventures.

Dawn and Devesation

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 7

Today’s post is kind of a rant because the problem is still too fresh to be calm about it. 

A long time ago when I was new to cloth diapering, I had written a blog post talking about how cloth wipes was my favorite part of my diaper system.  The wipe solution recipe I mostly used was soft, luxurious, cleansed my baby’s bum perfectly and the Lavender Essential Oil was very therapeutic for me.  I was genuinely in love with it.  It was fine as long as I was using a top load washing machine, but as soon after switching to a front loader it stopped rinsing out.

When I eventually decided to separate the wipes, the diapers started rinsing out perfectly.  I was washing my wipes with rags.  Soon though, none of my rags were working anymore and they started stinking.  After washing them, I put them in the spin dryer and the wipes solution was not rinsing out.

Every single article, blog post, forum posting, ect. recommended using original Dawn to strip diapers.  Now, I would never never ever put that in my washing machine because it’s not designed for HE machines.  I tried soaking the used wipes in a sink full of warm water and a drop of Dawn.  Since it’s a degreaser, I hoped it would get all the oil out of the wipes before I sent them through the wash with the rags.  After soaking, I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed.  The Dawn wasn’t going away.  After about 4 sinkfuls of water, I decided to throw the wipes in the washer anyway.

Occasionally I would check the water by putting the rags in the spin dryer.  No wipes solution remained, but there were Dawn suds still.  So, I added an extra rinse cycle.  This went on for about a week.  Eventually I got sick of the hand stripping of the wipes and just went to plain water.  It was just easier that way, though it’s always hard to sacrifice something I love.

Friday was the worst day of laundry I may have ever experienced.  I was watching my diapers in the rise cycle and noticed MOUNTAINS of suds in there.  This was obviously not Charlie’s Soap because it doesn’t suds up like that.  This was clearly Dawn!  I rinsed the diapers 4 or more times and still, the suds were not completely gone.

After washing the diapers, my washer flashed the tub clean sign.  I ran a tub clean cycle, and MOUNTAINS of suds were filling the empty washer! I continued running tub clean cycles until I couldn’t see any more suds.  It was a total of 4 cycles.

My diapers started smelling slightly of ammonia again.  This time, I knew it was from the buildup of Dawn in my washer.  Saturday I was determined to strip my diapers.  After washing, I ran a hot wash, no soap.  Then I rinsed.  And rinsed, rinsed, rinsed and rinsed!  I probably rinsed a total of 10 or more times and I still could not get all the soap out.  I finally just gave up and put them in the dryer.  I hope that eventually the Dawn will wash out with regular cycles.

I’m so angry about this.  All these cloth diaper websites encourage people to put Dawn in their machines!  I did not ever put any in my machine, I was hand stripping oily wipes.  I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed before I even put them in the washer, and still, an insane buildup of Dawn resulted.  This problem has yet to resolve but I hope that it does soon.

Dealing with stankies

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 5

My past 4 posts have been about diaper sewing, so maybe my series of blog posts should have been called Adventures in Diaper Sewing.  This is the post where this series of events ties into just cloth diapers and daily life.

As I was making my bigger diapers, I would wash them and begin to incorporate them into my diaper stash.  It’s been really great to be able to not have to wait to try them out. 

I would grab my new diapers and use them first.  Immediately I noticed something.  They didn’t smell like anything when they were wet.  My prefolds?  They were really stinky when peed in.  So stinky, that my husband would say “I think he has poop.”  Then when he was immediately changed after that, we were surprised to find that he was just wet.

I have been lurking around in the Cloth Diaper Parents group on Ravelry.  There was a thread going at the time about someone’s diapers being so stinky they were ready to throw them away.  After she would wash them, they still had ammonia stink.  Nothing she was doing was working.  Soon followed suggestions for different ways to strip, switching detergents and wash routines.

I didn’t really feel like this was my problem because they always smelled really great after washing, so I didn’t think I needed to strip them.  I just thought (before adding the new diapers) that maybe my little guy’s pee was stinky.  After the new diapers though, I knew this wasn’t the case.  I found out in that thread that if your diapers smell like anything other than pee when they are wet, a good stripping is in order.

I started doing research and found out that you either need to strip diapers to get the detergent buildup out or add more detergent if they smelled swampy or like wet dog.  I resorted to my powers of observation… my smeller mostly. 

What did they smell like when they were wet?  (inhales deeply)  ummm…. beef jerky…. (inhales deeply)…. and slightly of ammonia.  Ok, first problem discovered: they had buildup. 

What did they smell like coming out of the wash? (inhales deeply) clean, sweet, lavender.     And what about out of the dryer?  (inhales deeply) sweet, lavender, almost like baking bread. 

At this point I absolutely panicked and ran to the computer.  If we had yeast living in the diapers then I knew we were in trouble.  Yeast doesn’t go away with a regular wash and can live in diapers and cause chronic yeast infections.  This isn’t a problem with disposable diapers because they are one time use and get chucked.

Upon research, I found a blog that suggested boiling diapers that have yeast living in them.  Boiling the diapers kills the bacteria and sanitizes them.  Upon more research, I decided that yeast was in fact, not residing in my diapers.  How do I know?  My little guy doesn’t have chronic yeast infections or even unexplained recurring diaper rash (duh!).  My diapers just smelled like baking bread for unexplained reasons.

Boiling is a very effective and quick method of stripping, so I decided to do it anyway.  Following the instructions from the blog post, I went for it.

Admittedly, boiling diapers sounds like a crazy person thing to do… especially being 7 months pregnant and less than graceful.  I don’t care, my prefolds have been in use for a good 18 months or more, been through a lot from living in 3 different climates; I felt a good sanitizing wouldn’t hurt them.

I have a really huge stockpot for canning so that made the process really speedy.  I was able to boil 10 at a time for 15 minutes so in less than an hour 3 dozen had been sanitized.  When I put the diapers in the boiling pot of water, immediately soap suds came to the surface and there was also a layer of oil.  The beef jerky smell filled our kitchen (yuck!).

After the boiling, I washed and dried them as usual.  I was excited to see the results and to use them after this.  The results?  Clean smelling diapers, and after being peed in, smelled like nothing or just ever so slightly of pee.  So my son’s pee does not smell of beef jerky.  I feel bad for ever thinking that. 

I didn’t want this to ever happen again so I needed to find the root of the problem.  When we moved here in December, we purchased a front load washer and dryer.  Front loaders have a bad reputation among the cloth diapering community. They are restrictive with the amount of water they let into the load, so washing out everything can sometimes be impossible.  I had been using them for 8 months at this point and truthfully, I should have stripped them a few months ago.  Anyway, the first suspect in stinky diapers was the front load washer.

Over the course of the following week, I went through different wash cycles to find out how to fix my problem.  I’ll spare you the details of some of my crazy and extensive wash trials, but I did try many different things.  By the time Sunday had come around and I was on my 7th wash trial, I had figured out exactly what was going on, and found a successful wash routine.

If after reading this you think you might need to strip your diapers, here’s a list of helpful sites so you can try different things to get your stankies out.

 http://www.zany-zebra.com/stripping-cloth-diapers.shtml

The blog with boiling instructions: http://mommawords.com/2011/07/31/treating-ammonia-build-up-in-cloth-diapers/

http://www.pootersdiapers.com/ammonia/

http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/the-importance-of-rinsing/

New Fluff!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 4

Warning: This post is long, rambly and full of self glorification.  If that kind of thing annoys you, you might want to skip it. 

First, I’m going to review the Rainy Days Pattern.  I chose this particular pattern because (as mentioned in a previous post) it is a 2 size pattern.  Size 1 fits babies 6-18 lbs and size 2 fits 15-35 pounds.  Between these two sizes you can get a child from birth to potty learning in well-fitting diapers. 

I don’t like one sized diapers.  At all.  They are enormous on newborns.  I like sized diapers, but if I were going to make 2 dozen in all 4 sizes… that’s a LOT of diaper sewing.  This pattern’s clever sizing really meets in the middle and literally cuts my work in half while still having well-fitting diapers.

The pattern is very clever and fantastically designed.  The insert (or “soaker” as it’s referred to in the pattern) snaps in, and is made in a petal style so you have the 3 layers of the body, and when the insert is snapped in you have 4 more layers of absorbency. They are only attached as 2 layers each so they wash out extremely well and dry quickly.  Fitted diapers are notoriously slow at drying.  This really helps that problem.  It’s hard to explain the petals so here’s a picture.

I love the sizing technique used.  I’ve been using prefolds with the Angel Wing fold, and when I need to size them down, I fold the excess to the front.  This pattern uses that same concept and it’s my favorite.  With my old one-sized pockets and Thirsties covers, the sizing ends up being bulky and weird.   I realize that’s because of the PUL and keeping them waterproof, but the point is I like this style of sizing best.

Newborn, Small, Medium, Large

The pattern uses a serged edge although it includes instructions for turning and topstitching.  I have a serger so I was intentionally looking for a pattern that incorporates it. 

The pattern has suggested fabrics and notions to use, and I followed it because I really wanted luxurious diapers. 

The inner layer (closest to baby’s skin) is bamboo velour.  This is the softest, most luxurious fabric I have ever felt.  I want to make diapers for myself with this!  Goodbye nighttime trips to the toilet (just kidding).

The middle layer is Hemp fleece.  Hemp is a fantastic natural fiber.  It is extremely absorbent and a very sustainable fabric choice.  More info here.  I have read that because hemp is a super absorbent fiber it can be prone to accumulating buildup (causing ammonia stink) so I’ve been carefully watching to make sure all my detergent rinses out.  So far so good.

The outer layer is cotton knit.  This is fun, any cute print you can find in cotton knit works.  I got really into this and spent more than I should have.

The elastic is 3/8″ Lastin.  This elastic is said to be able to last longer than your diapers, even with hot washes and drying them on hot!  Again, so far so good!

Bottom Line: The Rainy Days pattern is well written, well designed, and well worth the $8 I spent on it.  I did come across difficulties, but that’s me and not the pattern in any way.  I loved the pattern and recommend it to anyone interested in sewing their own fitted diapers.  However, I wish the pattern had included yardage requirements and how many diapers you can make with one yard. 

The combination of bamboo as the inner layer and hemp fleece as the under layer has been proven to be the best choice for diapers.  The bamboo wicks the wetness away (while still being absorbent) to the layer of hemp fleece that acts as a super soaker.  It does take several washes for hemp to reach maximum absorbency, but once it does, these diapers are bulletproof!

So, what have I ended up with?  TOP OF THE LINE HANDMADE DIAPERS!  (Ok, I’m pretty pleased with myself so this part might be annoying)  If you wanted to purchase diapers with the same quality materials, here are a few examples : Kiwi Pie,  The Good Mama, or any number of Etsy shops that sell them handmade.  This style of diaper ranges in price from $24-35 USD per diaper!  And they also need a cover.  How many you would buy varies, but keeping in mind that you need at least 2 dozen total diapers, exclusively buying this style of diaper ready-made is a huge investment.  But you would have the nicest, most luxurious diapers money could buy.

My diapers were not cheap to make.  They were somewhat difficult for me to make and I wouldn’t sell them due to a few imperfections (I would only sell them if I felt they were perfect).  I was over-indulgent but this time around we have money to spare and I want the best for both my children and the environment.  How much did they cost?  Size 1 were about $8 a piece and Size 2 about $11. 

By sewing my own I saved approximately $1224 USD (figuring I had gone with Good Mama). 

Yep!  So there you have it, I am extremely pleased with myself!  Not only do I have the most luxurious diapers in my stash and waiting for the new baby, but I learned and nearly perfected a new set of sewing skills.  I really gained a lot with this project, so I feel I have every right to be proud and excited. 

Alright, enough of the self-glorification.  If you’re even still reading (this is a really long post) then now is the time where I review the diapers.

I am strictly comparing them to my prefold diapers, not to other fitteds or any other type of diaper.  I have been using them so much that I now only use the prefolds at nighttime when we need an extra diaper.  In just about every way (ease of use, convenience, taking them out of the house, the boy’s comfort, quality of fabrics) they are far superior.  There are a few disadvantages when they are compared to the prefolds.

Poo is harder to spray off into the toilet (true of any diaper with elastic)

They take longer to dry (again… any diaper with elastic)

They’re much more expensive and most likely won’t last as long (however, my prefolds are Indian Cotton which are said to have a shorter life expectancy anyway).

I feel these disadvantages are a small thing and when compared with the ways they are superior to the prefolds.  I think one of the best parts is getting rid of the Snappi.  Now everyone is comfortable changing diapers since they are so easy to use, and when Little Man pulls off his diaper covers no one is in danger of getting Snappied to him.  Ultimately, they are everything I was hoping for and I’m happy with them and I love to use them! 

I will have to update in several months to say how they’re holding up and how I still like them because time changes everything.  For now, I’m happy and satisfied with the diapers I have made for my children.

new size 2 dipes!

Diaper Sewing Supplies

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 3

About a week after making my diaper supply order, everything had arrived.  By this time, I had become completely obsessed with my project, cloth diapers, and sewing.

My order from the website, Diaper Sewing Supplies included:

Bamboo Velour (bamboo viscose and organic cotton blend)

Hemp Fleece (hemp and organic cotton blend)

3/8″ Lastin clear elastic

size 20 poly-resin snaps

KAM snap pliers

All to make 48 diapers and their inserts.

I had also ordered more poly-resin snaps and foldover elastic to make a few PUL covers.

I also made a purchase from fabric.com for serger thread, ball point needles, and a few yards of clearance knit fabric (both for diapers and to stash since knits are my favorite). So aside from a few yards of knit fabric, I was ready to start my project.

I first made a sample diaper out of scrap flannel and terry cloth.  It went well, but using a 3 step zig zag to install the elastic was hard.  It didn’t stretch at all (I found out later this was because of the terry fabric).  I decided to continue with my good fabric anyway because I knew I could install the elastic with just a casing.

sample diaper, after many washes

This worked for a few diapers, but once I got to serging some of them, the elastic popped out!  It’s so frustrating to pick out a serged edge.  I decided to work with the 3 step zig zag as the pattern had instructed.  Eventually, I found a hybrid method that works perfectly and it combined a casing with the zig zag and none of my elastic have popped out since installing them this way.

So, I had figured out my elastic problem.  Now, my serging was looking kind of bad in the curves.  There was quite a bit of looping.  It didn’t appear to be affecting the quality of the diaper thankfully.

I took a break from diaper sewing to do research and practice.  I consulted my serging book and it said serging around curves is hard.  It just takes slow, steady stitching and a skilled eye to watch the cutter.  That didn’t really help since I seriously lack serging skills.  So, practice I must!

Eventually, I got it down.  I made all the inserts because they were easier to work with than the actual body of the diaper.  I can’t say at this point that my diapers serged edge look good enough to sell, but they are good enough for me.  At any point they had never not sealed the edge of the fabric (ok, maybe a few needed re-serging) just a little bit of extra thread was hanging off the edge on the inside of the curves.

Anyway, the point of all this rambling about my sewing problems is to say that I’m so happy I was able to work through them.  I feel like my skills have drastically improved.  I feared elastic before this and avoided it at all cost.  Now, I’m good at it. My serger is still new and I’m brand new to serging.  I feel pretty great to have conquered my sewing battles.

I made the first 8 in one weekend.  They are size 2 so I could start using them right away.  These 8 are kind of rough around the edges, but after about a month are holding up like champions. 

After making them, I had run out of gender neutral knits so I purchased the cutest fabric from an Etsy shop (LilBabyThangs).  While I waited for this order to arrive, I made a dozen in size 1 with the knit fabric from my Fabric.com purchase.

It’s taken me a month to make 3 dozen.  After finishing the size 2 diapers, I am resting for a few days from this project and cleaning up my neglected house and blogging my thoughts before they disappear.  So for now, I have 2 dozen of my homemade fitted diapers currently in use.  How do I like them?  Well, that’s a blog post for tomorrow!

Decisions, Decisions

Adventures in Cloth Diapering Part 2

I had now made the decision to make the new baby’s diapers.  First decision made, phew!

Just kidding.  You know how when you’re new to cloth diapers and you begin research, it’s all so overwhelming?  What kind of diapers should you get?  How many? Wool or PUL covers?  What is the best detergent to wash with?  What’s the best way to wash?  What do I do when they begin to stink?  How do I store dirty diapers?  And the list of questions goes on. 

Being a beginner to cloth diapers is overwhelming, to say the least.  So, you’ve discovered cloth diapers and the whole world of possibilities that comes with them.  Did you know there’s an underground world of diaper sewing?  And I thought being a beginner at cloth diapers was too much!

Now I’m faced with these questions: What kind of diapers should I make?  What pattern is the best?  Where can I find reliable, high quality materials?  What kind of elastic can hold up to years of hot washes?  Can I use a certain type of fabric?  What fabrics or supplies should I avoid? Turn and Topstitch or serge?  And the questions keep coming.

I’m actually not a complete newb to diaper sewing.  2 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first, I tried my hand at sewing a few diapers.  However, I didn’t know the basics of cloth diapering and I was using supplies I had bought at Hobby Lobby.  And to make things worse, I was using a sewing machine that was not reliable.  They were fitted diapers made of flannel that were turned and topstitched.  Hobby Lobby quality elastic is not made for use with cloth diapers and hot washes.  My elastics popped out with the first wash.  Not only that, but since they were not serged, the flannel frayed immediately and I had to throw them out before my baby was even born.  I was devastated, and kind of had a sour feeling towards diaper sewing all together.

first attempt at diaper sewing

Now I have 21 months of cloth diapering behind me, and the bad experience with sewing my own diapers.  Thankfully I felt that I could make educated decisions about my diaper sewing.

I searched the web for diaper sewing supplies and found so many websites where I could buy commercial quality cloth diaper sewing supplies.  These websites made it easy to research what kind of elastic, snaps, and fabrics to use.  Not only that, but they all had directories to sewing patterns.

After extensive and obsessive research, I chose the Rainy Days Pattern.  It’s a 2 sized fitted diaper.  I personally don’t believe in a one-sized diaper and I also don’t want to make mass amounts of sized diapers.  This pattern appealed to me so much for this reason.

I bought the pattern, did some calculations, and using the pattern as a guide, chose my fabrics.  I’m now ready to order.

Wait.  I would really like to use these diapers now.  I have a toddler in diapers… wouldn’t he enjoy these luxurious diapers too? 

For the 21 months he’s been in diapers, I have been almost exclusively using prefolds, snappies and wool covers.  For the first year, the snappies were wonderful.  Once he started walking, running, and climbing, they have become a huge problem.  My little guy likes to pull off his longies and run around.  The snappies get stuck to the couch, the dogs, our clothes and skin. 

I love prefolds.  They have huge advantages over any other type of diaper.  Since that’s all I’ve been using, I’ve been the only one changing diapers.  The reason?  Snappies!  Dads and Grandma’s have found them intimidating and have left the diaper changing to me.  So far that hasn’t been a problem or bothered me, but what are we going to do when we have a new baby?  I can’t change both of their diapers all of the time.  When we have people visiting to help, I would actually like them to help. 

Making new diapers with snap closures for both children was a fantastic solution to all these problems.

The plan is to make 4 dozen fitted diapers, 2 dozen in each size.  My toddler has about 6 more months in diapers and the new baby can grow into the bigger sizes so this plan is a winner all the way around.

I made my order and waited anxiously for my supplies to arrive.