Sewing for Baby: Cloth Diapers!

Now that the nursery is painted and pretty much ready to go and I've gotten much of the before-baby-comes stuff completed, I've been able to really dig into the baby sewing. It's so relaxing and fun to think about the little baby who will wear all these teeny things.We've been cloth diapering with Elliot since he was born and since he's not yet potty-trained, and yesterday I ordered some more one-size diapers for the new baby to boost our stash. Am trying very hard not to think about having two in diapers. Cloth diapers.Of course after talking to my friend Cheryl about making diapers, I had to go home and try making some teeny-tiny pocket ones:

:: these are actually the same size; the velcro tabs are just in different places ::

This is certainly not my first foray into making cloth diapers; I've probably made at least 5 pocket diapers for Elliot over the past couple years, but they've all been bigger. These are definitely newborn sized.I have used just about every kind of cloth diaper there is: prefolds with covers, fitteds with covers, one-size pockets, all-in-ones, wool soakers, but my personal preference (as is with many many others) is for the one-size pockets. I love that the inserts come out, they adjust and get bigger as your baby grows, and you can "load" them up when you're folding laundry so they're ready-to-go when you need them.Since I lack a plastic snap press ($$$), I can't make them adjustable (in other words, not "one-size"...that's confusing, isn't it?) but I don't really mind. I use waterproof PUL for the outside and microfleece for the inside. I buy 2" velcro by the yard for the tabs and front. The inserts I use are the "extra" cotton inserts that comes with almost every one-sized pocket diaper you can buy, but you can also buy these separately (they are sometimes called boosters or doublers) or you can fold a prefold (the traditional rectangular dipe) and stuff that inside too!

A view of the pocket opening (with an insert inside) and the velcro tabs

The two I made last night next to a larger aqua one previously made for Elliot

Some of you are wondering about the pattern. The first few I made I just stretched out a purchased diaper on my cutting table and traced it to get the pattern. I did this with the diaper set to the snap setting in front that was closest to what Elliot was in at the time. This time I used a newborn sized cover, traced it, and then changed the shape a little so it didn't have rectangular corners and it looked better.I always write my pattern instructions right on my patterns so I don't have to try and remember what I did each time.Here's a shot where you can see 1) the nursery colors (yay!), 2) my big big belly, and 3) just how teeny tiny these little dipes are!Even more diaper blah blahPart of the reason I use cloth diapers is because it makes me sad to throw disposables in the garbage and wonder how long that diaper will be there in the landfill along with those millions and millions of other disposables. And even though we use some chlorine-free disposables with E, I really hate to. I've read a number of places that when you factor in the energy costs to produce, wash and dry cloth diapers, it's very close in terms of money savings. However, the fact that when you toss a disposable, poo goes in the trash rather than through proper sewage treatment methods is in my opinion enough to justify using cloth diapers alone. But ethics aside, Shallow Rae really just prefers cloth b/c they're cuter. By ALOT.Our faves:I know someone's going to ask, so the three one-size pockets that we use in our house are (and the order in which I prefer them changes constantly): Haute Pockets, Bum Genius, and Happy Heiny's. Luckily, the inserts for all three of these brands can be interchanged with the others, so they've worked well together. HH's are usually our night-time diapers.What about accessories?I also use Imse Vimse Liners (which you can wash and reuse a number of times if not soiled) in our diapers to make poo-disposal easier, we have a toilet sprayer, we use a basic white powder laundry detergent without dyes or enzymes, we have four hemp inserts (more absorbant) for overnight, and I've purchased a few wet-bags to store dirty diapers in when we're out and about.Cloth Diapering Information:There are a TON of cloth diaper 101 sites out there to help those who are clueless. I found these type of websites incredibly helpful before I started. Here are just a few (FYI, most also sell diapers and may be/probably are biased):Sunshine DiapersKelly's ClosetZany ZebraIf you have a cloth diaper information site or blog post, please feel free to post it to comments. However, please don't post blatant advertisements or commercial links (they will be deleted).I'd also love to hear from those of you who cloth diaper or who've made cloth diapers!!!