BrambleStitches

Now that Baby Dango (dango are a type of Japanese dumpling made from rice flour) is growing and moving around a lot more, I’m starting to get a little sewing done in preparation for his/her arrival. Cloth diapers are first on the list, since I already had all the fabric (I was going to use it to make Gavin an extra set, but never did). I’m using my own pattern, which you can download here (downloads as PDF). These are pocket diapers made with a layer of water-proof PUL (polyurethane laminate) for the outside and a layer of power dry for the inside, then bound together around the edge with wide fold-over elastic (FOE). There’s a small gap left open at the back waist through which you can stuff an absorbent pad. The advantage to this style is two-fold: 1) they don’t leak, and 2) they are lightning fast to dry.

I actually cut out the shell and liner the very week I discovered this pregnancy, and the pieces have been languishing in a paper bag in the closet since then. I’m a big fan of assembly-line sewing, so I complete the first step on every piece before moving on to the next step. In this case, the steps are: cut out shell and lining, add FOE (fold-over elastic) to back waist of lining, mark then set snaps on front of shell, bind both layers together with FOE, set snaps on wings.

I finally pulled the diapers out of the closet this evening and started working on them again. I have only gotten to the point of setting snaps on the fronts of the diapers, but once I get that done (the most tedious part of the process, in my opinion), the rest of the sewing should breeze by.

I did jump ahead and bind a couple of diapers to check for final size, and I think they’ll work out just fine. Hopefully I can have the rest of these done within the next couple of weeks so I can move on to some other sewing (like super cute baby clothes).

Cloth Diapers Dango, diapers, FOE, PUL