Diaper Kit

Monique has been making newborn size diapers from a disposable she traced out for a pattern.

I got some mail form her today that included a "diaper making kit" from this pattern she's devised. All the bits for the diaper came in a little bag.

The letter made laugh. Monique was explaining how she wanted to make up for a scary dress kit she sent earlier so this kit was practically made for me. Everything cut out to size. Edges pre-serged to prevent frays. Hald the velcro already attached. She's so funny! :)

Even down to marking the elastic points and the soaker placement with black pen.

I put it together in about 20 minutes after I nursed Julia and gother down for the night. Other than the fact that my spool of thread turned out to be snarly in the middle and it kept breaking, it was a breeze. Everything Monique wanted it to be when she made the kit -- a simple, enjoyable project that could be finished in one sitting.

Monique also sent a completed diaper as a gift/model so I could see where the kit was heading. Mine is on the left and hers is on the right. I got a bit confused with the slanted tabs she's doing so I took off the loop tape she'd pre-fastened for me and then attached it higher on the diaper so it was more like the diapers I'm used to making for Julia.

I'm not sure what I did wrong so my tabs were not diagonal... I have to consult with her over email. But anyway... that's two newborn size diapers for kid #2 done.

Somewhere between 10 and 22 to go! :)

Period Panties

Felt like sewing after late nursing the kid, but didn't want to do anything long or involved. 3:30 AM and all.

So I decided to work on period panties for Monique for this month's swap. (Strange as it sounds, we make and trade cloth menstrual pads once a month. Uses up scraps and there's the surprise of the fabric pattern to look forward to.)

We'd discussed the idea of "built in pads" before, I just hadn't gotten around to trying to implement it.

Same idea as adapting Julia's panties into training pants though. Buy existing panties, preshrink in the wash, dry, then slap a soaker in there. At least with Monique's I don't have to take in waist and sides before getting on with the soaker though. The smallest kid panty is 2T (24 mos) and I've got a 1T (12 mos) kid!

Monique said she wanted fuller coverage in the back for when she's laying down asleep. I agree. Nobody likes back leaks!

After fiddling around with the panties and some paper, here's the shape I came up with for the soaker:

Sort of a "Y" fan shape.

I cut three of these from sherpa terry, straight stitched all around to hold them together, then zig-zagged all around to prevent unravelling, and that was it. Soaker made.

Next was attaching it to the panty. So I pinned it in place, then straight-stitched around. Done. Here it is inside the panty:

I'm pleased with it overall but I noticed some puckers.

Nothing that affects the functionality of the panty for periods, but interesting to me to note for sewing accuracy.

I'd used a universal needle since I don't have any stretch ones and I think before I make the next period panty I'll pick up some stretch needles to help minimize this.

Here's the completed panty from the front:

And the back:

I'll have to wait for Monique to get it in the mail for fit and flow feedback because I've not made me one yet.

Training Panties

So now that Monique's diapers are done, I've been mulling over a seamless or near seamless fleece training panty. It's a good thing I like math. Otherwise the topography would drive me crazy rather than being an enjoyable challenge. Why else am I still awake at 5 AM when I have to get up for church at 9 AM?!

Can't share what's going on there in detail yet though. Camera batteries need charging and I need to work it out uninterrupted first. Plot my steps carefully. Make notes. Work out issues. Otherwise stopping every so often to take a photo for my blog is just a distraction and ruins my concentration.

Let's just say "Operation Orange Panty" is in progress and my kitchen counters bear the evidence -- threads, pins, scissors, fabric bits, paper, compass, T-square... crazy.

Adapting existing panties though... that was a snap.

Julia went almost 24 hrs totally dry yesterdy -- even with going out to 4 or 5 places today with errands. The only accident was at home in the crib. Neither of us was there to see her cue and she's not esp. vocal. She solves her own "I'm in my crib and I can't reach the potty. " problem by quietly peeing in the diaper and then undressing and tossing it out of the crib. It has yet to occur to her to yell "Up! Up!" or something to alert us. Miss Independent just fixes it herself!

Even for poo today she cued me that she wanted to go so we went.

The day before? Only two accidents -- another "I'm in my crib and can't get to the potty" thing and then another where she was cueing only I was too dense to realize it because I was on the phone talking and not paying clsoe enough attention to what she was trying to tell me.

Paul and I discussed trusting her outside the home in panties, but only if I added a soaker pad to them. He's willing trust her with no cover, but not panties alone. I'm on the fence as to soaker in the panty or panty alone, so I'll go with a soaker for now and we can see how it works out.

We have already got a bunch of Hanes brand 2T panties that I preshrunk and then scaled down to her size (12 mos) by rolling the elastic down twice and then tacking it down so it would not unroll.

So adding a soaker involved tracing a panty out to make a template, takgin it in, then using the template to cut out some fabric for the soaker, and then just straight seaming it into the panty by sewing across the top edge and the bottom edge of the soaker. I didn't bother sewing the sides -- just top and bottom anchor in it.

Here's the template.

Trimmer fit than a diaper and certainly narrower in the crotch but since she is staying so dry it's really just to minimize an accident rather than full on containment like a diaper.

I'll try to get her to model when she's awake and after trying it out a few times I can see if I can reduce the soaker template further.

Even though I'm not esp. keen on the seam showing, it will work in a pinch, and it's cheap to make. Certainly no different than any other training pant I've seem with seams showing. If I bought them I still would have to be taking them in.

6:45 AM

Finished the fleece panty! Tada!

And I sorted out the the topography so it is almost seamless -- just the waist is tucked in. I like the look of it, but from a practical standpoint, best to have the legs tucked in as well -- for leak protection. So when I get around to the second prototype I have to take that into consideration and mess with the pattern I made up some more.

Here's the inside:

Here it is on Julia. She was busy rolling around onthe bed wrestling the duck.

I forgot to take into account how plush fleece can be so it fits her snugger than I'd like and no growing room at all. Next prototype has to be scaled up for that. But I'mpleased I got it in the ball park at least!

She had no comments.

Frog Assembly Line

February 21, 2005

Julia still fits in her mediums but it won't be long before she outgrows them and I want to have the larges ready for her. So since I have to take a break from my other work in progress, I decided to get set up for a batch of large.

Several weeks ago I took my medium size pattern I'd drawn on Pattern-Ease to Kinko's and had it scaled up to large size. Then some tweaking on the copies and then I traced it out on a fresh piece of Pattern-Ease. I have to do the same later to scale down to small size so I have S, M, and L. I doubt we'll need XL -- she's doing very good on the potty training front.

So this afternoon we went fabric shopping and I asked Paul to pick out a flannel that would go with marigold microfleece for a batch of large diapers for Julia. He selected one with large frog heads and the words "Hip Hop" on a dusty blue background.

The person who cut my fabric at the store said it was cute and asked what I was making and then looked very surprised when I said "Cloth diapers." She was young -- college student age.

"Would you have to put some kind of lining on it?" she wondered.

"Sure... this is just the outside layer." I pulled a breakfast print one out of my bag and showed it to her. "See, outside here. Inside is fleecey soft."

"Wow -- you made that?"

"Yes. I enjoy making them for my daughter. There's also no return on disposables -- cloth you can hand down to the next kid and then sell when you are done. Plus they are cuter... I think these frogs will work out nicely."

"Sure are cuter... all that white must get boring too, " she said as she thought it over. Then she asked me about Julia and how old she was and so on.

But it amused me to see her reaction... Yes! There are still people who cloth diaper! And YES! Cloth diapers have come a long way!

Monique asked me a while back how I lay out my diapers to be efficient about the fabric so here's a layout shot before I finish cutting up all my pieces. I like working six at a time, so two yards is the sweet spot for me with the large size of the JuliaDiaper pattern I've evolved although it takes some careful cutting. 2 1/4 yard if you aren't careful cutting and/or suspect mega-shrinking.

I get two yards of print flannel and two yards of solid. Solid is cheaper than print and since it is the hidden layer, there's no point spending money on print for that layer. But you can recycle other flannel items like nightgowns, shirts, or sheets for this hidden layer. I've run out of recycle-able flannel at my house so I had to get new white. The flannel comes in 45" wide bolts.

Malden Mills 100 wt. fleece comes in 60" wide and that's just peachy. Because the leftover 15 inches? That's plenty to make the fleece top layer for doubler pads.

I wash and dry the new fabric to preshrink it, then I fold it in half neatly lengthwise. Then I cut out the pattern 3 times. Each cut gives me two diaper parts. Whatever little is left I save for cloth sanitary napkins, nursing pads, or experiments.

Turquoise Cat Diaper

Apart from working on surprise diapers, I knocked up a quickie for Julia last night. After feeling frustrated with the other ones I wanted to do one I knew I could do well -- my own design. Made so many of these now that I can make them without thinking. Very relaxing.

Anyway... the front of the diaper:

The back of the diaper:

The inside of the diaper:

The usual construction -- flannel outer, hidden flanner middle securing a 3 layer sherpa terry pad, then a microfleece inside. The outside flannel is Laurel Burch's "Fantastic Felines: Kitty Faces" in turquoise. The hidden layer is a recycled receiving blanket. The inside is Maldem Mills 100 wt fleece in marigold.

It came together very quickly and easily excpet for the rounded corner tabs. They work, but they are not as neat as I'd like. I need more practice.

I also have to make the doubler pad sometime today to go with it. I didn't do it last night because Julai woke up wanting to nurse at by that point, I called it quits for the night.

2/17/05

Got Julia to hold still somewhat by letting her play with the cordless phone. Here's my lean legged baby in her new diaper from the front. Nice, neat fit.

A back view while she tastes the phone:

3/4 view while she fiddles turning the phone on and off to hear the beeps:

I like her in happy prints -- I'm already growing quite fond of this one. I'm going to make one more in medium since I have the pieces cut out already and then just move on to the large size. She's growing like crazy.

Pink Diaper Kit

A little bit ago Monique made me a "diaper kit" with all the pieces and notions and things cut out and ready to go and packaged up with mini directions. She said she liked the one I sent her so much she wanted to make me one.

I finally had the chance to sew it tonight. It's meant to be a training pant so only 2 layers of fleece and no soaker pad inside. More "Velcro panties" than "full diaper" type. The only suggestion I gave Monique was to think about 3/8" elastic for medium sized and larger because 1/4" is best for extra small and small.

Here is how it turned out from the front:

Monique says it is Joann's microfleece but we're not too sure who makes it or what. It's not wicking.

Julia snatches it off the sofa to inspect it. She's at the "If you have it, I want it!" stage.

Having a snack while modeling the diaper:

Similar it to the blue one, and if I want to use with with a doubler laid inside I can or I can just leave it plain.

Now I can tackle the "dress kit" she sent me. :)

Cat Diaper Assembly Line

Feb 10, 2005

Last night was a preparation kind of night.

I washed and dried all my new fabrics -- 2 yards of 2 types of flannel, enough sherpa terry to diaper the planet, 4 yards of microfleece.

I traced out the newborn (extra small) size of the HoneyBoy pattern on to pattern-ease tracing paper and cut it out. It is supposedly for 6-12 lbs. I'll see how it looks once completed. The small size is for 8-16 lbs, and while Julia was 9 lb 5 oz at birth and could have just skipped up to the small, who knows how much Monique's first baby will weigh when it arrives. Better to err on the side of caution.

Then I used these pattern pieces to cut out 6 tabs and accompanying fusible interfacing for the tabs, 12 rectangles for sherpa terry soakers stacked 3 layers deep so 4 soakers pads, 4 flannel inners, 4 hidden flannels where the soakers will attach (made of recycled hospital receiving blanket), and 4 fleece outers.

I'm actually making six diapers in total, but I got tired of cutting so I still have some pieces yet to cut out before I'm done setting up my assembly line.

They are for my friend Monique because she's a cat fancier and she's working up her diaper stash. I decided to help her and have this be my baby shower type gift to her even if it comes in installments rather than at an actual shower.

I'll also be making some for us down the road once I see the print I want. I'm trying to locate dinosaurs for Paul. We'd like to just cloth diaper number two from the get go now that we've had more experience with Julia. Since I like fitteds better than prefold for travel, have to work up a stash for that.

Details about the fabrics I'm using?

The outside is going to be 200wt Malden Mills orange fleece. I'm not going to bother reinforcing the 200 wt like I did with Julia's mediums. I'm also not going to make a 3 layer wicking doubler. I'm doing a three layer hidden soaker and most likely doubler that is just wicking fleece + 1 layer sherpa. Ought to be plenty for a newborn esp. when Julia often is fine with just a 3 layer soaker and no doubler at home and she's an older baby.

The inside is flannel in Laurel Burch's "Fantastic Felines Flowers and Cats" in the bright colors design. Paul agrees with me that this particular flannel has a nap that feels more velvet than flannel. Linty -- so a few rounds in the wash ought to clear that problem up.

This combination is growing on me even though I'm not a cat person. I really hope she likes it.

I'm waiting for my 1" Aplix to arrive so I can get on with it. Will probably finish cutting out tonight and see if I can get the soaker pads made and attached to the hidden flannel.

Feb. 14, 2005

Soaker pads done.

But argh! I've made two complete diapers so far and it is HARD sewing such tiny things.

I'm starting to think I need to get a "Big Foot" presser foot to give me more surface area to hold the fabric down. With a bigger size I have some fabric overhang to hold and help guide but with this small a diaper... argh!

I also think that the suggested 1/4" elastic is crap... 3/8" is better because even though these things are small, the bulk of the fabric still merits a stronger elastic. So no more 1/4" elastic!

So two down... four to go. It will be interesting to see how I progress in craftmanship as I work down the assembly line. I can't take apart the ones I've already made because I use a satin stitch for the Aplix. I could undo them, but with all the tiny holes... and then to sew it on again... I think that would stress the fabric more than I want and lead to disintegrating in the laundry.

Lumpy, weird, and crooked won't much matter. So long as it works as a diaper, we're still good. And if Monique later tells me that they stink on an actual baby... trash. I can make more.

Feb 19, 2005

Got my 1" Aplix today so I got to put tabs on the second diaper and then did a third diaper. I took pictures of #1 and #3 and already there's improvements but I still want to get a different presser foot for more grip.

The photos are a bit dark because it is night time, but the order is always #1 diaper above #3 diaper until the last picture.

Here are the diaper fronts.

#1 is sort of spread out and skewed a bit... #3 has a much neater shape with the leg casings rolling in and the narrower crotch.

Here are the backs:

The leg casings of #1 pooch out instead of tucking in like #3. See the nicer butt shape?

The sides:

See how nicely tucked #3's leg casings are? I still think #1 will do as a house diaper but as a travel diaper it's going to need another cover for back-up. #3 is most likely travel worthy by itself. The real test comes when putting it on a real baby.

The tabs:

These awful tabs... they are about 1 inch by 2 inches and the very devil to sew right when the presser foot covers half of it at a time! How can anyone see to sew?! So my corners are not lined up but offset.

#1's came out uneven and #3... well... the satin stitch came out weirder than the first.

They are functional though, so that's a plus.

I put two size "S" tags on each to mark them as "extra small" because I do not have "XS" tags. I've made so many of these I'm glad I started tagging them by size so I can tell what's what at a glance. I'm going to start tagging doubler pads too.

Inside the diapers:

#1 does not look very hour-glassy and the leg casings do not roll inward like in #3. Rolling in means the water resistant fleece will keep pee from leaking out. So #1, while usable, may need another cover on top of it if traveling in it. Which defeats the point of using water resistant fleece on the outside of it. But hey... practice makes better if not perfect.

Rolled leg close-up.

#3's curl inward to show some fleece. The leg casings are done so that the outer fleece is longer than the inner print so when the two are sewn, it will curl in that area and make the rolled edge as a pee barrier.

Aplix loop part from front:

#1 got 1.5" Aplix because that's what I had on hand at the time but it doesn't look as nice on this size diaper as 1" does. So I switched to that for #3. Regardless of the width, both were hard to attach. Very slippery and hard to see on such a tiny diaper. So while both are functional, they could stand some straightening up. #3 comes closer to being straight... #1 -- wow! What a skew!

Aplix loop part from the back. This time #3 is on top.

I asked Monique if she prefered more leak proof legs and Aplix seams showing inside the diaper or "no show seams" and so-so legs because I can't yet figure out how to get leak-proof legs AND no show seams. She picked better legs so that's the way I went with diaper #3.

I like the uninterrupted look of no-show seams though and I managed to do it with some of Julia's later HB's. I kick myself for not making notes on it here but I'll take it slower on the next diaper and see how I manage. At least I know the legs will be better.

February 22, 2005

Just finisehd #4 I've gotten all my problems sorted out! Now I can concentrate on an improvement over the pattern -- a "no show" seam on the loop Aplix side.

But I get ahead of myself. Here is the front of #4 all symmetrical:

Here is the back all neat:

From the side you see the leg casings curling in properly.

The outside view shows equally sized tabs and a straight Aplix loop line with two tags.

The inside is also even.

See the legs curling in on the inside? Hooray!

There. A HoneyBoy diaper as it should be.

I changed to a fresh sharp needle and sewed a lot slower than my normal. That pretty much solved most of the tiny construction issues.

The tabs? Those I cut out according to pattern, used a lighter weight fusible web interfacing and then instead of slighty overlapping when folding and ironing them, I had them meet in the center so I'd get slightly larger tabs than called for. That gave me an extra 1/8" all around and that way I could hold the tab better when applying the hook part of the Aplix. A wee bit off on the tension because they are not smoothy smooth, but at least they are straighter and making sharper corners.

The other side of the tab is here... much, much better!

My problems with the loop side getting skewed as I sewed were solved with fabric glue. It comes in a stick like any other glue stick or lipstick. I marked the center of the tape with pencil, glued the size tags on either side of it, then I glued the strip to the fleece. Let it dry for a while and when I came back to sew it it stayed on.

I'd tried pins but the thickness was impossible. I tried mini clothespins, but they didn't have enough grip.

So fabric glue was definitely the way to go and the result is a strip that is even with the top of the diaper:

Julia is asleep since it's 2 AM here. (That's also why the pix are dark). She is also too old and too big to model a diaper made for a 6-12 lb newborn. So here's one of her dinosaurs as a model. To give a sense of scale.. those fastener tabs? They are 1 inch tall and 1.5 inches wide. Tiny, tiny sewing!

February 24, 2005

#5 done, but I broke a needle while sewing! Gadnnabit! Tension at 3 works best for the loop side of the Aplix but I'm still figuring out the sweet spot for the hook side.

Got all 6 doublers done and experimented with where I wanted to place the size tag. I did only one size tag though... forgot two put TWO small tags on them. But you can tell by feel they are lightweight. I'm too lazy now to rip the seams just to stick another tag on neatly. Maybe Monique can Sharpie marker an "X" on them so she knows those are for the XS diapers?

#6 done without a hitch. Absolutely smooth sailing for that one. Good thing too because Julia woke up from her nap and started getting underfoot.

She came into the kitchen to watch me trying to pack the box of diapers.

Not that they stayed nicely packed for long.

I've got one curious kid! Or maybe I mean nosy?

Julia undid the tabs from every diaper and then started flinging the doublers around. I neglected to photograph those separately but you see them as the yellow rectangles. Coordinates ok with the orange.

Found the other cover I'm mailing and started shaking it about while hooting with joy.

That's a "Yippee!" kind of face if I every saw one. :)

Sheet dress

Monique sent Julia a little dress she made from a recycled sheet. It's the same in pattern as the other dress but cut shorter so Julia doesn't get caught up in the length. I think this length suits her better -- for crawling, walking, and lifting up to undo her diapers to potty. More freedom of movement.

Here she is from the front:

Here she is from the back:

Unfortunately my good camera's batteries are charging so these are with the cheapie and it doesn't do close-ups well at all. So no detail shots.

Monique is experimenting with binding the bodice to the skirt with a sort of bias tape type edge and then the sides are pinked to discourage fraying. I told her I'd let her know how it works out on the laundry front.

Thank, Monique! :)