Well, well. The last time I posted about diapers, I was quite, quite silly.
The “doody diaper” resides in my Milk Crate Of Baby Stuff, and will, of course, be used, but so will this one:
This was some novelty calico I bought out of the remnant basket at Bon Bon Atelier last year. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew I would do something fun. I had just enough of this calico to cut two nappies. Beneath the printed fabric, there is a layer of waterproof nylon, then the terrycloth lining has a triple panel of terry toweling throughout the pee-zone.
I used an old bath towel that was past its prime for the lining and the interlinings. You can get two diapers worth of linings out of one normal-sized old towel. You can get secondhand towels for very cheap at thrift shops, usually, so if you’re looking to diaper on a tight budget, that’s one good source of absorbent fabric.
Inspired by some commercially-produced fabric diapers a friend handed down to us, I made this somewhat size-adjustable via rows of buttons on the front panel. The diapers Beth sent use snaps, but I double-detest installing those press-in snaps, and perversely would rather make a half dozen buttonholes and sew on twenty buttons than fuck around with the snaps. They’re not notably fiddlier than the snaps to do up, and the multicolored buttons do look pretty cute, if I do say so myself.
I’m making another pair with this same button printed fabric, then I cut two pair in a really pretty cobalt blue calico with white and periwinkle-blue stars on it. Those will fasten up with some pearly-grey shirt buttons, which I think will look nice with the fabric. More photos will probably follow.
This particular diaper pattern came out of an old Simplicity pattern from 1977 (the year I was born!).
There are two other items I am making from this envelope – View 1, the bib, and View 2, the sleeper sack. However, I will not be finishing the neckline with a tie, as that is no longer done. Sometime in the last 36 years or so, Safety was invented, and I’m all about not, say, cutting off circulation to my child’s head. Call me nutty if you want, but there it is.
I have another spectacular multi-size diaper pattern that one of my Mom’s friends sent me, and I’ll be going hog wild with that one soon, too.
It looks really good, the instructions are simple and straightforward, and it can be scaled all the way up to training-pants size. I will spend some quality time tracing all the sizes into Tyvek, so I can get as much use out of this one as possible. I think I will probably deviate from the original design just a bit and make these to use a removable pee-pad, because I have a handful of extra pee-pads from the stash of stuff Beth sent, plus I can make additional ones that can be “moved up” as the baby grows into the next size diaper. It’ll be a fabric savings, as I’ll only need to cut the decorative outside layer, the waterproof interlining, and the lining that sits next to the skin. The heavy-duty absorbent part will be removable for better laundering and to be re-usable in other sizes.