Newborn pockets

I haven't been using pockets very much on Q. I don't know why. Prefolds are just easier to deal with, I guess.

I did make these diapers as a gift for a friend who was due in September:

From left to right: Rocket Bottoms size 1, Rocket Bottoms Totally Squared One Size, Rocket Bottoms Totally Squared Newborn/Small. Plus a wetbag. The diapers are all PUL outers (from fabric.com), suedecloth inners (alova suedecltoh from Joann's).

Here's Q trying on the two Totally Squared diapers. She is about 1 month old and 11 lbs, and she's trying them on over a prefold (because I was already running late to my friend's baby shower and didn't have time to wash them if she soiled them!). This pattern is large. She was swimming in the one size diaper, and even the newborn/small was on the large side when using the smallest setting!

This is another Totally Squared OS that I made recently. I did this one as a cover/AI2 shell, with a PUL outer, microfleece inner, and cotton interlock tabs. She is almost 4 months old and 14 lbs, and this is still pretty large on her, on the smallest setting:

I'm ehhhhh on the OS pattern right now, because it is so big. I should really try the NB/small pattern again, to see if I like that one any better.

On the other hand, I love the regular Rocket Bottoms pattern. I made a diaper for Q that's identical to the one I sewed for my friend, and it's one of my favorites. She is about 1 month old and 11 lbs in this picture, and she's wearing it on the second of three rise settings. After this, I moved it down to the smallest rise setting. She is now 4 months and 14 lbs, and is back on the second rise setting. It fits nicely and works really well stuffed with one of the trimmed newborn prefolds.

Still, despite the great fit, she did have a leak in this diaper yesterday -- leaks in prefolds + covers are virtually nonexistent. Hence why I say prefolds are just easier to deal with.

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.

Newborn diapers and big sister gifts

One of my good friends just had her second baby a few weeks ago. She's cloth diapering, so I figured I'd try out some newborn diaper patterns!

If you're planning to sew newborn diapers, you must check out the Mama Kat Diapers blog. She reviews tons of newborn diaper patterns (including many free ones) and provides pictures and great information.

I knew my friend was planning to use prefolds and covers, so I wanted to sew a few more covers for her. The first one I made uses the Bramblestitches pattern, size newborn. Here is a link to the pattern, and here is a link to the magazine article explaining how to sew it.

The outer is a poly print, from the Top Shelf Fabrics destash.

I used a "Handmade" tag with size tag on the back :)

The inner is PUL. I chose to sew it with the fabric side facing out, to be softer on tender newborn skin, but you could also sew it with the shiny side facing out if you wanted it to be wipeable. I've done that before, on a cover I sewed for Noob, and had no irritation problems.

Although this was newborn size, it turned out pretty big. I'd say it's more like a small size.

I think it would work well over a Snappi'd or pinned prefold. But I know many people like to just trifold prefolds and stick them in a cover. I didn't know which camp my friend is in, so I decided to sew her another cover that facilitated trifolding.

I settled on the Witteybums pattern. I forgot to post pictures of this, but I sewed up this pattern months ago for some diapers for Noob, and absolutely loved it. I did an all-in-two style diaper for Noob, but the pattern also has a neat option to make a cover with flaps to secure a trifolded prefold, very similar to a Flip cover.

I first made a newborn size cover. I knew from the diapers I sewed for Noob that this pattern has a very narrow crotch. Since it needs to fit over a prefold, I widened the crotch about 1/4", per the Mama Kat Diapers blog.

It turned out teeny tiny! Here it is next to a Proraps newborn cover. Noob was 8 lbs 11 oz at birth, and we used the Proraps covers for only about a week, until his umbilical cord fell off. Then we moved on to larger covers. The Witteybums newborn cover is even smaller than the Proraps! I'd say it's more like preemie size.

I'm going to keep it and see if it fits Q at all, but I decided to sew a small size cover for my friend. This time, I widened the crotch by about 1/2". Here are the two completed covers.

Insides of the covers. The outer is just a single layer of PUL, and then the flaps are PUL as well.

Here's the small cover with a standard infant (green edge) prefold trifolded inside:

Comparison shots of a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap size small (on the left) with the Bramblestitches NB cover (middle) and Witteybums small (right). The BSWW was one of my favorite covers for Noob. It fit him from when we stopped using the Proraps at 1 week old to a few months old. The Bramblestitches cover, in particular, has a very similar shape to the BSWW.

Finally, I decided to make my friend one pocket diaper to try out. This is a Rocket Bottoms step 1 diaper. I really like the idea of two-step diapers like this, especially when I'm sewing my own. The "step 1" diaper has a snap-down rise, allowing you to adjust it to fit from roughly 7-21 pounds. So it's designed to fit newborns (unlike one-size diapers, which are typically too bulky), but you don't put a ton of work into a diaper that's going to be outgrown in a few short weeks. Then there's a "step 2" that fits from roughly 18-40 lbs, so it fits even longer than the typical one-size diaper.

This was my first time sewing with loop fabric. Rather than just putting a narrow strip of aplix or touchtape on the front of the diaper, I put a big panel of loop fabric. Supposedly, this gives more adustability, since the tabs can be attached anywhere on the panel.

This was also my first time sewing with pre-cut aplix tabs, rather than cutting my own tabs from a strip of aplix. Very handy and professional-looking.

No pictures of the inner, but it's suedecloth (white butter suedecloth from Hancock's, my favorite!) with a modified welt pocket. For a soaker, I was hoping to use some of the Cotton Babies microfiber inserts that I have around the house, but they were just a little too wide. So I did three layers of heavy bamboo fleece, following the pattern included with the Rocket Bottoms pattern.

All three diapers together:

Of course, I couldn't forget the big sister! I made her a crayon wallet, with a personalized name tag on the front:

I got the fabric a while back, on clearance at Walmart! They have some cut fat quarter bundles that include contrasting fabrics. Perfect for this crayon wallet, which calls for a contrasting fabric for the pockets on the inside.

I goofed, and made the pockets for the crayons (on the left) too long. Weird, because I followed this tutorial exactly and it shows the shorter pockets, and when I made this for another friend a few months ago, I ended up with shorter crayon pockets. Oh well. It makes the wallet slightly harder to close properly, and it makes it harder to get the crayons out (you kinda have to push them out from the bottom of the pocket), but it works OK. One nice thing is that then the crayons don't "color" all over the rest of the interior of the crayon wallet.

This was all lots of fun to sew and I love how everything turned out!

The final stash of stupid cloth training pants (now even stupider, thanks to Noob!)

I finally finished the last two a few days ago. Here's all of them (minus one, the white one with the stars on the tabs, shown in this post -- it was still at school):

Closer up... the one on the left here is one of the two new ones, and the one on the right I made a few weeks ago. Same PUL -- you can see how it's faded with washing in the one on the right. But it doesn't look too bad when it's not side-by-side with a brand-new one :) These both have microchamois tabs and microfleece inners.

The one on the right here is another new one. "Later Gator" PUL print body, ribbed knit tabs (from Joann's), microfleece inner:

The one on the right here is the second one I sewed, but I never posted a picture of it. It's the one with crushed panne tabs/inner, before I decided crushed panne was too much of a PITA to work with :)

I've posted all of these before, but just to do close-ups...

So of course, now that I'm done sewing these, Noob has stayed completely dry at school for much of this week! LOL! That is why I didn't buy these suckers at retail prices! I'll keep some around for naps/nighttime, for sure, and I'm just trying to decide if I should save the rest for Q (since it's a pretty boyish stash, and Q may or may not be a boy) or sell them off...