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 :)

T's diapers

Back row L-R
Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium, using the Chelory method
Outer: "Save the Planet" woven cotton print from an eBay seller
Hidden layer: PUL
Inner: Microfleece from the Swaddlebees Outlet (no longer available), modified welt pocket opening

Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium, using the Chelory method
Outer: Woven cotton print from Joann's. T lives in Indianapolis, so she wanted a Colts diaper. Randomly, one of the Joann's near my house had this print in stock! Which was great because it saved on shipping. Must've been leftovers from a special order.
Hidden layer: PUL
Inner: Microfleece from the Swaddlebees Outlet, modified welt pocket opening

Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size small, using the Chelory method. T asked for most of the diapers in a medium, since her son will fit into those longer, but he's a small right now. Since I had tons of Colts fabric left over after making the medium diaper, I offered to make a small as well, so he can wear it this football season!
Rest of the materials are the same as above.

Front row L-R
Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, size medium
Outer: "Retro Owls" printed PUL from an eBay seller
Inner: Butter suedecloth from Hancock's, modified welt pocket opening

Pattern: Darling DIapers Unlimited, size medium
Outer: "Elephant Walk" printed PUL from an eBay seller
Inner: Butter suedecloth from Hancock's, modified welt pocket opening

All of the diapers have aplix hook and touchtape loop. I've found this is a great combination. It's stickier than using all aplix, without being too sticky like all touchtape.

I took pictures to do a little Chelory method tutorial, so I'll post that at some point.

BumGenius aplix fix-up

Tonight's project continues with the theme of working on cloth diapering items that we need for Noob's sitter. Specifically, we need more aplix (velcro) diapers. Aplix diapers are great because they are as easy as disposables -- perfect for babysitters and other people unfamiliar with cloth diapering. We have tons of diapers, but a lot of them are prefolds or diapers with snaps, and those are more complicated. I'm trying to keep it as easy as possible!

Anyway, I've mentioned previously that I got a bunch of "well loved" BumGenius 3.0 pockets a few months back for $2 each. On some of them, the velcro is so far gone that it's easier to just convert them to snaps. But a few of them appear to have salvageable front velcro. They just need the velcro tabs replaced. So that was my project for tonight:

Cotton Babies sells BumGenius "refresher kits" for $1 that include new tabs, laundry tabs, and elastic. I did buy one kit, which is useful to use as a template for cutting tabs, but for these diapers, I used aplix that I had purchased from Very Baby. It's much cheaper this way -- I spent about $12 total, including shipping, and I've made a couple of complete diapers in addition to these tab replacements, and I'm not even halfway through what I bought. Although I've been unimpressed with the quality of the aplix on the diapers I've made, so I'll have to see how these new tabs hold up over time. (Note: You definitely want to purchase aplix or touchtape online. Don't use actual Velcro brand stuff purchased at Joann's, Walmart, etc. -- it's very expensive and very low quality, so it won't hold up to the rigors of diaper laundry.)

Anyway, I just stuck the hook tab that I got from Cotton Babies to some of my loop tape, and cut around it to get a new loop tab. Then I did the same with the loop tab and my hook tape. I took the newly cut tabs and "sandwiched" the stretchy tab of the diaper between them (making sure to put the hook tab going the right way!) and then pinned it down and sewed around it twice, about 1/8" from the edge. I repeated that on the other side.

The Ribbit (green) diaper had awful laundry tabs as well, so I pulled those off and sewed on some loop tape for new laundry tabs. The laundry tabs on the Butternut (yellow) one look OK, so I left them for now.

It took about an hour total to do both diapers, including cutting the new tabs (I had pulled off the original tabs previously), and now I have two more sitter-worthy diapers! Yay!