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 disposables.
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 disposables. I get tired of telling her I don’t know and finally say disposables, 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…
Brandi says
Oh I soooo wish I could get more diapers from you, they are so nice. *sigh* Your new little bundle of joy will be styling with those cute diapers!
Dana-from chaos to Grace says
WOW!!! I am IMPRESSED! How cool are THOSE?? Alas, unless God decides to send another bundle our way, we are done. Gosh….hurts me to say that because I LOVE being pregnant and having babies! LOL I’ll live vicariously through yours instead.I so enjoy your blog!
Deedeeuk says
I love cloth diapers and used them from the first day with my two boys! I bought the new style shaped ones while pregnant with my first born – I had had a financial gift from my grandparents and used it to buy the ‘birth to potty’ pack of all sizes. These had built in water proof covers on them. I did give them to a friend who has 10 kids while she was expecting number 9. With no more little ones arriving now, I wanted to see them put to good use. We do use disposable now with the foster babies who come. Mainly because it isn’t fair to get their skin used to cloth and have them move home and have to go back to disposable and get sore again. Also, social services won’t fork out for cloth for each baby and if they did the next foster Mum would probably look at me like I was NUTS!! LOL!
Amy @ Raising Arrows says
You are absolutely right, Guinever about the snappis. I happen to be snappi-impaired, but they are a neat gadget! You can also use Bummis covers and simply insert a folded prefold into it and never pin or snappi–this is what a friend of mine does for her twins.As for the pattern, the coca-cola diaper in the picture was turned and topstitched and is my own pattern. I have no idea how to share it, but essentially all fitteds are much the same. I used the MamaBird free pattern for the serged diapers; however, I cannot get her site to come up, so I’ll link to a site that has a ton of free patterns for the taking:http://www.diaperjungle.com/sewing-cloth-diapers.htmlIf you do not have a serger, turn and topstitch the diaper. Some people actually prefer this b/c it leaves a clean line and no thread next to baby (I have heard of some babies being irritated by the serging).Also, you can use velcro or what they call touchtape or aplix (softer versions of velcro) for the closure, just be aware that these do stick to everything in the washer so sewing in an extra tab of velcro to use aa a laundry tab is a good idea.One more thing, here is a link to a video on sewing your own diapers that I thought was really great and easy to follow (it’s on the right sidebar down a bit):http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Madea/Enjoy!
guinever says
Your homemade diapers are just adorable!!! I’ve used Motherease diapers with my 5 babies and now I have them packed up for my sister to hopefully use in the next couple of years. (she just got married last month.) I’ll have to give her the link here so she can see your newborn diapers.For those who want to still use pre-folds, you can try snappis instead of pins. (similar to an ace bandage closure)If you’re interested, you can read my review of motherease diapers (by clicking on my name.)
Q says
If you would share the link or pattern information for the diapers you made, that would be lovely! I’d love to make some for gifts.Good for you!
Fruitful Harvest says
Hi there~Great post. I also use cloth diapers and EC. I will be putting a post toghther soon. I bought my diapers on Ebay about 4 years ago.I wish I was brave enough to make mine own, way to go! You may have inspired me to make soon~Peace In Christ,Georgiann
The Munck Family says
Thanks for all the info!!! I did cloth back in the dunk’n years, with my first 4. I’ve been looking into it again and think it’s the way to go.
Anonymous says
Thank you very much for answering my ??’s. I do have one more. 🙂 How are the external soakers attached?
Amy @ Raising Arrows says
These are actually just FITTEDS. They require a cover of some sorts. With newborns, I tend to use Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, but as they age, I go to Air Flows from Motherease. It would be nice if the outer layer was waterproof, but I still like the cute factor, even if I do have to cover them up w/ a cover. It brings a smile to my face when I change a diaper. 🙂As for AIOs versus pockets…I don’t use AIOs. They tend to be very hard to get completely dry and you never are certain the inner layer is dry. Now, they do make AI2s for this very reason, but I’ve never tried these myself.I do use pocket diapers for being out and about. These are usually a PUL outer layer and a microfleece inner layer w/ a “pocket” for stuffing anything from prefolds to towels to ready-made inserts inside. My favorites are Fuzzi Bunz. I’ve not found anything else that works as well. One word of caution, you do have to make sure you have the right size for baby in either the AIOs or the pockets b/c if you don’t, you will have leaks.Another comment on drying time for diapers like these…The fitteds I make have an externally attached soaker. I’ve done external unattached soakers, but go tired of having to match them up after washing. Then, I did internal soakers, but found they weren’t drying very well. Ran across the idea of an external soaker that is attached to the edge of the diaper and thought that was a great solution!
Anonymous says
This is VERY interesting. Question, are your AIO or do they have a removal soaker? What are the pros and cons of each? Thanks!
Fruitful Harvest says
Hi there again~I finally checked out that minishower site. Cool little gadget, but I think my kiddos would enjoy it to much.I am trying to get my printer to work to make copies of diaper cover patten.Did you ever sell your diapers on Ebay? I may have got some from you? I have some simular ones that you pictured.Thanks for filling me in on the statue story~Until later, Georgiann
Amy @ Raising Arrows says
OK, I added pictures to the bottom of the post! Hope that helps a bit. 🙂
Anonymous says
Oh, pictures would be a REAL blessing!!!!
Amy @ Raising Arrows says
On the serged diapers, I’ve just serged them onto the front of the diapers on the inside. On the T&T dipes, I lay them on the inside where the machine will catch them…once they are turned they are in the right place.Does that make sense? If not, I’ll try to post pics. 🙂
Amy says
If the diaper is a cotton print, I add an extra layer b/c cotton print does not absorb much at all–it’s just pretty. 😉 I use all sorts of materials, but like flannel on the inside (1 layer if your outer is absorbant, 2 layers if it is just decorative) b/c it is cheap and then the layer next to baby’s skin is something like sherpa or terry or velour (cotton). I tried all flannel and it pools just a bit before absorbing and that was enough to give my littles rashes. So, I have 3 layers of absorbancy in the diaper itself.The soaker layer is usually just layers of flannel topped w/ the same material I make the diaper inner from. So, I’d have something like 3 layers of flannel w/ a topper of sherpa. Make sense?The fleece soaker is an actual cover. I like fleece a lot for covers b/c it is breathable. I’ve never done wool, but this pattern works for wool as well. Malden Mills is usually the kind of fleece you want to use since it is so thick (one layer suffices), but I was told that w/ the added soaker layer in this pattern, cheaper fleece would work. We’ll see…I’ve never actually tried this particular cover on a kiddo.There are sooooo many ways to do diapers (have you seen the ones made from old t-shirts???), I’d say experiment. You will find you have preferences and you’ll have things you hate. You can end up spending a ton of money or find you are able to make due w/ what you have on hand. I have a friend who is the queen of frugal and her prefolds are homemade from flannel bedsheets!
Anonymous says
Thank you so much for taking the extra time to post additional pics! Everyone thinks I’m crazy to try cloth diapers. 🙂 But with three in diapers, it’s getting a little expensive and even the disposible ones leak. One last question on your diaper soaker, what material do you use? After reasearching, and boy is there a lot out there!, I found that the diaper is two layers of flannel/cotton, the soaker is flannel/terry/terry/flannel. Is this correct or is there a better way. Also, okay another question, 🙂 the soaker, does fleece work the best? What is the fleece soaker made from? Thank you so much for all of your help.Blessings,Millie– Daughter of the King of Kings, wife of a prince,and mommy to one princess and four little princes.
Amy says
Nope…no ebay here. I just had a little site on WAHMShoppes. 😉
Mrs. and Mama K says
I haven’t had much luck with homemade ones. I bought some from a couple mommies and they leak like crazy. I’ve used fuzzi bunz and bumgenius as well. (http://knifties.blogspot.com/2008/01/diaper-reviews.html) But recently i started using non-chlorine disposables since the velcro was tearing up my dry hands. I didn’t realize how much the bumgenius leak until i started using disposables.
any cure for leaky cloths?
Nikki says
I loved this post and thought I was the only one who loved cloth diapers.:)I could spend alot of $$$$$on them as I love to try new ones for fun.Yours came out so cute.Maybe I will try to make some.~Nikki
Christopher L Martin says
Hi Amy,
Can you tell me why one has to use flannel for the homemade cloth diapers compared to other fabrics? I know very little about different fabrics, but is there a reason why I can’t use plain cotton? Also, all the flannel at my craft store says “Not to use for children’s sleepwear”. Can you tell me how that effects making my own prefolds? Is there a safety issue? Thank you!
Amy says
You only want to use a fabric that is 100% cotton AND absorbent. Your typical calico from the discount rack won’t hold water…literally. And don’t worry about the not for sleepwear warning…that usually means it hasn’t been treated w/ flame retardant chemicals…a good thing when we’re talking diapers! A good fabric for making your own prefolds is birdseye cotton, but you can buy prefolds very cheaply (check my sidebar for a company called Sweet Little Blessings and you’ll see she had very inexpensive prefolds). As for my favorite diaper fabric for making your own fitted diapers, I love cotton sherpa!
Christopher L Martin says
Thank you! Thank you! BTW, we found out four days ago that we are expecting! If you remember, I wrote my first comment on your website the night before we found out. We are thrilled albeit a little nervous about making it to full-term, but we’re first time parents, so I seriously doubt this will be the first of our worries! Thanks again! Christopher
Amy says
Congratulations and enjoy the many blessings to come!
Jillian says
It’s a late night for me as I look over all your old posts on cloth diapers. I want to use them, but I’m not sure. Maybe starting with #8 is a crazy idea. I know that disposables aren’t as soft, but I just keep going back to the bulk factor. I don’t mean to be such a pain, but do you think that baby would be a lot warmer in the summer months with all the layers needed to keep him dry? I really look forward to the rest of this series. Thanks for putting it together for us.
Blessings,
Jillian
Amy says
What if you did disposables at night? Currently, that is what I do. Most people I know who have had great overnight success have used a prefold with an extra liner (homemade often) and a wool cover. But, I’m not an all or nothing kind of person. If you want to try it, ease into it. Do it during the daytime hours when less bulk is needed and put on a paper dipe at night. 😉