Fitted Diapers, with snaps

Here I go, upcycling again.

My snappi's no longer fit James well, they take quite a bit of stretching. I suppose with 17 months of daily use, 5-10 diapers a day they were well worth the money. Time to tuck them away for future babies.

In the meantime though, I needed to find a better, easier way to diaper James. With Mr. Sir gone off to training, cloth diapering has been put on the backburner a bit. Diapering, washing, drying and dealing with rash and ammonia isn't what I really want to deal with. Actually, I still WANT to deal with it, for the environment and the savings. It is just time consuming.

So, for my sanity I am finding other ways. This latest grand idea is to take the thinning prefolds, add a center absorbant strip that isn't sewn to the diaper, that way it has more surface area to help dry it. I bought a plastic snap pliers with some snaps to play with. I also use elastic on the waist, and legs to keep the messes in and for a slimmer fit. So far I have maybe 6 of these fitted diapers. Enough for one full day at home before I wash, dry, and repeat.

I am also upcycling old flannel cloth that I have lying around for the inserts, the flannel is from some shirts, sheets, and old projects. The inserts are also from some really thin diapers that only work as stuffers. I am trying to use up some odd thread colors that I have too, that is why the thread does not math.

Being human, I will admit that I do cheat. We use a disposable overnight because he sleeps better when he doesn't wake up with the urine next to his skin. Which makes momma sleep better, which in turn makes everyone happier. I also use a disposable in the mornings when he is sure to poop. Oh, the ease.

I have been sewing one at a time for a couple of months now. I intend to make a bunch more because I like them that much.

Oh, and the snaps. Amazing. He can pull them off but not as easy as velcro. They are easy to install too. I can add more snaps to them to create girth as he grows into the diaper. I only spaced out the snaps for girth on a few of the diapers because I am still playing around with the sizing.

But here you go, enjoy!

Yes, that is Garfield you see peeking at you from the open one.

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Colorful Diaper Bag

I have been missing for a little while. I just haven't done anything much to write about. With Mr. Sir gone, I have been keeping really busy. Visiting family, cleaning, reading, working, etc. etc.

But last night I needed to do something with my hands and for a while now I have been going crazy with my diaper bag.

 Yes , it is a big blue backpack. I wanted something that Mr. Sir wouldn't feel weird carrying around, it was big enough for cloth diapers. It worked and it was free. Win, win win. But now that I am doing all of the diaper bag carrying. I want something a little more.... well.... less blue backpacky. Also, 90 percent of the time, it has been a dumping ground for anything needed carrying.

So, to solve my problem of lack of pockets and blue backpackyness, I made a new bag. JoAnne's had this fabric on sale and in their remnant bin. I don't know if you realize this but anything in the remnant bin is 50% off the sale price of the fabric. So I always go scrounging through the bin, I like scraps. There is a lot you can do with 1/2 or 3/4 of a yard of fabric which is what a lot of the pieces are.

 

I came across this tutorial on Pinterest for a DIY messenger bag, I liked it but it didn't have enough pockets for me so as I went along, I added extra pockets.

I really like how it turned out. There are a few things that I would definitely change about it if I made it again. But honestly I whipped it out in about 4 hours and 2 of those hours were also spent distracting James. So for the time and money involved it is well worth it. It's also a bit classier than a big blue backpack.

 

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An Owl Diaper Cake

I have a friend who is expecting a baby any day now. She had a shower a few weeks ago and I wasn't sure what to get her. I love looking at baby gifts on Pinterest and I saw an adorable little owl. So I had to reproduce a cute little doo-dad for her.

Ain't she cute.... lets call her Who-phia.

Instead of purple eyes, I swapped the purple cloth out for a couple of onsies. There is a bib that I serged up, a rubber ducky for the nose, a receiving blanket for the wings, and little viking socks for the ears. Then, of course there are diapers. Adorable cute little newborn diapers. I am sure they will be well-soiled.

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Plaid Diaperness

My sisters mother-in-law gave me an old shirt to upcycle. I was originally going to make diaper soakers with it. But I am a sucker for plaid, and what is cuter than a little plaid tushy. So here is a plaid diaper cover that I made for James.

I played around with diapers, but so far I still like just using prefolds with covers.

Here's the cute tushy.

.

The socks are hand dyed by Wendy Richardson owner of Quilt Tapestry Studio. Aren't they adorable?

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Baby stuff you just hate to throw away.

I found out about this website.

           http://www.babyearth.com/renew/

                             It is excellent.



You know that stash of baby stuff that is just sitting in storage. Those expired car seats, old strollers and etc. This company will recycle them for you. They accept
- Strollers
- Car Seats
- Swings
- Jumpers
- High Chairs
- Diaper Bags
No needing to track down  someplace that will take them. You just pay shipping, send it off, and they give you a 5$ coupon to their store. Sounds good to me! James's car seat expires next December 2014. I have been dreading that time, because I have to throw it away instead of keeping it for future children. (My sister used it before me for my niece, so it has been used quite a bit!) The reason I cringe is because this car seat still looks like new. A sticker has fallen off, but other than that it looks perfect even though it is going on the second child.

I urge you to check it out and keep these large items out of our landfills to be repurposed or find new homes.

Here is James chilling in his car seat earlier this summer. I believe he was 3 months old. 

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*I am in no way affiliated with BabyEarth.com I just find their mission to be excellent.*

Stuffin' Stuffers.

I have some microfiber inserts and wasn't using them. They should not be used directly on baby's skin because it can dry them out and cause diaper rash. I bought the microfiber inserts at first to stuff pocket diapers, but I have a strong dislike of my kawaii pockets. (I actually just sold my pockets! Yay! More money to buy new diapers that I prefer better.) So I covered the microfiber inserts in flannel to use them inside a PUL by themselves. The microfiber inserts also act as sponges. Meaning they leak under pressure, pressure like baby bums. Therefore the flannel outside the microfiber should help prevent overflows by soaking up the extra leakage.

This is just a microfiber insert covered with flannel.

I have used it a few times, works great for pee and makes quite a mess with poop unless used with a prefold to catch the poo. 

It was a great way to use the microfiber inserts and make do with what I have. They weren't being used before, and now they are!

 

Live and Love!

Folders not Stuffers.

I saw this diaper in some of my diaper tutorial perusing. It made me real intrigued. Some diapers take a long time to dry in the dryer. This diaper opens up and so it will take much less time to dry. I have not tried using it yet but I am excited to try it out. It also means that I don't have to go searching for stuffers, it is all one piece. More ease for momma? Yes, please!

I do need to resize it though, the medium is a bit big for James.

I used this pattern from Wittey Bums
http://prefold2fitted.blogspot.com/2013/03/sized-flat-wrap-fitted-diapers.html

Like the last one, I need to play with it some more. Snaps, elastic, so on and so forth. Make it fit and make it work.

Live and Love!

A Christening Outfit for $1.50

I was intent on making James's christening outfit. I started out wanting to make him a gown and ended up making him a little suit. I went to the thrift store and found a nice white mens shirt for $1.50. I made his little pants out of the sleeves and used pieces from the front and back to make his top. The collar and button placket is from the original mens shirt.

To make the onsie top I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. The tutorial made their own collar but I just shortened the original collar by cutting it in the middle of the back, sewing it together and sewing a fine zigzag over my seam to finish it off nicely.

Then to make the little knicker/bloomers I just folded a pair of his other pants in half down the crotch, cut out the fabric from each sleeve of the shirt, added leg cuffs, a waistband, and a few buttons. The button closure on the front of the pants is fake and the waistband has elastic in the back.

The tie was a gift from a neighbor. I was going to make him a little bow tie with suspenders but the little necktie was just too darn cute to not have him wear.

Not bad for a buck fifty, if I do say so myself.
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Meet the Wee One

I never actually got around to introducing my little boy to Green Socks with Polka Dots. He is now two and a half months old and getting more agile by the day. So here he is all 10 fingers and everything...

 For the sake of the big bad internet, we are going to call him James here on the blog.

 "Whaddya lookin' at?"

 This looks like an "I didn't do it!" grin.

and him in his new high chair from his Great Grandma, Great Aunt, Great Uncle and a passel of cousins.

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Kicking Sack for Baby

A few posts back I had a picture of a yarn that I kool-aid dyed. Turned out that I didn't have enough for my kicking sack so I had to dye another skein. I wanted a nice red along the bottom of the sack and like how it turned out. There is no pattern or tutorial for this because I kind of made it up as I went but I think that it is going to work fairly well and I am in love with how the colors turned out.
Live and Love

Nursery ready for the wee one!

Furniture here and all ready for the wee one to come. Now we have a spot to put it!

The bassinet ready in the bedroom for the wee one.

  I got the idea for the tree from here
 http://www.dezignwithaz.com/fairy-tree-wall-decals-nurseries-decoration-lilly-a-320.html   
 The castle I got from here
http://www.urbanthreads.com/categories.aspx?category=EmbroideryDesigns
And finally the dragon, I used this link
http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/1386-0812-3016-3850.html

The Nursery is Painted...

The nursery has been painted for a while now. I have avoided taking pictures due to it being a disaster zone. But now that it is a little more organized, I feel a little bit better about showing it off. We have furniture for it (including crib, dresser, bookcase, and toybox) but they won't be here for a while and that is okay since baby will be in our room for the first while anyways. The murals are all hand painted on the walls.

The rocking chair will go in the corner with the tree, and the crib is going underneath the castle. The dragon is over the door to protect the wee one while it sleeps.

 

I got the idea for the tree from here

 http://www.dezignwithaz.com/fairy-tree-wall-decals-nurseries-decoration-lilly-a-320.html

 The castle I got from here

http://www.urbanthreads.com/categories.aspx?category=EmbroideryDesigns

 

 And finally the dragon, I used this link

http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/1386-0812-3016-3850.html

Recycled Baby Leggings

So every year Mr.Sir gets me tall socks for Valentines day. I love these socks, and I have worn through the toes on a few pairs. Also, I hate toe socks. With a passion. My toes are meant to sit together all snug and comfy, not be separated. I also happened to have a pair of Halloween socks that I received from my late grandmother a few years before she died. I wanted to stretch the lives of these socks just a little bit, without having to deal with chilly toes.

So I took my holey-toe and toesocks and cut them off at the heel (or just above the toe confines). I folded down an edge and serged it down (if you are trying it, a zig-zag stitch works just as well), ironed and wha-la. Baby leggings for the wee-one.

We don't know what we are having, if it happens to be a boy, well, I don't think he will care if he is wearing pink leggings just at home.

They will be handy with the bulkier cloth diapers, so when hanging out at home we don't have to constantly take off pants to change the diaper.

 Live and Love

Cloth Diaper Stash

It includes 12 pocket diapers, 36 microfiber inserts, 6 generic PUL 8-20 lb covers, 3 thirsties 6-18 lb covers, 3 econobum size 2 covers, 3 acrylic knit covers, 24 prefold inserts, 44 homeade flannel wipes, and 12 homeade nursing pads.

Knitting Dipes

You have probably been curious as to what I have been doing with all of my pregnant spare time lately. Do you wanna know??

I have been practicing my knitting.

Yup, knitting. Sitting watching entire seasons of TV show's and movies (the latest has been all 7 seasons of Monk) with the click clack of needles.

I have been knitting diaper 'soakers'. Technically soakers are made out of wool. They work as cloth diaper covers instead of PUL or vinyl pants. Lanolized wool has a self cleaning property meaning that you only have to handwash them about once a month unless they are poopy. They also breathe better for those babies that are prone to diaper rash. Not to mention they are completely adorable!

I knit my first three soakers out of acrylic because I wanted to practice and get the patterns down before I splurged on wool. The acrylic soakers won't last as long because I will end up washing them more, about as much as the PUL covers. The nice thing about acrylic soakers is that they don't need hand washing.

For the first yellow one I used the Super Soaker pattern found here http://www.spudandchloe.com/patterns/super-soakers/

Then for the purple and yellow ones I used the Plain Wrap pattern found here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whw-plain-wrap

Super Soaker

Purple Plain Wrap

Yellow Plain Wrap

Open Yellow Plain Wrap

I just bought some plain Peruvian Highland Wool and dyed it with Kool-Aid using this crockpot method (http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=764). I can't wait to knit it into something. Right now I am either considering a kicking bag (only if I have enough yarn) or another diaper cover. Can't decide but I will sure post it when done. Now I need to go decide which one to start!

Forgive the sloppy wound ball of yarn, it is my first time winding a ball.

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