Making more diapers

 A month or more ago, Laurie asked if I could make Avery some more diapers. Originally I had made mostly fitted diapers that required some sort of fastening, and then a cover to go over them. Then there were maybe a dozen "Pocket diapers" that had snaps to do up all across the front, as well as down the front to adjust the sizing. The beginning of the diaper story is here. Avery is really busy, and really squirmy during diaper changes, so the separate diaper and diaper cover weren't working very well. And the snaps take longer to do up and undo than he is willing to stay still for. So I've amended the original pattern.

 I've left the snaps going down the front, so that size is still adjustable. They don't have to be done up at every diaper change. But the snaps across the front have been replaced with some good quality Aplix fastener, which is like Velcro, only more sturdy. The soft part of the Aplix goes right across the front of the diaper.

 Then the hook part goes on the inside of the back tab to do them up. It has a fairly strong hold to it. I sewed a same sized square of the softer size of the Aplix beside the hook part. And I must say that the Aplix is a whole lot easier to put on than all those snaps were.

It can be folded back onto it to prevent all the diapers snagging on each other during washing. Apparently this also helps the hook part of the Aplix tape last longer, and doesn't pick up as much lint and gook that velcro type tapes often do. I have 2 of them done, so far, out of the 10 I have cut out. I'm going to work on them some more before going in to work today and tomorrow. I'll be taking however many I have done up with us when we go see them next week for Avery's first birthday. That has to have been the fastest year of my life. How did he get to be a year old in what just seems like a couple of weeks?

Design Wall Monday July 11

Bear Tracks is up on my wall, and it is so close to being finished.  Right now, it is actually sideways. the bear paw blocks go on the top and bottom when it is finished. And that is all that is left to do, sewing the bear paw blocks together, and the attaching them to the quilt. The pattern shows to add 5 inch blocks on top of the bear paw blocks at the edge, but, if I end up putting them on,  I think I'm going to cut those in half. This thing is huge already, 90x100. But I think it might need something on the other side of those paws. It looks unfinished with the cream background on the edge. So, I guess that's another thing to add before it is finished. It's going to have to wait, though. We're going up to see Noel and Laurie and Avery on Wednesday afternoon, if I can extend the reservation on our campsite. If not, we'll be going up thursday for the weekend.




She's had a chance to use the diapers for a while now, and has expressed which ones work best, so I've promised her I'll finish the rest and bring them up with us. There are 1 dozen of the cloth diapers, and 6 of the pocket diapers left to do, plus finishing the edges of the inserts. So that is my task for the next few days, or however long it takes to get them done. If the weather stays nice today, I'm going to take my sewing machine outside and work on them there. Here's a pic of little Avery in one of the diapers.

There are more design walls to see over at Judy's Patchwork Times
If you have some time, go take a look.

More diapers

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 Wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted anything. I've been busy with secret baby projects, as well as diapers. There are now 2 dozen of the cloth diapers done, and 4 of the pocket diapers, which are quite labour intensive. I was going to make then all the same, but I've discovered that the ones like the product pictured here, aren't wide enough to cover the cloth diapers. So I'll make the pocket diapers, and the covers differently. The first job was to put in all those snaps. I bought a snap press, and it's a great thing, except that I don't have the upper body strength to use it properly, so my poor husband got recruited.  I told him that it was his contribution to all the sewing and the shower gifts. LOL

 The next step was to create a cut in the lining of the diaper to allow for the insert. It got sewn to the wrong side of the fabric, cut in between the lines of stitching, turned to the wrong side, and stitched in place so that it won't flip back out during use

Then the lining got stitched to the right side of the water proof fabric, and elastic added to the back and the legs. Turn it right sides out, and top stitch the whole thing. The snaps are what make it so adjustable for size. They go across the waist for adjusting there, as well as down the rise of the diaper so that it can be shortened and lengthened as the            

 baby grows. The baby shower is a 

 week from today, and I was hoping

 to have them done by then, which

 won't happen, if I continue to sit

here in front of the TV, playing on 

 the computer. I'll have lots of 

pictures of lots of stuff after

               the shower is over                                                    
                                                    

Look what I found.......

I was out, briefly, yesterday to go to the library, and to pick up some thread, and elastic for the diapers I'm doing. When I came home, I looked in one of our front garden beds, just out of curiosity to see if something was coming up yet. I was quite surprised to see daffodils, and they are almost 4 or 5 inches tall.  YIPPEE!!! WOOHOO!!! Spring is actually here!!!!! And there are already flower buds on them.


I've been working on the diapers both yesterday and today, and am pleased to say that there are now a dozen made. I've switched over to doing them assembly line fashion, six at a time, and have gotten the time down to 40 minutes each. And that was with some thread breakage issues, which slowed things down a bit. They are sooooooooooo cute. I'm getting rather impatient to see the little guy in them. Rebecca is coming over this evening to use our kitchen for some secret baby shower preparation stuff. There is more room in ours, than in hers. She volunteered to do some stuff to help out with the shower. I'm taking bets on how long it takes before I hear  "Mom, can you come and help me?" LOL

More about diapers

 So, I put together 2 diapers this afternoon. By the time I got to the second, I had the method figured out, and got the time down to 50 minutes, including the time to take the pictures. So, once I really get on to it, the time should get shorter than that, I hope. The first step was to take the soaker pad, and fold it into fourths, and centre it, and sew it down the centre of the wrong side of the outer layer of the diaper. That's the part to do all the hard work. Four layers of what is supposed to be very absorbent hemp terry cloth fabric.

 

 Then it was time to work on the "mess containing" gussets. Fold them in half, stitch a casing to hold the elastic, then thread the elastic through the casing and secure in place on either end so that the elastic will stay firmly in place. They end up looking like really funny quarter moon shapes. I used the microfleece for the gussets, since I think they will be softer on his little legs.

 Next, layer the diaper outside and inside together, pin well, something I don't normally do when sewing, but this stuff is really stretchy, and I didn't want it to stretch out of shape. The gussets don't get pinned on, but stretched to fit the leg opening while sewing. I've been using the serger stretch stitch on my machine, so that the edges get finished at the same time as sewing them. I tried sewing one with seams and turning it yesterday, but it ended up really bulky, and almost double the time, because the whole thing would have had to been top stitched around the outside once it was sewn, in order to finish it. And I didn't like the way it looked, or how it would have fit.

 

And here is the finished product, wrapped around a pressing ham, to give it shape, and show what it looks like. The size can be adjusted just be folding down the front, or the back, and by wrapping the waist tabs tighter or looser. This is pretty much the biggest size. It can be used with a special kind of fastener that grips the terry cloth loops. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head. But they are meant to be used with waterproof, fitted diaper covers. So, 2 done, 34 to go...........

Home made cloth diapers

 I've been absent from blogging for most of the past week. I've had a rather nasty, hanging on sinus infection, and sore throat. Then Thursday I had some dental work done, and when it comes to the dentist, I am a complete and total coward. So I had it all done at once, with sleep sedation, which made the experience not near as bad, but it wiped out that day. Friday was spent at work. Yesterday and today have been spent laying out the fabrics, marking and cutting, for the diapers. First, I took the pattern, from a company called Poo Pockets which has to be one of the cutest names for a diaper, and transferred it onto some bristol board so that I would have a template to trace around with a washable crayola marker.

 

 Then, I traced around all the template shapes I needed for the diaper outside, inside and gussets, which are supposed to keep all the "messes" inside the diaper onto the various fabrics.

And that process ended up with this collection of fabrics. On the right hand side of the picture are the 3 colours for the outside of the diapers, yellow, chocolate brown, and baby blue, made out of french terry cotton. In the centre of the picture is the hemp terry fabric that gets folded and sewn into the middle of the diaper to act as the absorbent layer. On the left of the picture is the microfleece fabric that will go on the inside of the diaper, up against his skin, and the gussets, also made out of the microfleece fabric. There are going to be a dozen diapers out of each colour. Not a bad 2 days worth of work. Now, to start sewing them. I think I'll take pics as I go, to give an idea of how they go together from this point.

Big box in the mail.

 We went up to see Noel and Laurie Thursday and Friday, and it was great to be able to spend some time with them. We hadn't seen them since Christmas. We talk online a lot, but it just isn't the same. Laurie is doing well, other than not sleeping very well because the baby has decided that her bladder is a good substitute for a punching bag. LOL. While we were away, the post office left a notice that there was a delivery to pick up. The fabrics for the diapers has arrived. So I went this morning to pick them up from the post office, and this is what i got. Inside the box was a collection of lovely, soft, diaper fabrics:

Microfleece, to go on the inside of the diaper to keep him dry and comfy. It is soooooooooo soft. I wish you could feel it.

 Then there are 3 different colours of waterproof fabric to go on the outside of the all in one diapers, and also for the diaper covers that will keep everyone else dry.


Then there is organic hemp that will act as the soaking up fabric in the middle of the diapers. Research says that it absorbs an awful lot in very few layers of fabric.

And then there was 3 colours of french terry cloth to go on the outside of the diapers. These will be used with a diaper cover, which is the same, but much more sophisticated idea as the old fashioned rubber, or vinyl pull up pants that used to go over cloth diapers.

I still have to order a snap press that will add the snaps to keep the diaper covers, and the all in one diapers closed. This is a totally new thing, that I have never done before, so the process should be interesting. The first thing I have to do with all this is wash it. The french terry cloth, and the organic hemp all take a couple of washes and drys on hot to shrink them down the full amount. So, guess what I'll be doing for the next few weeks?