Choo-choo's

As previously noted, Noob is obsessed with trains these days. And he is also potty training. The combination of these two things makes for a lot of fun at bedtime, when he wants to wear his Thomas the Tank Engine underwear ("choo-choo's") to bed, fights getting a diaper on, and then asks to go potty (requiring full diaper removal) a bunch of times before he actually goes to sleep.

To alleviate this problem, I decided to sew him some Thomas training pants for overnights.

I wanted to use the same Trimsies Trainer pattern that I used for his training pants for school (which have worked out well and are still in use at naptime, BTW). But I also really wanted to use some Zorb II quadfold inserts that I made a long time ago, because Zorb II has been the only fabric I've been able to use consistently overnight without stink issues. The Trimsies Trainer pattern is so trim that I can't use normal inserts with it, and I don't have any Zorb II left to make Trimsies inserts with it.

Instead, I pulled out my old standby, the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern. It has a side snap option, and many people say that any side snapping diaper can be pulled up/down like training pants.

The end result...

Pattern: Darling Diapers Unlimited, side snapping. I added about an inch to the rise of the medium size to make this more of a medium/large.
Outer: Thomas the Tank Engine woven cotton (eBay seller)
Hidden layer and wings: Old t-shirt
Inner layer: Cotton velour

No PUL, so this is a fitted diaper, requiring a cover. I made it a pocket fitted so I could adjust the absorbency as needed. I bet this would catch a pee on its own as a daytime trainer, but for nights, I stuff it with one of those Zorb II quadfolds.

Unfortunately, I don't love the fit of the side snapping version of this pattern. (I think it would work better if I had put in front elastic. I meant to, but forgot. Oops.) And the wings are not really stretchy enough to facilitate pulling it up/down. But it's perfectly functional as a diaper, just not so much as a trainer. And Noob prefers it to his other diapers, so, good enough!

 

I also made some Thomas fleece longies out of the leftover fleece from making Noob's nap mat. Katrina pattern, size large. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention when I cut these out, and I made probably the worst cut that I possibly could have... the only pictures of Thomas ended up all crammed into the butt area on the back, and one side was upside down. Oops. But again, perfectly functional, and Noob loves these longies and insists on putting them on whenever he sees them. Kids this age are so forgiving of sewing goofs.

 

Finally, not train related, but I sewed up some fleece shorties out of Army fleece. (I've mentioned this before, but my husband is former Army.) Katrina pattern, size large again. I actually paid attention while cutting this time :) and these turned out well.

Front:

Back:

Tag:

The inseam is a little long. I've left these unhemmed for now, but I think I might go ahead and hem them a bit. I don't want to lose the "Army Strong" on the right leg, though.

 

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 :)

Birthday gifts

On Saturday, we attended a joint birthday party for "J," age 3, and "D," age 1. Two different families, but we (along with many of the other invitees) are very close with both of them, so it was wonderful being able to celebrate together!

Both families also happen to have a place of significance in my sewing "life." I wanted to sew gifts for both boys to commemorate that.

J's mom was the one who lent, and eventually sold, her sewing machine to me when I first got started. For J, I made a crayon wallet. I first heard of crayon wallets back in May, from one of my other friends, who had purchased some off Etsy for her kids and nieces. It seemed like the kind of thing that someone would write a tutorial for, and sure enough, some quick web searching turned up this tutorial.

It seemed a little tricky, but the blogger insisted over and over that it really wasn't that hard, so I took her word for it. Indeed, it really isn't hard at all! Once you get started, it quickly becomes clear how it all fits together.

I know that J loves anything with wheels, so I chose a Cars print for him. I actually got both types of fabric (the blue Cars fabric and the contrasting red fabric) at Walmart, of all places! My Walmart recently got rid of their bolts of fabric, but they do have an entire wall of precut 2 yard cotton pieces, including lots of Disney licensed stuff, for fairly reasonable prices ($6 for solids, $8 for licensed prints). I didn't have time to make it out to Joann's, so this worked out well.

The finished product:

The outside, unfolded:

Inside. The pad of paper is from Target, and then I taped on a cover that I made using Cars clip art that I found online:

I love how this turned out and will probably make more of these for future birthdays and other events.

On to D's gift. D's mom is a Texas A&M grad (yes, this is the same D for whom I made an A&M sleep sack as a Christmas present), and D is also the only other cloth diapered baby I know. Now, early last year, immediately following Noob's birth, I really wasn't doing a lot of sewing. I just wasn't into it, with everything else going on. But when D's baby shower rolled around, I decided to sew some A&M wetbags as a gift. That project is what really got me started on sewing again -- and I haven't stopped since :) I recently came across the leftover A&M fabric from the wetbags and decided to use it to sew -- what else? -- a diaper!

The fabric is cotton, so I didn't want to use it directly over a layer of PUL (to prevent wicking issues) and I also knew that D's parents don't use fitteds. I decided to try a pocket with embellished tabs, as I've heard that even cotton works fine on those tabs, since they don't really get wet.

I used the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern, size medium. I've shown off embellished-tab diapers I've made using this pattern in the past, but here are some pictures for how I actually altered the pattern to do it. I took the idea from this Diaper Sewing Divas tutorial (free registration required), but that uses the La Di Da pattern. For DDU, I followed the same directions to cut off the wings at the line connecting the elastic endpoints (marked by stars):

And I did the same for the wings:

The LDD tutorial talks about trimming the little "tail" that you get when you put the tab pattern on top of the body pattern. For DDU, there are two little "tails" that need to be trimmed, one on top and one on the bottom. See them here?

Final tab pattern with both tails trimmed:

I traced the tab pattern onto vinyl. This allowed me to position the pattern just right on the fabric, because I could see through the pattern. Do you see the shiny vinyl on top in the picture below? The blue dots mark the snap placements (for both a single row and double row of snaps):

Once I have the tabs cut out, I sew them to the body, then proceed with diaper construction as usual.

The final product:

I didn't get the logos placed on the tabs quite as well as I would have liked, but I think it looks OK still!

Inner is suedecloth with a modified welt pocket:

Insert is a Zorb II trifold with serged edges:

Folded up for stuffing into the pocket:

I hope the recipients enjoy these gifts as much as I enjoyed making them!