Ventures into Cloth Diapers

First a quick update. Jack and I went down to southern Utah and Arizona with my mom and sister. It was a VERY long trip-a whole three days. I cannot believe how much I missed Kyle and I think every time I am away from him I realize how much he does to help with Jack. Jack was cute as always but the night times were horrific. I slept with my little kiddo the first night and I spent most of the night readjusting him so he didn't fall off the bed while he was sleeping. That kid moves SO MUCH while he's a sleep. It was pretty comical, and tiring. Other than that, it was nice to help out my sister and my mom with driving.

I have been sewing nonstop it seems and I was able to finish a little dress for our baby girl due in May. I wish that she came before Easter cuz this dress would be perfect for Easter. There is enough paisley fabric left over to make Jack a matching tie and I can totally picture an Easter picture with them. I also made them little blankets. They are pretty cute I think.

I also made a pencil pouch for my sister. I got the tutorial here. It was fairly easy and I'm pleased with the results.

Now onto the journey I have ventured into. A while ago I decided to try cloth diapers. To be honest, I was a little hesitant because of the poo factor but after thinking about it for a while I decided it was not that big of a deal. Seriously, as a mother you come into contact with poo all the stinkin time. (A gross but true reality of motherhood). I started out by researching the different kinds of diapers and there are so many different kinds of diapers (definitions and terms are found here). Needless to say, I was a little confused. I asked around and one of my friends said she used pocket diapers because you can pull out the liner and wash that too.

After I decided what kind I wanted to use I looked around at various websites to see how to make them. That's right, I decided to sew mine.

It's a little overwhelming but it seemed like the best choice and the cheapest choice to make the diapers. Cloth diapering has a large start up cost. They can be cost efficient in the long run but why not make them even MORE cost efficient by not spending that much money on them. Here is the cost breakdown that I kept track of:

I'm pretty pleased with the results. I have yet to make the wrap covers. I'm a little bit nervous about those because they really need to work and I'll be sewing with PUL which is not cheap. Here is a picture of the diapers I have made. I have about 19 in total.

I also decided it wouldn't be too bad to hand wash them. (I know you think I'm crazy at this point). It really wasn't that difficult. I found the instructions here. At first I was hesitant but I thought about it longer and decided it wouldn't be too bad. The debris had already been removed, I wore rubber gloves and used an agitator or long pole to help swish them around. The diapers do take a while to dry, I finished them in the early afternoon yesterday and they weren't dry until this morning. I'm glad to know it's something I can do and because the diapers should be washed every two or three days, I don't have to wash very many.

Let's be clear, I'm not an environmentalist although I like the idea of using less disposable diapers. I just wanted to help us save some money, especially because we are welcoming another baby in May. This seemed like the best option and hopefully I can get Jack potty trained after the new baby comes. At times when I think about it, cloth diapering seems like a hassle but it's so cute to watch Jack walk around in his waterproof pants. Speaking of which, I don't like the Gerber ones and neither does Jack. The elastic around the legs is too scratchy. I bought three covers from Amazon here. I like these ones, they have a soft elastic. Like I mentioned before too, I am going to make some more covers out of some PUL I bought. Pocket diapers, the ones I am making, don't have a waterproof outer layer so they need a cover. This is nice in my opinion because I can change the diaper and if the cover doesn't have poo on it, I can reuse the cover. I usually wash the covers with the diapers though, so they get cleaned, don't worry. When using a pocket diaper with a waterproof layer in the diaper, it's probably more convenient but at this point it would not be as cost effective.

I also like to use diaper pins because the diapers are more adjustable. There are so many options but pins are so cheap and they work well. This is another reason I have a separate cover-cuz I don't want to puncture the PUL with a diaper pin.

Here is the pattern I used to make the diapers. I also used the Zany-Zebra website for a lot of information. I'm still new to this and we plan on having disposible diapers for baby sitters, night time and travelling but I think the cloth diapering will save us a HUGE chunk in our budget. If you have any questions, let me know. I tried to be clear on what I was doing but I just started my third trimester and this pregnancy is really killing my brain functioning so some places may be unclear. Here is a list of more websites I frequented and are very helpful:

VeryBaby.com

TheNappyNetwork
Sewing Fitted Diapers
Dianna's Journal
DiaperSewing.com -this is one of my favorite sites!
Diaper Cover with Gussets