Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Freecycle Sharing

I was emailing with a fellow Freecyler freecycle.org about diaper sewing. Here is some of the email I shared with her on my sewing and other diaper thoughts.

I decided to cd first to save money and second for the environment. I really thought I would try to use G-Diapers as much as I could with this baby ( her name is Tuli). They are expense though. I do have 2 kits that don't fit her yet but I think I can just put inserts in them. My mother in law told me she was very surprised I haven't decided to cd but when I was pregnant and changing poopy diapers on my then 2.5 year old (Danika)... the thought cloth made me want to puke... literally! Once I had Tuli and went through 2 packages of diapers in 2 weeks and I was reminded what newborn poop is like, I thought I would investigate them. So here we are about 8 weeks into it. I have to admit I am slightly addicted.

I have a few one size diapers (BumGenius, Happy Heiny and Cloth Diapers Wholesale). I love my BG & HH and still a little on the fence on the Cloth Diapers Wholesale http://www.clothdiaperwholesale.com/page/page/6292069.htm. I actually bought mine off ebay and they were about $7.50/diaper. I have a little trouble making sure none of the inside material is sticking out so that they don't leak. I use all of them as my night time diapers on both girls.

When it come to sewing my fitteds I have to admit it was a challenge but a good one. But it was a challenge because of my serious lack of sewing knowledge and experience. Before sewing diapers the only thing I did with my sewing machine was curtains and hem pants. I combine several different patterns till I got one that worked for us. I started with Mama Bird http://www.geocities.com/rew4birth/index.html altered the diapers to work for Tuli. Then someone gave me a few 12 year old Indisposable Fitteds http://www.mylilmiracle.com/Department.aspx?DeptID=4&& and I really like how they fit. The other 2 websites that were helpful with my inexperience were

http://webpages.charter.net/rhamley/diapers/diapertext1.htm and http://mayna.livejournal.com/198548.html

My fitted are anti-pill fleece inside (next to baby's skin) and flannel outside ( just used old flannel sheets). My soakers were an old terry bath mat ( the kind that are thinker than regular towels). They are amazingly absorbent, but are think and take a long time to dry. I am cutting apart the smaller fitteds to put some in the new ones I am sewing. I am experimenting this time around with bamboo/cotton and micro-fiber soakers so they are a little more trim. I sewed mine so that I just zig-zag around the entire edge instead of sewing them inside out and then turning them. I felt like there was less thickness between Tuli's legs. But putting the elastic in has been tricky... again first time I have ever put elastic into anything! This time around I change my closure to be more like the Happy Heiny's. The closure and rise is what Tuli out grew so quickly on the other ones I made. I used 2 inch aplix this time time instead of 1.25" too. I feel a little more experienced in making them and hopefully she can wear them for longer than a month. I also bought some PUL and would like to try to make some pockets and covers but the fitteds are priority right now. I have made soakers and wipes too. I have been using micro-fiber and terry for the soakers and I use flannel for the wipes. My daughter was super sensitive to all the disposable wipes so I would have ended up making my own anyways, whether I was cding or not.

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