Zebra Stripes

For those days when we're feelin' a little wild!!

Folded down to fit Audrey.

I love it!!!

New dipe and wipes

Jeff got me a rotary cutter and mat for Christmas, per my request. I have been having so much fun with it! I made a new cover for Audrey, as well as this adorable new diaper.


It's so much faster and easier to cut out and pin together diapers/covers with the rotary cutter! I only have to trace the pattern once, and it takes about a minute to cut out both layers of fabric at the same time.

I also made 60 wipes the other day. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to cut them all out if I hadn't been using the rotary cutter! Since I made these with scraps of flannel, I didn't make them all uniform, I varied the size and shape based on the size and shape of each scrap. Here are some of the wipes, we're already using them instead of disposables, so there are several in the wash at the moment.


Also, finally getting around to posting the picture of Audrey modeling the cover I made her for Christmas.


Baby's screaming to be fed, so gotta go! :-)

Fluffy Christmas

This is Audrey's Christmas present, a pretty new fleece cover. I started it a couple days ago, using fleece from my mom (I really love this purple plaid!!), and finally finished it tonight, just in time to wrap it up and put it under the tree. I used the Rita's Rump cover pattern. Lately I've been putting Audrey in her prefolds at night, because they're really absorbent. But that also means they're really bulky. I've found that the RRC covers the prefolds better than the Katrina's soaker pattern, even though I still love using those. So I'd like to have at least a couple RRCs for putting over her prefolds. And it doesn't hurt that they're just so cute!

Cute Girly Diapers

Here are the pocket diapers I've made so far with the flannel from my mom. The pink flowery one was extra fun to make - the fabric was in three strips, and all three were too small to make a diaper with. But I loved the fabric, so I sewed the strips together into one big piece, and cut the pattern out of that! It worked great, and the diaper turned out super cute. It's awesome that these diapers are one-size, because they fit Audrey right now with the back folded down, and they'll keep fitting her all the way until she potty trains (this is the same pattern I used for the diapers that Thomas wears, and he's 2).

Still haven't stripped the fabric softener from the rest of the flannel, we had a busy day today. I'll do it soon though, and then I get to sew some more! :-)

New fabric! (and new soakers)

Mom sent me lots of fleece and flannel that she didn't need. It was so fun to go through all the fun fabrics and dream about the diapers, covers, and wipes that I'll be able to make! I've already made three RRPs for Audrey, but haven't taken pictures of them yet. Today I made a couple new soakers - one for Audrey using fleece from Mom and one for Thomas using fleece I already had. Yeah, guess which cover goes to which kid...


It's so fun to have two in diapers, a boy and a girl, because I can do all sorts of patterns and colors. I'm not limited to only girl things or only boy things. I can do some of each and some gender neutral, whatever I want!

Most of the flannel Mom sent needs to be stripped before I can use it - it's got fabric softener so it repels water. I'll probably take care of that tomorrow. Then the real fun begins!

Pics

Here's the nighttime cover I made. It worked great last night - I was able to stuff the RRP nice and thick, and when Thomas woke up he was completely dry, despite his diaper being very wet.


I got this fleece from the clearance section at Wal-Mart. I wouldn't have chosen this print otherwise, it's not really my style. But I do think that the cover turned out pretty cute. It's solid green on the inside, and I think that it's cute to have the wolf face on the bum. I'll probably make another cover just like this one, so I can have one in the wash and one for wear if necessary.

And here's the latest newborn fitted, made from scraps I found lying around.

Nighttime cover

I made a new diaper cover for Thomas today (I'll take pictures later and post them, I like how it turned out). I want to start having him wear cloth overnight, and needed a special cover for that. I made this one bigger, so I can stuff the pocket diaper more, and with an extra layer in the wet zone for added protection. He's wearing it tonight with a super-stuffed RRP. We'll see how it holds up to his nighttime wetting. If it worked I'll make another one the same way. If not, I'll try something else.

I really want to be able to have the kids in cloth full time, including at night. For Thomas that means super absorbency. For Audrey, that means more diapers - I only have 14 newborn fitteds (including one I just made today), and the prefolds don't really fit her very well yet. So I'd like to make several more fitted diapers for her so that I can have her in cloth all the time without having to wash every day.

We did make some progress today as my confidence in my cloth diapers increases - we went shopping and I left both Thomas and Audrey in cloth instead of changing them to disposables. The diapers held up well, no leaks or anything. I'll start having them wear cloth on our outtings more often.

Update

Well, it's definitely taking some time to adjust to cloth diapers. I do have to change the diapers more frequently than I did with sposies, and that's taking some getting used to. We've had several compression leaks simply because of not changing the diapers in time. And I still put the kids in disposable diapers at night. But overall, things are going well. I am slowly adjusting to the cloth, and having to change the diapers more often. I also figured out a slightly better way to put on Thomas' fleece cover to make sure it doesn't leak out the front and get the waistband of his pants all wet (that was a problem for a while).

I made a new diaper today, my first since before Audrey was born. I found a small scrap of tie-dye fabric that I thought would make a really cute newborn fitted, so I cut it out and sewed it up this morning. I think it's one of the cutest diapers I've made so far! Definitely the most colorful.


I am in the process of making another diaper for her, using a scrap of blue and white striped fabric. It's fun to use scraps, I can make cute and useful diapers for practically free!

I'm also planning on making a few new covers for Thomas. We're almost out of disposable diapers to put on him at night, and I don't want to buy another box. So I'm going to experiment making a nighttime cover. I want it to be similar to the Rita's Rump covers that we already have, but with a couple changes - I'll make it larger so that it will cover a double- or triple-stuffed pocket, and I want to try it with fleece on the inside and tablecloth fabric on the outside. I have a tablecloth that we no longer use and it's water repellent. I'll make one cover and see how it holds up. If it works well, I'll make a few more and we can start putting Thomas in cloth overnight. I hope it works!

The kids are in cloth!

I put Thomas and Audrey in cloth for the first time yesterday. It went so well! Both kids initiated their first cloth with poopies, and the diapers held up just fine. I am in awe of the fleece covers - even when the diapers were soaked through, the fleece wasn't even wet, and you couldn't even smell anything on them! Hooray!

Thomas did have one leak in the evening, we didn't change him soon enough and he got a compression leak through the fleece. But as long as we change the diapers in a timely manner, they work perfectly.

Too nervous to go all night in cloth, we put them back in disposable for overnight. But as I get my confidence up, we'll start CDing at night as well. I have them back in their cute little cloth diapers this morning, and am looking forward to another day of watching all my hard work in action!

Almost Go Time!

Audrey was born this past Saturday, and I'm so excited to get to put her in cloth diapers! I finally got up the energy to start getting the diapers prepped. Since I made them out of thrift store sheets, some of them had been washed with fabric softener, which makes them repel water instead of absorbing it. So I went through all the diapers with a little water bottle (okay, to tell the truth it was my peri-bottle...) to see which ones were repelling water, and they are in the washing machine now. Gonna run them through a couple times to see if that will get the softener out. If that doesn't work, I'll try a load with some Dawn dish soap or vinegar. Just whatever it takes to get these babies to soak up the pee!

I'm waiting to CD Audrey until her cord stump falls off. But I can put Thomas in cloth as soon as all the diapers are ready. I'm nervous to get started, but also just super excited that I can finally use all these diapers that I've made.

I need to make lots more wipes. We have a few more packages of disposable wet wipes that we can use for now, but I want to switch to cloth as soon as I have enough wipes for the two of them.

Waiting on the washer and dryer

I can't wait! Our washer and dryer will be delivered this Friday. Then I can start stripping and prepping the diapers I've made, and then I finally get to start using them. Not a moment too soon. Poor little Thomas seems to have a perma-rash on his bum. He poops a lot and almost always is red and rashy, often to the point of bleeding. I'm really hoping that the switch to cloth clears that up. As soon as I can put fluff on his little bum, I'm going to! Yup, can't wait for my washer and dryer to get here.

Sigh

I had to pack my sewing stuff yesterday. It's no fun wanting to make diapers but being in the middle of a big move. My sewing machine, my sewing table, my sewing box, my diaper fabric - all have been packed away and are sitting at the new house, waiting to be loved again. I can't wait to get unpacked and settled in, so that I can start sewing again!

Tiny Pants!

I made my first pair of fleece longies today. Longies are diaper covers that double as pants. I used Katrina's Longies pattern, in the newborn size. These little pants are so tiny and adorable, I can't wait for Baby to wear them!

Dozen Prefolds

Well, I've finished my goal for newborn diapers. I originally had 12 small prefolds that my sister gave me, and I wanted to make 12 newborn fitteds, and 12 more prefolds. I just finished the last prefolds today, making 36 diapers that Baby will be able to wear as a newborn. Hooray!


The neat thing about prefolds is that when she outgrows them, I can use them to stuff the pocket diapers.

The next project I'll be working on is covers. I have four newborn pull-on covers, and now I'm going to make at least four small covers, which is the next size up, for her to grow into. I have this adorable pink froggy fleece that I'm going to make some covers out of, I just need to wash it first. It's the only fabric I've actually purchased new - it was on clearance at Wal-Mart.

I love seeing the progress I'm making. What I don't necessarily love is the fact that, at 37 1/2 weeks along, Baby could come at any time, and I feel a lot of pressure to finish all the diapers I'm going to need as soon as I can, before she's born. There's so much else that needs to be done too (especially with the move to the new house), I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with everything! But I'm sure it will all work out fine.

The Start of Something Great

I thought I'd go ahead and start this blog since I didn't want my family blog to get completely bogged down with diaper posts! I recently started making cloth diapers, in anticipation of the birth of our third child, and am totally hooked. I've wanted to cloth diaper for a while, and tried for a while with both previous kids. But with apartment laundry rooms and very little knowledge of what on earth I was doing, I gave up pretty quickly both times. However, I've learned a lot about cloth diapering since then. And since we just bought a house and will have our own washer and dryer, and space for a clothes line, this is the perfect time to start cloth diapering. I'll be CD-ing the new baby girl, as well as my 2 year old boy.

So I printed out a few free cloth diaper patterns from online, bought a bunch of flannel sheets and fleece blankets from the thrift store (I'm nothing if not frugal), and got started sewing! Here's what I've got so far:

30 Rita's Rump Pockets (RRPs)


4 Rita's Rump Covers (RRCs), plus three more that are almost done


12 Shar's Newborn Fitted Nappies (I think these are my favorite, they're so tiny and cute!)


4 newborn-size Katrina's Soakers


2 small prefolds (just made these today)


All together now...


Not bad for a newbie, huh? And I only started three weeks ago!

I'm hoping to have a dozen prefolds and several more RRCs done before the baby is born in early December. I also have a few wipes made, but they're kind of ugly. I'm still working on that.