Cloth Diaper Cover Tutorial

We've decided to cloth diaper baby Q and since we only have 9 weeks left until her arrival, I decided it was high time I get everything I need to diaper her when we come home. I recently learned that Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's sells Babyville products, a line that has everything you need to make cloth diapers. After doing the math, I discovered that I could make about 8 diapers for the price of buying two. Now that's just common sense.

There are lots of free patterns out there but I couldn't find any that suited my needs so I decided to draft my own to be like the Thirsties Duo Wrap Snap cover because it's adjustable and can fit a baby from birth to about 18 pounds.

I did have to buy all of supplies because these are not things I have ever used before.

PRICE AND SUPPLIES

Supplies:
-Pattern
-16x16 square of PUL fabric
-snaps
-snap applicator
-about 1.5 feet fold over elastic or *FOE
-sewing machine, preferably with a 3 stitch ziz-zag capability
-good quality polyester thread

*FOE: There is a great seller on ebay called hobovian who sells FOE in a large variety of colors and it's incredibly cheap. She will even send you color samples for free. this link should take you right to her page or search "fold over elastic" on ebay.

**Obviously, if you're buying your supplies at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby, you can use 40% off coupons for all of these items.

Here's the cheapest possible scenario to make 8 covers:
Buy 1 yard of fabric for $14.99, using a 40% off coupon for $8.99
Buy a pack of snaps for $7.99, using a 40% off coupon for $4.80
Buy 10 yards of fold over elastic on ebay for $3.30 + shipping, about $5 total
Buy a snap applicator (one time purchase) with a 40% off coupon for $12

Total cost of 8 cloth diaper covers: $18.79 + tax
Plus the one time cost of the snap applicator for $12.

$20 for 8 diaper covers is AMAZING. Even $31 (including the snap applicator) for 8 covers is still AMAZING! That's two covers retail!

JoAnn's sells a pack of coordinating pre-cut PUL squares, enough to make 3 covers, for $14.99. I almost bought a pack until I realized that I can make 8 covers for the same price (1 yard of fabric.)
The down side to my frugality is that I'll have a lot of covers using the same fabric, but remember you can always make wet bags, bibs, diaper changing mats and lots of other things with your leftover PUL.

TUTORIAL:

First I laid out all my pattern pieces and traced them on the wrong side of the PUL with a marker. Then I marked where all the snaps would be. In my pattern (which is made of poster board) I poked little holes where the snaps need to be so that I would just press a marker over the hole and it would leave a mark.

After cutting out all my pieces I taped the wings and rectangle in place, which are there to reinforce the snaps. I used tape to avoid putting holes in the PUL.

Then I used the awl (it comes in the snap applicator kit) to poke holes in the PUL for the snaps.

The actual application of the snaps is simple but this is one of the tricky parts of making the cover. You need to be cautious of which side the cap (smooth side of the snap) should be on and if you need to be using a stud or socket.

The caps need to be on the inside of the cover, except for the 4 on the wings. Also, on my pattern I have a 21 snaps total and I have a blue x over 4 of the snap marks. Those x marks need the opposite kind of snap than the other 17. So if I used a socket on the 17 snaps, I need to use a stud on the 4 with the blue x. If I used 17 SOCKETS on one diaper, I will use 17 STUDS on my next diaper so that I don't run out of sockets and have a pile of studs that can't be used. Make sense? I hope so because I re-wrote that about 10 times trying to make it understandable. Make sure you give the snaps a really good squeeze. I was having a hard time getting my snaps to click together so I started giving them 5-6 squeezes when I applied them, and I no longer have a problem.



Now I'm about a half hour into this project and all the snaps are finally in place! All that's left to do is add the fold over elastic.
To apply the FOE, you start by adding elastic to the gussets and basting them in place. Then, starting near the top left wing, you sew using a 3 stitch zigzag (or a wide zigzag if necessary) but sewing it as you would normal bias tape and NOT STRETCHING IT. There are four sections where you need to stretch the FOE as you sew, the back, the legs and the front. One tip: go slow!

After you're done sewing and before you ever use them on baby, you need to put them in the dryer and let it run on hot for 20 minutes to seal the holes.

It seems simple enough but it was a matter of trail and error for me. I bought a package of Babyville's FOE because I was too impatient to wait for my ebay order to arrive. I hate to say it, but I didn't like Babyville's FOE. It didn't have enough stretch to it which is okay for the outer edge of the cover but the gussets need a lot of stretch! So when I sewed my next diaper I used normal bias tape in the gusset area only and added some basic elastic from my stash. It turned out so much better! Here's a comparison:They look the same here, but when you open them up...
...the pink is much tighter. The green diaper has FOE in the gussets. The pink diaper has bias tape + elastic.

I'm happy with the overall size of the pattern. These pictures shows the original Thirsties Duo cover next to my pink cover.

I tweaked some things along the way. You can see in some pictures that my green cover has a squared top corner. I started sewing a rounded top corner because it was easier and looked nicer in the end.

I received my FOE from ebay today. I sewed another diaper and I liked the FOE much better.

Here's another option:
After seeing how effective the bias tape + elastic was, I sewed a diaper using only bias tape and I sewed little pieces of elastic into the 4 sections that needed it. This diaper also turned out really well, so if you don't want to spend the money on FOE, just buy double fold bias tape and some elastic (I think I used 1/4 inch but you could certainly use bigger.)

I am loving making these covers. But since my little one isn't here I don't know how well they work. I sent some home with my SIL to try on her 5 month old. I'm anxious to get her report!

****UPDATE****
My SIL tested the diapers on her baby, she said they work great!

I went to JoAnns and got some more fabric and some velcro. It occurred to me that snaps in the middle of the night might be a pain, so I wanted a few with velcro.

I bought the Babyville book and I'm really glad I did. It has great ideas and patterns. There are step by step pictures and instructions for all kinds of diapers. I highly recommend buying the book.

Here are a few more that I've made.


I found a style in the book that intrigued me called the snail shell.

It's a basic diaper cover that doesn't need to be made of PUL. There are snaps in the cover that hold a shell, which is a piece of PUL that holds a prefold or insert.

Cover

With shell snapped in


With prefold in place.

I can't wait to try out the snail shell. It would be so easy to snap shells in and out.

I've made more covers than Baby Q will ever need. I need to start trying pocket diapers or AIO's. I just can't stop!

10 Minute Table Runner & Cake plate

I wanted to add a little Spring to the kitchen so I whipped this table runner up in literally 10 minutes, maybe less. Possibly the easiest thing in the world to sew. If you want a tutorial, let me know.

Also, I found this awesome plate at DI for $1 so I made it into a cake stand using an upside down sundae dish and some gorilla glue. Pretty self explanatory.

My kitchen feels spring-y. Mission accomplished.

Play apron and oven mitt

After watching how much DD loved playing with a real oven mitt, I just had to make one so I unwrapped her apron and whipped up a quick oven mitt to go with it. (Fabric from Hobby Lobby)

The oven mitt isn't the best but I just free-handed it in about 2 minutes.

BTW, the apron pattern was incredibly easy. I borrowed it from my neighbor. She bought it at Wal-Mart. It's McCall's M5720 if anyone is interested.

Dresses

DD broke my camera so I've had to take pictures with my phone, which aren't very good. So I apologize for the quality. (Not that my camera took great pictures either :))

I've been making dresses for DD. It's my first attempt at sewing clothes and I'm surprised that I'm really enjoying it.
This was my first dress.
I took a onesie and added a skirt and ruffles. The fabric was a remnant I got at Hobby Lobby that I knew I'd be able to put to good use.

This is DD's Easter dress. Or rather, what was supposed to be her Easter dress but it's so big on her that I'm going to stick it in the closet for next Easter.
But I've conquered my fear of patterns. That's a big thing for me!

Rotary Cutter Tip

BFF and I were talking about how much we love rotary cutters as opposed to scissors. However, we both get frustrated because the ruler that you're using to cut a straight line tends to slip, and there goes your straight line.
BFF told be that her mom has a ruler with a non-slip grip. Then a light bulb went off. Hot glue tends to have the same effect. So I glued a thin layer of hot glue around the edge of my ruler and, voila! No more ruler slip!

I'm sure many other people have already thought of this, but I thought I'd throw it out there just in case.

Grocery Bag Holder

I loved this grocery bag holder that I found on one of my favorite sites Make It and Love It. I made one for my bro-in-law and his bride and loved it so much I decided to make one for my mom & sister.
I followed Ashley's tutorial which you can find here

I been obsessed with fabric flowers lately so I added one of those. You can find a great tutorial for fabric flowers here.

Tip Junkie has tutorials for many different types of fabric flowers. You can find them here.

Recovered Sewing Box

About a year ago, long before I got into sewing, I went looking for a sewing box to hold the few sewing materials I had (like needles and thread). I found some cute ones but I thought $20 was ridiculous, especially since I was never gong to get into crafts. (Never say never!)

I found this at the thrift store. I liked the baby blue but the fabric was ugly, but who cares because, again, I wasn't into crafts. I look it home and it held every single crafty thing I had, with ample room to spare.

Well, now that I've come over to the crafty side and I use this all the time to hold my sewing notions, I decided that ugly old grandma cover had to go. I looked through my fabric remnants and found a fat quarter I had bought at JoAnns. It's hard to tell in this picture (because my camera sucks) that the blues match perfectly.

Much prettier now.

Appliqued Potato Bag

I think the potato fabric is a little dizzying and I liked the idea of appliqueing 2 potatoes onto the front of the bag so I gave it a try. This bag is for my BFF so I know she wont judge me for the flaws. I like this look a lot better than the all-potato fabric.

I'm anxious to start a pillow slipcover with appliqued flowers.

More Hanging Dishtowels

Turns out DH's brother and his wife's kitchen is red and black, not green. The rest of their house is green, but I guess I shouldn't have assumed. Anyway, I made them red and black hanging dishtowels and I think they turned out really cute.

My kitchen is red and white so I made these for myself.

Hanging Dishtowels

DD takes dishtowels off the oven door the second she enters the kitchen. I remember the dishtowels that had the crochet loop on top, but that's more for my mom's kitchen.

Yesterday I was browsing Somewhat Simple and found the solution to my problem. Tanya from Trey & Lucy was guest blogging and featured these hanging dishtowels

I was at Wal-mart and I went to look for dishtowels with matching potholders. The were out of red (my kitchen color) but they had green which is the kitchen color for DH's brother & his new bride. So I decided to make some for them.
All of this cost me $3! The potholders come in a 2-pack for $1 and the towels were $1 each.
At the last minute I decided to add some ribbon to spruce them up. I'll be watching for Wal-mart to restock their red dishtowels to make some for myself.

Potato Bags

We've lived in our new home since August and I finally ventured out to find some fabric stores today. I couldn't resist this potato fabric to make some potato bags. BTW, if anyone hasn't used one, they are incredible. Perfect baked potatoes in 5 minutes. I followed this tutorial

Dress Solution

DH's little brother is getting married tomorrow to an amazing girl who has quickly become one of my best friends. I just love her!
We were asked to wear black skirts with a top in one of the wedding colors (hot pink, black, silver and dark green). I've had something in mind but I never actually put the outfit together until saturday night. I quickly realized that it just wasn't going to work. PANIC!

I remembered a black dress I bought and only wore once because it's a wrap around and running after a baby in church in a wrap around dress and teaching 3 year olds was rather difficult. Plus, the neckline is to low and putting a shades shirt underneath dressed it down quite a bit.

On Saturday night we ran to Shopko to see if we could find anything to make this work. When we were ready to give up DH saw a display of long sleeve tee's in hot pink. It was the right color, wrong look. And it didn't solve the problem of the wrap around skirt opening.

It finally dawned on me that I could insert some fabric to the wrap around part so that when the wind was blowing I wouldn't flash everybody.

I came home and started cutting up the t-shirt we bought. I sewed the front of the shirt into the neckline and the back of the shirt into the bottom.

Last night I decided that I didn't like the neckline because it's just a boring t-shirt neck. So I made the neckline to look like a corsage tee like I saw on Make It and Love It. I think it really completed the outfit. Here's the bottom: And here's the whole thing:
Then I made this hair piece to go with it using a super cute black button in the middle that I got in a button grab bag from Walmart