More newborn fitteds

Sorry for such a long hiatus, but life is crazy busy around here! I've been working on a ton of fun projects and I'm going to do my best on catching up on blogging. The pictures I use may not be the best, but at least they'll give you an idea of what I've been doing!

In my last post, I showed off some of the newborn fitteds I sewed for Q. I forgot to mention that if you're sewing diapers for a newborn and you haven't visited Mama Kat's blog yet, you should. She reviews a ton of different newborn diaper patterns (some free, some paid), and she just had a baby of her own so she's been updating the reviews with pictures of the diapers she sewed on her baby.

That said, I've tried out a few patterns that she didn't review :) First up is the Rocket Bottoms newborn pattern. This is a free pattern that was just released in August, so of course I had to sew some up before Q outgrew it! Here's the first one, on its own and then under a newborn Proraps cover. She is about 1.5 months old and around 11 lbs in these pictures.

Outer: Woven cotton (Joann's)
Hidden layer: Bamboo fleece
Inner layer: Suedecloth
Soaker: Petal style, total of six layers of bamboo fleece, topped with suedecloth

And another... similar construction to above, except the outer woven cotton is from Walmart, and the inner is minky (Joann's Soft & Comfy fabric):

On the bum, 2.5 months old, around 12 lbs:

I really like this pattern. It is sized very similarly to the Darling DIapers newborn pattern, but I think I like the shape a little better. Q outgrew both of these fitteds at around 3 months old and 13ish lbs. I lent them to a friend who is using them on her baby, who was a month old and about 7 lbs when she got them, and she says they're working great -- so they fit a pretty good size range.

This next diaper is not technically a newborn fitted. It's a Witteybums size small.

Outer: Cotton knit. This was an old t-shirt of mine that was wayyyyyyyy too short and tight for my post-baby body :) But I thought it would make a cute diaper and it does! I chose the Witteybums hip snapping pattern because it doesn't require much fabric, which was good because the shirt was pretty tiny.
Hidden layer: Bamboo fleece
Inner layer: Cotton velour
Soaker: Snake style, 3 layers bamboo fleece/1 layer cotton velour

1.5 months old and around 11 lbs in these pictures. She is currently almost 4 months and approaching 15 lbs, and it still fits well. This is one of my absolute faves.

And finally, a Rainy Days size 1. This is designed to be a newborn + small diaper in one. The front snaps down for the newborn setting, or can be unsnapped for the small setting. I think it's a little bulky for a true newborn, but it'll certainly fit from pretty early on. She's almost 4 months old and approaching 15 lbs in this picture, and it fits well on the larger ("small") setting.

Outer: Cotton interlock
Hidden layer: Bamboo fleece
Inner layer: Cotton velour
Soaker: Petal style, total of 5 layers of bamboo fleece/1 layer cotton velour.

Newborn fitteds

"Q" made HER arrival on July 2!

I made some fitteds for her in advance of her birth. She was a homebirth baby, so I wanted some diapers that recognized that. Here's what I came up with:

The white ones are all made using the larger version of the Darling Diapers free newborn pattern (DDNB). The outer layer is cut from an old white sheet, there's a hidden layer of bamboo fleece, and the inner layer is bamboo velour (except the whale one, which has an inner layer of cotton velour). The graphics on the back are silk screened, using my newest toy, a Yudu machine. I got the Yudu back in April or May, I think, and I've done a lot of fun projects with it. I'll show off some others in future posts.

The blue diaper is made using the "Arfy" NB/S fitted pattern.The outer layer is some remnant woven cotton from Joann's, hidden layer of bamboo fleece, inner layer of cotton velour.

Note that all the diapers have woven outers, which means that they fit a smaller size range than diapers made entirely with knit/stretchy materials.

Here are some close-ups of the Arfy and one of the DDNB's. Both diapers have an umbilical cord snap-down.

They also have two rows of snaps on the diaper body but one row on the wings, so you can snap into the lower row for a smaller baby and into the upper row for a larger baby. This picture shows both diapers on the largest settings.

Action shots... well, enough action as you can get out of a newborn :)

Q was born at 9 lbs 4 oz and only dropped down to about 9 lbs even, so not a tiny newborn! But all these diapers still fit well at birth, and still fit today, at 7 weeks/11+ lbs.

This is the Arfy diaper at 3 days old on the smaller setting (on the left), and 6 days old on the larger setting (on the right):

It fits nicely underneath a newborn Proraps cover:

I'm not using most of the DDNB's, because the three in the bottom row in the picture above are all waterbirth-related... and Q ended up coming out so fast that I had no time to get in the tub! Luckily, I made those two in the top row that are just homebirth. Here is one from Q's newborn photo shoot. She's 14 days old in this picture:

(Photo copyright Chasing Fireflies Photography -- highly recommend her if you're looking for a newborn photographer in the D/FW area!)

I made most of the DDNB's with one row of snaps, but here is one with two rows of snaps. I found it hard to get the umbilical cord snapped down well with this one's waist on the tightest setting, and this doesn't give you the ability to have a lower rise setting for a smaller baby. But her umbilical cord only lasted for a few days anyway, and obviously she didn't need the lower rise setting, so if I were making these again, I think I'd do the double row of snaps on all of them. Here she is in the double-row version at 4 weeks old (under a newborn Proraps cover in the picture on the right):

And the single row version. 1 month and 1 week old, and she still fits this diaper on the smaller setting, even though obviously she no longer needs the umbilical cord snapdown:

Bottom line on these two patterns: I love them both! The Arfy pattern fits a little bit smaller, so I'd recommend that if you're anticipating a smaller baby. I'm glad I have more of the DDNBs because I think they will last longer. But they are both great patterns, and you can't beat free!

By the way, if you're wondering where I came up with the graphics for the diapers, the two general homebirth ones (top row) are both from the international homebirth symbol contest. They haven't picked a winner yet, which is fine by me, as it meant I could choose my personal favorites from all the entries!

For the waterbirth ones, I did a search on Etsy for "homebirth" and noted the graphics that I liked. Then I replicated them on my own, using images I found through web searches or in the Microsoft Office clip art gallery. I put everything together using Microsoft Publisher.

Stay tuned for many more posts on new baby sewing and crafts... when my new baby lets me get around to it :)

More baby gifts

Seriously, there will be a lot of these this year. Two of my close friends have already had babies, and there are three more due between now and September. Plus myself, of course!

One of the remaining three had her baby shower yesterday. She is the daughter of a good friend of ours, the kids' regular babysitter, and just an all-around awesome young lady, so I wanted to do something really nice for her. She decided to cloth diaper as well (seriously, I don't proselytize cloth diapering, but it's really cool that so many of my friends are coming to it on their own) and that made it easy! And since she's expecting a girl, this gave me a great excuse to use up a ton of girly PUL that I got on clearance from Fabric.com a while back. (If Q is a girl, I'm really going to have some fun :)

Top row:
Rocket Bottoms In A Snap cover, size NB. Outer is Soft 'n Comfy fabric from Joann's. Inner is PUL from Fabric.com.
Rocket Bottoms pocket, step 1 (NB/small). Outer is PUL from Fabric.com. Inner is alova suedecloth from Joann's.

Bottom row:
Witteybums cover, size small. All PUL, purchased directly from another sewing mama.
Rainy Days fitted, step 1 (NB/small). Outer is french terry, hidden layer of bamboo fleece, inner layer of bamboo velour, soaker of bamboo fleece topped with bamboo velour. All purchased directly from other sewing mamas.

Behind: Wetbag, made with PUL from Fabric.com. I usually sew the zipper on top of these, but decided to try it on the side, like this video tutorial from Wazoodle shows. I love how it turned out!

How did they turn out? Well, I think the In A Snap cover is really tiny. It may fit for the first few weeks, but I'll likely make another one in size small. On the flip side, the Rainy Days fitted seems quite large. I made it with Lastin elastic -- it's a little trickier to work with than regular polybraid, because if you stretch it as tight as it will go, it will be way too tight. But I may not have stretched it enough on this diaper. I'll have to keep experimenting, because the nice thing about Lastin (as the name implies) is that it lasts a lot longer, rather than getting all stretched out like polybraid does over time. Anyway, that diaper should work fine, it may just be more of a small/medium than a newborn/small. The other two patterns, I already sewed up for one of my other friends, and they turned out well this time around, too.

Close-up of the "handmade" tag on the In A Snap cover. I really like these for adding a bit of a professional touch. They're also a handy spot to put size tags -- I don't always put size tags on stuff I sew for my kids, because I can remember what size things are, but for gifts for other people, I figure it might be helpful.

Halloween is right around the corner...

...which means I've been busy sewing! I'm working on Littles' Halloween costume, which is taking forevvvvvvver. So I've been taking breaks here and there to sew up some of the Halloween "Ooga Booga" fabric I got a while back.

Fitted:

Pattern: Sprout Snap (one size)
Outer: Cotton interlock (KAM Snaps)
Hidden layer: Bamboo fleece (purchased through a coop)
Inner: Bamboo velour (Nature's Fabrics)
Soaker: snake style, 3 layers bamboo fleece, one layer bamboo velour. Intended to be folded in two to fit whatever rise setting the shell is on.

This diaper turned out pretty small. Noob is still mostly in mediums, and on the medium rise setting in his one-size diapers, but he's on the large rise setting in this diaper and looks like he might outgrow it soon! So I would say this is a pretty small one-size. This pattern has a unique feature where you can snap the rise snaps into the waist snaps to create a "newborn" setting. It's teeny tiny!

Action shot... Noob was not pleased to be my model :) He's not a fan of wearing diapers these days, at least not around the house.

All-in-two (AI2):

Pattern: Sprout Snap (one size)
Outer: Cotton interlock
Hidden layer: PUL (fabric.com)
Inner: Microfleece (wazoodle.com)
Soaker: Snake style, three layers bamboo fleece, one layer microfleece

I wanted to try out an all-in-two style with a cotton outer layer. Supposedly, using a fabric like microfleece on the inner prevents moisture from getting through to the cotton outer, where it would wick. Unfortunately, the two times that Noob has worn this diaper, he has pooped within minutes of putting it on. So I haven't been able to see how it holds up to lots of moisture.

Action shots... sorry, the lighting wasn't the greatest on some of these:

I'm not sure I love this pattern. It seems a little baggy in the butt for Noob, and just fits oddly throughout. Hmmm.

Have I not posted about these diapers yet?

We're on vacation, so I'm not sewing this week. I am, however, putting up tons of vacation pictures on my personal blog. And I noticed that my "Sewing" folder had some pictures that I don't think I've put up here yet.

So, here are some more diapers. Apologies if any of these are a repeat!

Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium
Outer: T-rex polyester knit print, from the Top Shelf Fabrics destash
Hidden layer: PUL
Inner: Alova suedecloth from Joann's, modified welt pocket
Closure: Snaps. I was running low on black snaps, so I did sockets on the wings and studs on the body -- usually, you do the opposite. But it works fine this way, too!

Front:

Back:

Inside:

I made this diaper mostly to see whether doing a poly print outer/hidden PUL layer would work OK, without any Chelory Method type stuff. And... it does!

One other thing I learned with this diaper is that when sewing with a hidden PUL layer, it's good to use microfleece for the inner. This diaper is kinda hard to stuff, and I think it's because the outer is a tiny bit thicker and less stretchy (with the two layers of fabric), and then the suedecloth doesn't stretch at all. My Cowboys diaper is also a tiny bit harder to stuff than my other diapers, but it's easier than this one, and I think that's because the microfleece inner helps a lot.

The other thing that doesn't help with the stuffing issue is that with suedecloth, I like to turn the edges of the modified welt pocket opening under slightly. (Microfleece is a little too thick to do that with.) That cuts down slightly on the total width of the pocket opening. After doing this diaper, I started adding an extra inch to the pocket opening when doing a suedecloth inner, and that does help a lot with stuffability.

Anyway, once I get this diaper stuffed and onto Noob, I love it. So cute!

Next up... pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium
Outer: Winter Giraffes printed PUL, purchased directly from another sewer
Inner: Periwinkle microfleece from Wazoodle. I'm curious to see how this holds up. The white microfleece I've been using (from the Swaddlebees Clearance section) gets pilly and dirty, fairly quickly.
Closure: Tabs are aplix hook. Front strip and laundry tabs are touchtape loop. Both from Wazoodle. I love this combination! I've always found aplix to be not quite sticky enough, and touchtape to be too sticky, so I like using hook of one and loop of another.

I used DiaperMaker elastic from Wazoodle for the first time on this diaper. (I normally use regular ol' Dritz elastic, which I buy in bulk by the yard at Joann's.) I didn't like it at first. It didn't seem to be very strong. In these pictures, taken right after I sewed the diaper, the rise on the diaper seemed to be much higher than usual, as if the elastic wasn't strong enough to gather the diaper enough.

But I think the elastic shrunk slightly when I washed it, and now, it fits just like my other diapers that use this pattern. I'm actually starting to prefer the softer touch of this elastic. It seems less harsh/less likely to cause red marks on Noob's thighs. I haven't sewed any new diapers for Noob in a few weeks, but I do plan to try this elastic again when I do.

Finally, probably the ugliest diaper I've ever sewn :)

Pattern: Very Baby Basic AIO, size medium/long
Outer: woven cotton print (Joann's remnants bin)
Hidden layer: Zorb II (Wazoodle)
Inner: minky (Soft n Comfy fabric from Joann's remnants bin)
Soaker: trifold with one layer minky/one layer Zorb II

I actually started this as a Fourth of July diaper. I was putting the finishing touches on the soaker when I ran out of thread on my serger. Now, this was right after I got the serger... and it took me until well after the Fourth of July to figure out how to re-thread it :) Haha! In my defense, the serger does have four separate threads that need to be threaded, and one of them has eleven steps to thread it! The serger I have does make it as easy as possible, but it's still not easy, especially the first time.

Anyway, I eventually figured it out and finished the diaper. (And now threading my serger really is easy!) But, it turns out that Zorb II doesn't work well as a hidden layer for a fitted. It is really thick, making the diaper bulky, and also, the elastic isn't strong enough to gather it well. So, this diaper is huge, and the inner minky rolls out at the legs and looks funny.

That said... I actually love this diaper. The Zorb II might make the diaper ugly, but it also makes it super absorbent. I use it regularly overnight, and it still has dry spots in the morning. Also, I've always had recurring ammonia issues in overnight diapers... not this one. Zorb II seems to be much less prone to stink. I usually alternate overnights between this diaper and the camo Rainy Days diaper, so they get used equally often -- well, I've already had to strip the camo diaper because it was getting ammonia-stinky. This diaper has never even had a hint of stink.

So, now I'm trying to figure out a way to make an overnight-worthy fitted exclusively out of Zorb II, since clearly, elastic doesn't work too well with it.. I have some ideas. Stay tuned :)

Latest diapers

I tried out some new techniques and new patterns. Kinda fun.

Pattern: Rainy Days, size 2
Outer: cotton knit (Fabric.com)
Hidden layer: Bamboo hemp fleece (naturesfabrics.com)
Inner: Bamboo velour (naturesfabrics.com)
Soaker: two layers of diamond Zorb II (wazoodle.com)

This is a two-size diaper. The pictures above show it on the "medium" setting, which is what Noob wears. Below you can see it fully unsnapped for the "large" setting:

I'd heard that the size 1 of this pattern was great but that the size 2 is gigantic. It's not too bad on Noob, although he does wear it on the very smallest settings, at 23 lbs. He had a little bit of wing droop the first time he wore it, but these pictures were from the second time, and I did like the fit overall. He wore it overnight and it held up well absorbency-wise:

Next up...

Pattern: La Di Da, size medium
Outer: PUL body (fabric.com), cotton interlock tabs (Nature's Fabrics)
Inner: microfleece (Swaddlebees clearance section -- not available anymore) with modified welt pocket

The embellished tabs are not PUL-backed (like I did with the tabs on D's diaper), just straight cotton over microfleece. I was curious to see whether the diaper leaked at all at the tabs, so I did a "stress test" the other day and left Noob in it for about 3 hours (way longer than I usually go between changes). It did eventually wick at the legs, but no leaks at the tabs! Cool!

And finally...

Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium
Outer: body is a cotton woven print (Joann's remnants bin) backed with PUL (purchased directly from someone on Diaper Swappers), tabs are plain PUL
Inner: Microfleece with modified welt pocket (Swaddlebees clearance again)

I used the "Chelory method" for the outer of this one. Chelory is the name of the store of a popular WAHM (work-at-home mom) who makes diapers. Her diapers sell out in seconds flat -- it's crazy. What is even crazier is that she frequents the Cloth Diaper Sewing 101 board over at BabyCenter, and shares some of her tricks and techniques. Seriously, this is one of the neatest things about the cloth diaper sewing community (yes, there's a whole community out there full of crazy women like me). Both the BabyCenter board and Diaper Sewing Divas are frequented by amazing WAHMs who share their secrets. It's like if a top chef came onto a message board for newbie chefs and shared his or her favorite recipes.

Anyway, the Chelory method, as it's become known on the Cloth Diaper Sewing 101 board, is a way to put cotton outers on waterproof pocket diapers. This is trickier than it seems. Many people just put the cotton outer over a layer of PUL, but when you turn a diaper made in this manner, the edge of the cotton inner is exposed on the interior of the pocket. Cotton is a "thirsty" fabric; it just loooooooves to soak up moisture. Which is good on the inside of your diaper, but not so good on the outside of your diaper, as it leads to wicking/leaks!

With the Chelory method, what you do is cut your cotton outer a little narrower than usual at the legs. Then you attach some strips of PUL at the legs, and sew the entire thing to a full hidden layer of PUL. This means that your seams are PUL on PUL, not PUL on cotton, preventing leaks. Sound confusing? Here is a great picture tutorial on how to do it, and here is a video.

Of course, I had to make things more complicated for myself. For one, the cotton print I was using was directional, so I did a seam at the middle so that it's right side up on both the front and back of the diaper. That wasn't too bad. Much more challenging was the fact that the scrap I had wasn't wide enough for a full diaper, so I had to do plain PUL on the wings. It was a little tricky to figure out how the PUL wings fit together with the PUL at the legs. And then I messed up the PUL wings and had to cut them noticeably shorter than usual. Yikes.

And so that is why I'm amazed that this actually ended up looking like a diaper! Trust me, it looked like a total mess for most of the time I was sewing it :) Probably the most confusing part was that the seam between the cotton body and the PUL at the legs didn't lie flat. It turns out that this was just fine. The "gathers" at that seam look just fine once you insert the elastic in there, because then the elastic gathers it even more!

Whew! OK, that was a long intro. On to more pictures and action shots.

The entire outer. You can see where the seam lies, in the middle where the print changes direction. I didn't cut the legs of the cotton fabric quite evenly, and I also sewed the elastic a little differently on each leg, so if the legs look a little wonky, that's why:

But it really doesn't look bad once it's on!

I was a little confused because the tutorials I saw did not call for a PUL panel at the front or back of the diaper, so the cotton is exposed on the interior there. Wouldn't that cause leaks at those seams? But Noob wore this diaper for an hour or two, and while the insert was nowhere near saturated, it was definitely wet (at the front, at least) -- and no leaks! I'll keep using it to see if it does continue to hold up well without wicking!

Even if it doesn't work well, it was excellent practice for me, and this should be a fun diaper with football season starting up soon :)