Mike and Sarah: cloth diaper tutorial

as part of more new baby prep, we're stocking up on more "dad-friendly" diapers. we got dad on board with cloth dipes (he even does prefolds these days and can tell you what a snappi and a liner is), but we can't push our luck too much and so we rely on pocket diapers for folks that are scared of cloth diapers. here's a little tutorial on the diapers we've been making...mostly so we can remember for making a few more.

step 1. place busy baby in play pen. if you actually want to get something done, it's a good idea to say a small prayer that he will be content in the confined quarters.

step 2. from a pattern or existing diaper, cut a piece of wicking fabric and a larger piece of PUL (1/4-1/2 inch longer on each side, 1-2 inches longer on the front...we've found this little trick which helps prevent the wicking layer from touching clothes which makes for a wet baby). we usually get our fabric from the "baby boutique" section at Joann's with our handy-dandy half price coupons.

step 3. sew the PUL and wicking layer together, wrong sides together, starting with the longer front PUL tab (note how the PUL extends onto the wicking layer while pinning the sides).

step 4. leave a 3-4 inch opening in the back for the "pocket". you need enough room to both stuff the diaper with absorbent layers, and to pull said layers out when the diaper is dirty. assume worst case poop scenarios...don't make the hole to small, or as you pull it out, you'll have poop on your hands (or a nearby wall...just sayin' from experience). but also don't make it too big that it sags while baby is occupying the diaper. the width of the narrowest part of the diaper (between the legs) seems to be a good width to eyeball.

step 5. add elastic to the pocket. this helps prevent the aforementioned sag and also hems the pocket in one fell swoop. tack the elastic in a few locations, and then sew a casing around it...or whatever elastic attachment method you favor. I prefer swim elastic because it's thin (in both dimensions) and seems to be holding up well in the hot water of the washer (these shells are line dried).

step 6. that was good warmup for the trickiest part of the diaper...adding elastic to the legs. after various experiments, this is the method I've settled on. first, mark your elastic with a sharpie at the halfway and quarter marks.

step 7. pin the sharpie-d locations to equivalent locations on the leg gusset (i.e. the halfway sharpie mark on the elastic matches to the halfway part of the leg). this gives you enough distance to stretch the elastic to align with the fabric, but not so far that you get random bunches towards the end.

step 8. tack down the elastic at the sharpie marks for reinforcement and so you can remove pins for the next step which is prone to lots of pricks.

step 9. while stretching the elastic to the length of the fabric, zig zag the elastic to the leg edge. use the longest (not necessarily widest) stitch length.

step 10. if you're feeling extra fancy or extra scared of poop, add a double gusset using the same method. we're still perfecting the technique and tension on this aspect, but for this version, i only tacked it to the wicking layer at the sharpie marks since it wouldn't need to stay within a casing. this way, it's not a beast to sew like a traditional two piece gusset and doesn't interfere with stuffing since its only on the inside layer.

step 11. almost there! the hard work is over, time to make it pretty. to tame the toddler, start sesame street on youtube. this is a must in order for all parties to maintain their sanity.

step 12. flip the diaper right side out.

step 13. topstitch around the entire diaper. at the elastic sections, make the topstitch width wider to sew a casing around the leg elastic. note how the larger piece of PUL comes around to the inside in the casing and the wicking fabric is joined right at the seam of the casing.

step 14. reinforce all casings and make them pretty too. in our house, lime green is the way to go for all exposed stitches. this photo shows the transition between a topstitched (narrow) and casing (wide) section.

step 15. put on all the snaps so the diaper can grow with baby ("one size fits all"). a horizontal layer for belly growth and a vertical layer for tallness. i like to add a contrasting color of snaps in the middle...beats counting snaps to find the center, especially in the dim light of 2 am wakings. Note, if you were using velcro, the closures would all need to be sewn on at the very beginning, before joining the two layers. snaps could also be done at the beginning, but i usually forget and it could interfere with topstitching. we like snaps since they can be added at anytime, don't wear out in washing, and can't be pulled off by curious toddlers.