Beware: thar be (clean) diaper pictures ahead

I first have to share a bit of my father's insanity before I begin this entry.

Backstory: My mom mailed me some fabric swatches as ideas to reupholster a rocker I bought on Craigslist ($20, baby, for the rocker and footstool). Apparently my dad got hold of the envelope before it hit the mailbox and decided to send a message along to my husband. Behold:

(It says, "What up [Fritz]... For Shizzal... Mo Dizzal...")

So, the past couple of days I've been working on diaper covers. I have a pattern for an AIO diaper* that I altered to be a cover** for prefolds***. I managed to make six with some scrap cotton facings before I squeezed the last bit of life out of my yard of PUL****. I ordered some more online so I can finish up.

I have to make them in three different sizes, because I have no clue what ages we'll be getting. For ease of sorting laundry, I faced each size with a different print. Hoping they'd be somewhat gender neutral, I scrounged from my stash a geometric purple/blue/green, a Harry Potter (playing Quidditch, no less!) print, and a sage green floral-ish print. Yeah, they're not completely gender-neutral, but I really doubt a small child is going to care what's on their diaper. And I think they're dang cute. What do you think?

As usual, I'll give my insecure "They're really not as slouchy as they photograph" spiel. It's just hard to stand them up straight. Once they're filled with baby bum, they'll look just right.

The second piece of Velcro on each wing is a fold-over tab for laundering. You fold the "hook" part over on to the "loop" part so it doesn't snag anything in the wash.

I also used the leftovers from the cloth wipes to make a few large face wipes to keep near the high chair. It gave me a chance to try out a few of the funkier stitches on my machine, which was lots of fun.

So that about wraps up project-land this week. No more furniture to refinish, no more beds to make up, and I can't finish making diaper covers until my PUL comes next week. I might have time to actually work on that dress!


* An all-in-one (AIO) diaper is the closest thing to a disposable there is. All layers - the absorber, the waterproof layer, and sometimes an absorbent doubler for heavy wetters - are contained within one piece.

** A diaper cover is a waterproof shell that goes outside a fitted or prefold diaper. Usually made of PUL, fleece, or wool. In older generations, they used the generic term "rubber pants."

*** A prefold diaper is basically a large rectangle of absorbent fabric (usually Birdseye pique or diaper flannel - sometimes made of fancier fabrics like organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, velour, suedecloth, etc), sewn in such a way as to have extra layers of fabric running down the center as a built-in doubler. It is folded, wrapped around the baby, and pinned. A waterproof diaper cover must be worn over it. This is the most basic and oldest type of cloth diaper. It's also the cheapest.

****PUL is short for polyurethane laminate. It is basically laminated cotton.