Babies need diapers. Even the die-hard
Elimination Communication crowd has a few diapers stashed away somewhere.
With my first child, diapers were a no-brainer. Take what the hospital offers, buy whatever you have coupons for or whatever is cheapest from there. With my second child, I pretty much followed the same guidelines until she was about a year old. That's when I read that people still practiced the archaic form of diapering a child known as
CLOTH DIAPERING. *gasp*
At this particular juncture in my life, I was searching for what good Christian mamas who aspire to have large families do all day. Apparently, they were all cloth diapering! (ok, so I was a little misinformed) My biggest trepidation was the fear of having to dunk poopy diapers all day long, but if it would make me a better mama, then I would do it. I did not want to somehow be "less-than", so I began diligently researching cloth diapering. Well, come to find out cloth diapers were no longer prefolds, pins and plastic pants. Oh sure, they still sold a large number of those, but there were tons of new-fangled dipes hitting the market that were supposed to make cloth diapering a breeze.
So, I jotted note after note to myself as I read about what other cloth-diapering mamas used and loved and then checked websites and prices. Well, let me tell you, for a mama with little cash to spare, forking over $300 dollars for a stash of diapers seemed utterly frightening. Now, I know I could break that up by sizes and spend less at a time, but was this cloth diapering thing really worth it?
In case you are wondering the same thing, here is a little calculator to help you figure it all up.
Diaper Pin Calculator I didn't have this handy little tool, so my figures were not as accurate, but I did find that cloth would most definitely pay for itself eventually.
HOWEVER, by this time, my daughter was nearing her 2nd birthday and I figured it wouldn't be long before she was completely out of diapers. With no new baby entering the scene, I knew I could not recoup my money and decided to stick with disposibles.
Fast-forward 2 years to the impending birth of our 3rd child. The cloth diaper thought re-enters the scene. I mention it to my mother. My mom begins to pester me about whether I'll choose cloth or disposibles. I get tired of telling her I don't know and finally say disposibles, money still being a bit of a hang-up in the whole thing for me. Next thing I know, I find myself at a surprise diaper shower! A year's worth of diapers was what I ended up with! Definitely NOT doing cloth!
But, then something interesting took place. When my newest daughter turned 9 months, we discovered that what I figured was an ulcer turned out to be a baby! Couple this with the fact that the free diaper supply was quickly dwindling and you have a mama who considers cloth once again.
Then one day I ran out of diapers at church and a friend loaned me a prefold of hers...pins and all! She walked me through the whole thing and the diaper actually stayed on!
What finally sold me once and for all, was when my friend,
Sarah, got a stash of cloth diapers for cheap. They just happened to be the same ones I had about convinced myself to buy all those years ago, and she was more than willing to let me try a few since her baby wasn't due for another couple of months.
I fell in love.
No, I'm not kidding you. I literally fell in love with cloth diapering from that moment on. There was something very satisfying to me about putting those
Motherease One-size diapers and
Air Flow covers on my chubby little 1 year old and watching her crawl and toddle about.
From there, it snowballed. I did invest in a stash of used Motherease, but during that purchase, I was introduced to what I did not know existed back in 2001 when I first had researched cloth diapering. There were literally HUNDREDS of diapering systems out there. Best of all, there was this thing called a
MiniShower that I could spray the diapers off with and never dunk them! WOO HOO!!!
As the birth of our 4th child drew nearer, I was informed that the Motherease diapers don't do so well on newborns. I was advised to try fitteds, but was aghast at how much it was going to cost me. I bought a few fitteds online and realized that the construction wasn't something that was beyond my meager sewing skills. Not to mention, there were a ton of
How-To sites for making your own cloth diapers. It really looked fairly easy.
So, I stocked up on flannel and began sewing like crazy. Not too long into my diaper sewing frenzy, my husband's grandmother offered me a serger she had packed away brand new. WOW! A woman from church came to help me with the serging and sewing of my stash and by the time it was all said and done, I had quite a nice stash costing me about $3 per diaper.
I've learned a lot since then. My sewing skills got better with each new diaper I churned out. I now prefer other types of fabric. I've gone to using snaps instead of velcro. And at one point in time, I even owned my own diaper business. One thing; however, has remained constant...I am a cloth diaper fanatic!
I could sit and talk diapers for hours. I see diaper fabric everywhere..."
You can't send that old shirt to Goodwill! It would make a perfect diaper!"
I still sew up new diapers for each new baby. I love seeing them wear something I've created, something made just for them with love. This baby is no exception.
So, without further ado, here are some of this baby's stash of cloth diapers made by mama...
Here are the links to the pictures of the soakers:
Turned & Topstiched Soaker
Serged Soaker
How the soaker lays in the diaper
And here's a bonus:
Fleece Soaker/Cover
I used the free pattern found
HERE:
Labels: Cloth Diapering, Sewing Projects
By the way, I've since test drove this little number several times and I am thrilled with it! I didn't bother to hem the raw edge in case you are wondering. And I've updated the original post as well.
