Posting new sewing tutorial for FOE-less Diaper covers.

I've been making diaper covers like crazy for my son and bun in the oven. I ordered what I considered a bad batch of FOE elastic from my usual diaper notion source. The FOE turned out to be super stiff and had no comfortable give, leaving obviously uncomfortable red marks around my son's legs. I was disappointed because I paired the FOE with super adorable PUL prints.

But before I decided to throw them into my cloth diaper graveyard, I decided to simply cut out the inner leg gusset FOE, leaving just the outer leg gussets with exposed PUL raw edge. VIOLA! Problem solved! Now I have super cute diaper covers without the FOE inner gussets that my son can comfortably wear.

Turns out even without the inner leg gussets the diaper turned out to be %100 functional for wet diapers. But, the inner gussets has been my #1 defense against blow outs, so it is still worth it for me to add them to the diaper covers I sew. NOTHING has ever gotten past the inner gussets I've sewn into the diaper covers.

I have a lot of fabric and little time to sew them up before the baby gets here. And sewing the inner leg gussets are time consuming to say the least. I will be using the rest of the PUL I have at hand to make FOE-less diaper covers with a simple PUL binding. This will be a GREAT tutorial for Diaper designers who are just getting started.

Cloth diaper sewing - The After Hours

The only time I get a to sew without interruption is if I stay up well past midnight to do so. Well I've been cranking out little girl diapers for my daughter due next month, but I didn't forget to whip up some super cool diapers for my little guy.

I purchased the PUL from diapersewingsupplies.com. I used the In A Snap Cover pattern One Sized. He's a big boy so I don't bother putting on the snap down rises.

Using Flour Sack Towels as Flat diapers

I restocked on Flour sack towels I bought from Walmart, in preparation for my second baby due next month. They run about $5 for 5 of them.

I use flour sack towels as flats for my 18 month old toddler. They are cheap and easy to use. They clean thoroughly, dry quickly, and I get a perfect customized fit every time. I can increase absorbancy either by folding together two towels, or by adding an insert or microfiber towel.

I never have to strip clean the flour sack towels. I only have "stink" issues with my other diapers. The inserts and fitteds. With those I have to strip clean them every few months, but my flour sack towel diapers are always ready to go.

Many of the negative reviews I hear about using flour sack towels as diapers, I have personally not experienced. I've heard people complain that they are not very absorbent. By themselves, the flour sack towels where absorbent enough for my son to wear for 2-3 hours, up until he was almost a year old, after that is when I starting adding inserts, or trifolded microfiber towels to increase the absorbancy. I've heard people say that flour sack towels felt rough. Compared to minky, velour, and microfleece, it's definitely not as soft to the touch. But I don't see my son complaining...

The only cons I experience is family, friends, babysitters, and daycares not knowing how to put a flat diaper on a baby. Handing them stuffed pocket diapers, they can quickly figure it out. Handing them kite folded flats with a snappi and a diaper cover, you will probably get question marks.

Because I am a stay at home mom that doesn't regularly use the service of a babysitter, flat diapers is the best choice for my family. They are very cheap, economical, easy to clean, easy to customize, long lasting. They are also great for multipurpose uses, I have used them to wipe down kitchen counters, juice spills, spit up, sticky toddler hands and faces, and many other messes associated with babies.

For one baby I would recommend 25 flats. That should be enough if you do diaper laundry every other day. If you are buying flour sack towels, that's a little over $25, plus the cost of waterproof diaper covers. It is a great way to get started with cloth diapering if the price tag of other cloth diaper styles is off putting.

Completed my Newborn Diaper Cover Stash

Our baby girl is due in August. We decided to use flats, prefolds, and lay in inserts to diaper her. All of which I currently use for my 18 month old Toddler.
 I have been working on Newborn diaper covers using the Turn and Topstich method I've been using with my son's covers. They have double gussets to hold in all that Breast milk poop, and has a dip on the belly panel to avoid rubbing against the umbilical cord while it is still attached.

 Admittedly this diaper cover was MUCH more difficult to sew because it's so tiny. This diaper cover doesn't lay flat. It "concaves" to better fit around baby's legs and bum. It doesn't drape over my sewing machine like most projects. It curls around my sewing foot as I am trying to sew the tiny diaper pieces together.

 But I am VERY happy with how these came out. I plan on making Small sized and One Sized diaper covers so that I have a stash that can take her all the way to potty training. I don't think I will be getting much sewing done while I have 2 under 2.

The Pattern I use is Rocket Bottoms In A Snap cover pattern. It can be found here.
Tutorial on how I did the leg gussets can be found here.

Sewing ready for baby#2. Super Tiny Cloth diapers!

I am totally neck deep in diaper sewing for not only my August baby, but for two other expecting friends who are willing to try out cloth diapering for the first time. This is the biggest assembly line of cloth diapers I have ever worked on. I spent 2 days just tracing and cutting the pattern pieces for over 30 diapers.
I got started on the newborn sizes (14 of them). Last night, I just had to finish at least one so that I can see the final product, and do a bit of quality control. This is one of the cutest diapers I have ever made!

I used my favorite diaper pattern from Rocket Bottoms. In a snap cover pattern sized. It seems to be the only diaper pattern I have been using the past 6 months.
 

Once again, I love the inner flaps for laying in a padfold or a trifolded prefold. And of coarse the inner leg gussets perfect for holding in that newborn poop. I have a lot more work ahead of me, this is just the first of many diapers I have to finish before the arrival of our newest addition to our family.

The aftermaths of Selling my car

We sold my car a month ago, officially making us a one car family! It has genuinly been the best decision we have ever made in our marriage.

Our conversations went from "Do we have enough money to pay the bills?"  to "What are we going to spend all the extra money on....I guess we could...you know...save it."

We celebrated, went out to a nice restaurant (I consider Applebees "fancy") I bought a new dress guilt free. I never bought anything for myself guilt free! I meet my husband for his lunch hour to sit down and eat at a food court. It's really nice seeing him in the middle of the work day. Sad to say, we spent a good portion of our savings on eating out, but we never felt so financially secured.

The Conflict: I am 20+weeks pregnant, and I had preterm labor symptoms. I dropped my husband off at work and prepared my son for the stay at labor and delivery triage. After I realized that I was going to be there several hours, I texted my husband to get to the hospital ASAP, so that my 15month old didn't have to sit a stroller for an undetermined amount of time.
 It never f***ing occured to me that there was no way my husband could get to the hospital because I had the truck. So after sending him 20 text messages about getting his behind to the hospital, he called me and calmly reminded me that he had no way to get to the hospital from his work because I had both the car and the bank card, so he can't pay for a taxi.
 So I had to deal. I turned out to be perfectly fine, my son quietly sat and watched sponge bob on the Television while eating the snacks I brought. And we left after just a few hours after the Doctor cleared me.

It was just a reminder of some of the difficulties that come with being a one car family. But I am still very happy with the decision we made.

The benefits of having babies close together. Low cost Baby#2

As of today, I am 12weeks along with my second pregnancy. This baby was "kinda" planned. Literally the day after we decided to start trying to conceive baby#2, I changed my mind. I wanted to focus on Bikini season (not that I would have been wearing one lol). So 4 weeks later, I took a pregnancy test just to be completely sure that I wasn't pregnant...Well I am.

So now it's time to revisit the conversation about the cost of having another baby. Because we kept everything from our first son, there isn't much we have to buy. We kept the infant car seat, all of Connor's clothes. We still have a bassinet. We have cloth diapers that are still in perfect condition. We kept the bottles and pacifiers. Infant tubs, changing table, infant carrier.

The things we do need to purchase, to accommodate a growing toddler, is a Toddler bed frame, a new crib mattress, a double jogger stroller. And a booster seat for when Baby#2 grows out of the infant carrier and moves up to Connors Car seat.

I am a huge fan of Hand-me-downs. All of Connors clothes come from children thrift stores. With baby #2, it won't be any different. except they will be hand down from big brother Connor. And with the babies being close together in age, All of the baby items we have are still in excellent condition.

When i was pregnant with Connor, buying all of the things we needed for a baby was so expensive. But now with baby#2 coming, I can look forward to the new addition and not worry about buying expensive baby furniture.

"Upgrading" to a one car family

Before I had my son, I worked full time. Having two cars was a must!! Since then, I decided to stay home with our son, but being down a paycheck and still paying two hefty car notes with double the insurance, things become consistently tight around the household.

A year later after giving birth to our son, I find myself never leaving the neighborhood. My family lives on a military station. There are playgrounds for my son every corner, the Commisary and NEX is a short walking distance. The gym is a power walking distance away. Everything I need is already stocked at home.

My beloved car is parked in the garage, where I only take her out maybe once a week for a night time joy ride with our son.

I don't like to imagine selling my car, she's a really sexy ride. A sleek black sporty car fit for a car lover. But selling my car will be the smartest financial decision my husband and I will have ever made. We will be saving over $500 a month! We will be so much better off as a one car family.

My husband and I can go out on dates night more often. I can get my hair and nails done regularly.
Buy more sewing supplies, buy even more toys for our son. Finally decorate our very bare home! And most importantly, put money into a savings account and finally have piece of mind. Sounds like an upgrade to me!

We Practiced. My husband works almost 10 minutes away. I got our son ready and buckled him in the truck, I put on my mommy pants and a jacket over whatever T shirt I was wearing that night. And drove my husband to work for his overnight shift. My son Connor and I got up 6am in the morning, put on whatever we had on last night, and very sleepily picked up my husband from work. We made it there 5 minutes after his shift ended and he was standing outside in the freezing cold like an abandoned puppy.
 "Can you at least try to be early!?" What a whiner he was....
And then on our way back home, I ended up getting pulled over by the military police for going 21mph in a 10mph zone. Who the hell drives that slow! I got a freaking citation, and a wag of a finger.

So we finally make it home. I asked him how our one car practice went. "Minus the speeding citation, it wasn't that bad."

We already have a buyer for my car. It will be sold this Friday. Being a one car family is not doable for every family, but I think it's a conversation every family should consider. And practice for a day!

Rocket Bottoms In a Snap Cover Turn and Topstitch Tutorial.

This is a partial tutorial on how I did the Leg casing using the inner gusset material. The pattern I used for this diaper cover is In a snap Cover OS -by Rocket Bottoms. For more detailed instructions on how to sew this diaper cover, the pattern can be purchased on their website.

This smiley face piece is the inner gusset, cut out 2.

**Repeat!!

Leave a FOE tail, you can snip it later, it helps when you need something to pull the elastic through the machine.

I have already sewn the "flaps" right sides to the diaper cut. Here I will sew the inner gussets to the diaper cut.

 Excuse the wrinkly fingers! I do a lot of bare handed gardening :)

Here I use a Longer 3-Step Zig Zag so it won't take away the elasticity long term. Increase the length of the stitch.

I really hope this was detailed enough to follow. This is by far my favorite diaper covers in my son's rotation. They are a perfect fit! It is high enough in the front and back to completely cover flats, prefolds, and fitteds. My husband loves that he can use the flats to lay in prefolds so he doesn't have to try and Snappi a wiggly toddler. And best of all, they are mommy made :)

The Staple of my household. Cloth diapers for $80!

  Making the decision to cloth diaper was not an easy one for me. I already had a laundry pile mountain high waiting to be folded. And I couldn't imagine cleaning poop! eeewww!

 But the money savings was something I could simply not ignore. People spend on average $3000 on disposables per child. Cloth diapers would cost as little as $200 and can be used for multiple children. I am no environmentalist, saving money is my motivation!  With my son being 2 months old, I dived right in!

  I started off with flats and covers! I purchased 25 flour sack towels from wal-mart at $1 a piece. Two days worth of diapers for only $25! I was lucky enough to have a cloth diaper store in my area where I purchased 6 diaper covers for $54. So far, that's about $80 bucks for two days of diapering!

I have been an intermediate seamstress for about 8 years so I began to sew cloth diapers for my son. I made everything from pockets, fitteds, All-in-twos, covers, Hybrid Fitteds, and many others. But my favorite most reliable diaper till this day is Flour sack towels "stuffed" with a microfiber towel.

I sew my own diaper covers now. The material for each cover come up to about $2. So If I had to restart my entire diaper stash. I wouldn't spend more than $70!

$25- Flour Sack Towels x25

$30- Microfiber Towels x30

$12- Mommy made diaper covers x6

$69 for 2 days worth of diapers!!!

$70+ on cloth diapering vs $3000 in disposables. For that amount of savings, I can handle scrubbing poop!

No need for intro's!

My name is Oliver. I am another blogging mommy with ideas that I want to share. I am constantly finding new ways for my family to save money. When I come up with new ideas, I will share them with you.