As I’ve been contemplating this new baby thing I’ve got happening in the fall, I’ve been prioritizing baby needs. First: baby carriers. I have a ring sling, a Moby Wrap,
I’ve cloth diapered my last 3 kids. Xander reacted to every disposable diaper out there. It was prefolds, pins, and plastic covers. But did you know there is this whole internet niche market for cloth diaperers? And it existed 10 years ago when I was pregnant with Eli? I discovered that I had OPTIONS. Magical options that have multiplied in the last decade.
Just as the options have multiplied, so have the DIY cloth diapering tutorials. I’m not going to do a full tutorial because there are so many out there, and I would be recreating the work rather than adding much newness to it. My two favorite cloth diapering tutorials are:
Simple fitted contour diaper
Click for the tute.
and
RRP diapers
Click for the tute
I relied heavily on the first one. I played with the pattern but, honestly, she’s got it down. Just follow her instructions. I did skip adding snaps (since these will lie in a cover though I will make some with velcro), and I used all materials I had on hand. Items needed:
Elastic. This is for the legs and, if you want, for the back as well. Because these will be washed and dried and washed and dried and washed and dried, I highly recommend buying specific swimsuit elastic. I use 3/8″.
Absorbent center. This can be any absorbent fabric. You can use old prefolds, old layered towels, old doublers and diaper inserts that have seen better days.
An inside fabric. You want to use something that will draw the moisture away. A lot of people use minky or diaper flannel or microfleece. Me? I used old 100% cotton tshirts.
An outer fabric. You can make these diapers cover-less if you use good quality fleece (like Malden Mills) or PUL on the outside. I used scrap fabric I had and old tshirts.
Closures. You can use velcro (again, buy the good stuff) or snaps. However, you can also make the back “wings” longer and pin them in the middle like the RRP diaper. Or you can keep them shorter and use two pins. Or, if you don’t use flannel on the outside, you can use a Snappi
And now that I have enough newborn diapers — I have more than the 5 pictured — I’m moving on to mediums. This is my kind of nesting.
