In the past, as a cloth diaper maker, I wondered what people wanted in a diaper, so that I could create that “perfect” diaper.  Today, I know there is no perfect diaper for everyone, but some do get pretty close.

In your opinion, what makes the perfect cloth diaper?

Update (2010/06/26): Since a couple of people have asked, here is what I consider to be the perfect diaper:

• Hidden snaps
• Not too few and not too many snaps
• Breathable
• Made of organic and/or OekoTex certified (natural) fabric
• Does not leave red marks on the baby
• Very absorbent, but not too bulky
• Not too wide or too narrow between the legs
• Does not create a “bubble” butt
• Does not create wing droop
• The fabric stays relatively soft
• Lasts more than a couple of years

I bought the Canadian-made Grasshopper Bamboo AIO diaper after reading some great online reviews.  Since my daughter outgrew most of her diapers, I was in real need of some trim AIOs for going out.  I didn’t have much time to design and make top-stitched AIO diapers at that time, so I decided to buy a couple online – one Rain Shine Designs and one Grasshopper AIO.

When I first saw this diaper, I thought it was very small and wasn’t sure it would fit my 32-lb daughter for very long.  Once I tried it on her, I was pleasantly surprised.  The diaper fit and there’s still some room to grow.  The elastic is not encased like with most other top-stitched diapers, but it doesn’t bother me.  Actually, my daughter has no red marks on her thighs because the elastic is not encased.

What I like about the diaper:

• Very trim
• High quality
• No red marks on my daughter’s thighs
• Natural fibers on the inside, so no polyester touching baby’s skin
• Sized diaper

What I do not like about the diaper:

• Not sure this diaper can fit up to 40 lbs as mentioned on the site.  I suspect the rise will be a bit short for most 40-lb toddlers.
• Not a very absorbent diaper if you have a heavy wetter.  I think heavy wetters might need a doubler in this diaper.
• The price is quite high.  I think I paid $24.95 CAD + tax and shipping for this diaper which makes it one of the most expensive diapers I’ve ever bought.

Overall rating: 4.25 out of 5

I have not been paid to write this review. The Grasshopper diaper was purchased by me.

Today, I wanted to tell you about a beautifully-made diaper from Rain Shine Designs.  I’ve wanted to try this diaper for a while, but it usually doesn’t make sense for me to buy diapers when I can make well-fitting and cute diapers for my daughter myself.  Sometimes I get bored with my own diapers though, so I do purchase a cloth diaper made by someone else every few months.

Photo courtesy of Rain Shine Designs

When I first looked at the diaper after opening the envelope, I thought it was very cute.  I then started looking at the stitching, fabric, etc. and was very impressed with the workmanship.  Megan, the creator of the Rain Shine Designs diapers, is a very talented and hardworking seamstress.  I rarely see such incredible top-stitching.

What I like about the diaper:

• High quality
• Soft fabric
• Very absorbent
• Cute print

What I do not like about the diaper:

• There really isn’t much I do not like about this diaper.  It’s one of those diapers I wish I had when I first started cloth diapering.  It would’ve made my life a lot easier back then :)  I do think the Large diaper is a bit big for my 32-lb daughter, but I’m sure this will make a lot of moms with big toddlers very happy since a lot of diapers out there fit up to only 35 lbs or so.
• I did find the diaper a little wide in the crotch, but I can sometimes get obsessed about trimness (although I do not like super narrow diapers either since that removes quite a bit of absorbency).

Photo courtesy of Rain Shine Designs

I’ve tried this diaper during the day and at night and we’ve had no leaks or wicking whatsoever even though my custom diaper is made with natural fibers on the inside.  I do add a 3-layer bamboo fleece doubler to the diaper for night-time though.

Update (2010/06/24): I’ve stopped using the diaper at night completely since my daughter was getting some red marks on her legs from it.  Again, I’m very picky about things like that, so it might not be a problem for most people.

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

I have not been paid to write this review. The Rain Shine Designs diaper was purchased by me.

I bought a Large DreamEze AIO Cloth Diaper a while ago after reading some good reviews about how absorbent and trim it was. It took me a while to find a store in Canada or in the US that had it in stock and would not charge an arm and a leg for shipping to Ontario, Canada.  Once I received the diaper, I was really excited and was hoping it would work well for us.  Unfortunately, my excitement did not last long.

What I did like about the DreamEze AIO diaper:
1. Inside of the diaper is organic.
2. The soakers are attached at one end only for faster drying.
3. The front of the diaper is quite trim.
4. The diaper is quite absorbent after a few washes.
5. The side snaps are hidden, so they never caused any red marks.

What I did NOT like about the DreamEze AIO diaper:
1. The soakers are very wide for the diaper. I sometimes had trouble fitting them inside the diaper.
2. The tight leg elastics left red marks every single time we used the diaper.
3. I was always paranoid that too much of my daughter’s buttock would pop out because of how narrow the diaper was at the back.

I ended up putting the diaper up for sale and the leg elastics were the main reason for that.  The fabric is really bunched up in the leg area, and the waterproof fabric is not exactly the softest thing in the world, so there is no avoiding red marks.  I’m one of those people who hates seeing red marks on my baby, so this was a big no-no for me.

UPDATE: This diaper is an older version of the DreamEze AIO.  I recently found out that the newer version has better elastic.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

From Linda Byerline, CEO of Happy Heinys:

We have been very saddened to hear that due to the recent earthquakes in Haiti in the Port Au Prince area, a couple of the orphanages we have worked closely with over the last fews years have been completely devastated. Through the years we have not only sent them diapers and clothing for these babies but also toys and help with food. When we work with any orphanage in any third world nation we work closely with missionaries who actually travel to the orphanages and personally bring our donations to the babies in need. We opt to work this way because sadly we have found that when attempting to donate directly the goods do not always arrive to the proper place due to the civil unrest of many of these countries.

With this recent devastating series of earthquakes there is already a lot of donations and requests for donations out there. Many are requesting items to be given to the Red Cross which is a wonderful organization and will truly help many people. Unfortunately those many orphanages are on the outskirts of town and therefore tend to receive less if any help. These orphanages are now in dire need of new/good condition used reusable diapers. By us providing them with reusable diapers we are ensuring that a baby who has just learned to sit in not placed on a toileting pot for 10-12 hours per day in order to prevent messes.

We are also going to take donations of new or good condition used baby clothing and small items. Most often these items we donate are actually brought over in suitcases so we need items that will fit in suitcases. Again, there is a lot of wonderful support that is heading out that way, people bringing food, water, medicines, and clothing but this is all going to the main population. We need to get diapers and clothing to the orphanages as quickly as possible.

If you would like to make a donation of diapers or baby clothing please send as quickly as possible to:

Happy Heinys
1529 N Cuyamaca St
El Cajon CA 92020

please mark box for donation If you would like to be so kind as to help out financially so that we can afford to send out more new diapers and new clothing as well as shipping costs and costs of extra luggage for those who are flying out to Haiti.

Please send any donations to us through paypal, please be sure to clearly mark the payment in the subject box as Donation for Orphanages in Haiti and select the Personal option for sending the money so there is no extra charges applied.

You can send funds through paypal to: lbyerline@cox.net

You can send funds using a credit card or cash. If you would like to send checks please mail them to the above address and make the check out to Happy Heinys but please make sure the subject is clearly marked as Donation for Orphanages. All funds collected will solely be used for purchasing of new items and the costs of shipping. Any left over funds will be directly donated to those in need. Thank you for helping us to carry on our mission to insure that as many babies as possible have dry cloth on their bottoms, clean clothes to wear, and food in their belly.

Cheers,
Linda Byerline CEO
MLB Industries Inc
www.happyheinys.com
www.babyfrenzy.com

Please take a moment to fill out my cloth diaper survey (Link has been removed).  I’m hoping that your answers will help people who are considering cloth diapering, or those who already cloth diaper but would like to learn more about other peoples’ experiences.

Thank you so much!

UPDATE (2009-12-06): Thank you everyone for taking the time to fill out the cloth diaper survey! I will be posting the results later today.

So, you’ve decided you want to try making cloth diapers for your baby yourself, but you have no idea where to start.  Hopefully, I can help you get started by providing you with some useful information in this post.

Diaper Patterns

If you have no idea how to design a diaper pattern yourself, or you just don’t want to deal with that, there are quite a few free patterns available online.  Zany Zebra Designs has a few listed on their site.  Another good site for cloth diaper patterns is The WAHM Mall.

I’ve only tried one diaper pattern – the Ottobre pattern.  It was the first one I ran into and I thought it would be easy to follow.  I ended up making a diaper that was way too big for my daughter and the leg elastic was so loose that there was no way she could wear it.  It took me a few tries to get the size and elastic length right.  I’ve read that a lot of other people have had much better luck with the Ottobre pattern than I did though.  I ended up designing my own pattern which I tried to perfect over a few months.  A lot of people recommend the free Rita’s Rump diaper patterns, so it might be worth looking at those.

If you don’t mind paying for a diaper pattern then here are a few popular ones:

• Darling Diapers
  A lot of people seem to love this pattern.
• Jalie Diaper Pattern
  This is a Canadian pattern.  If you’d like to see how to make a Jalie pocket (or AIO) diaper, you can view their YouTube video here.
• Little Comet Patterns
• HoneyBoy! Diaper Pattern
• Chloe Toes Diaper Pattern
• La-Di-Da Diaper Pattern

Yahoo Baby Diaper Sewing Group

The “sewingdiapers” group on Yahoo is a great source of information.  There’s a lot of helpful mamas there who would love to help you with any questions you might have.  They can also help you select a diaper pattern if you’re not sure which one to choose.

Diaper Making Fabric

To make your first diapers you can use old T-shirts, swaddling blankets, towels, pants, etc.  I wouldn’t recommend using new and expensive fabric for the first couple of tries.  My first two diapers were disasters, so I’m glad I used cheap flannel.

Once you feel more comfortable making diapers, find out if your local fabric store carries any of the fabrics you’d like to use.  If you can’t find anything there then try searching online.  There’s quite a few online stores that carry diaper making fabric.  You might also want to ask in the Yahoo Baby Diaper Sewing Group where to find specific fabric.  If you have no idea what fabric to use, the group can help you with that as well.  I usually use the very absorbent bamboo fleece for my cloth diapers which I haven’t been able to find locally.  So, be prepared to order the fabric online and pay a bit for shipping.

Elastics

Buying the right elastic for your diapers is very important.  The most popular types of diaper making elastic are as follows:

• Lastin® (1/4″ and 3/8″)
• Polybraid Elastic (1/4″ and 3/8″)
• Cotton Swimwear Elastic (1/4″ and 3/8″)
• Fold Over Elastic (5/8″ and 1″)

Lastin is not the easiest to use, but it’s supposed to be very durable.  Cotton swimwear elastic tends to shrink a bit, so you might have to either wash and dry the elastic before use or make it a little bit longer than suggested by the diaper pattern makers.  Polybraid elastic is probably the most popular choice for diaper making.  Fold over elastic (also known as FOE) is used more frequently for making covers than diapers.

Cloth Diaper Fasteners

Snaps and velcro/aplix/touch tape are the most popular choices.  Touch tape is easier to use than snaps, but it’s scratchy and it can create diaper chains in the wash.  Snaps are not as easy to use, but are great in the wash and usually last longer than touch tape.

Other fasteners that you can use include the Snappi® and diaper pins.  Snappiable/pinnable fitted diapers are quite a bit easier to make than ones with snaps or touch tape.  I have recently made a few of those myself and have been using them for night-time because they seem to be a lot more comfortable for my daughter.

I hope this is enough to get you started.  You’re always welcome to ask me questions!

My 24 month old has officially outgrown her Northern Baby diapers (version 1 with single row of snaps).  Because my daughter is quite tall, the diaper rise was getting really short and the snaps were starting to leave more noticeable marks on her hips.  As most of you probably know by now, I hate when diapers leave red marks on my little one’s body.  The only diapers that still fit her were the latest version Northern Baby diapers, the GroBaby OS diaper, Monkey Doodlez AIO, AMP AI2 diapers and a couple of PUL covers that haven’t been used much for the past year or so.  The GroBaby diaper left too many red marks, the Monkey Doodlez AIO just didn’t get clean enough and I’ve never been crazy about PUL covers.  So, I was left with Northern Baby and AMP diapers, but thanks to that polyester article (see post here), I decided my fitteds were probably the safest choice.

The problem was that I had very few fitteds that still fit my daughter.  So, I really had to get some diapers made as soon as possible since I didn’t want to switch to disposables.  Since I don’t like velcro and I’m not a huge fan of snaps, I though snappiable/pinnable diapers (as shown in the picture below) might be the best choice for me.  I decided to try the BSRB style and I think the diapers came out looking pretty good.  I don’t think I’ll make the rest of the diapers like this though.  I have something else in mind :-)

I also needed to make some wool soakers to go with the diapers.  I finally received some wool interlock and couldn’t wait to make my daughter a few stretchy soakers.  The wool interlock I have is 95% wool and 5% lycra, so there’s quite a bit of a stretch to the fabric which I really like.  I ended up making four soakers as shown in the picture below.

I must admit I like making wool soakers a lot more than diapers, especially diapers with snaps.  They’re quite a bit simpler and take a lot less time to make.  I still need to work on the pattern a little bit, but overall I’m really happy with the results.

Today, I would like to tell you about a wonderful, talented and very busy mom to two little cuties.  Her name is Sarah and she’s the owner of Someday Sarah on Etsy.  She was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to write a little about Someday Sarah and to reply to my questions. This is what she wrote:

At Someday Sarah, I make infant bottoms out of recycled wool sweaters, fleece and cotton shirts.  I do some knitting and use both new and re-loved yarns.  When bottoms are made of wool or heavy fleece, they can be used as an effective diaper cover in the form of pants/longies, shorts/shorties, skirtie or a soaker.  With a flat, prefold or fitted cloth diaper underneath, they do not require any plastic covers and are a very eco-friendly form of diapering. Most of bottoms that I make are made with a larger bum or an added gusset to accommodate cloth diapers but also look really cute over disposables.  I have recently started making little Mei Tais for little ones to wear their dolls or teddy bears just like mommy or daddy.

When did you start cloth diapering?
I began cloth diapering nearly 4 years ago with my daughter but lasted just a week because I got tired of folding flat diapers.  I started again nearly 18 months ago.

Why did you choose to cloth diaper?
I initially chose cloth while I was fighting my daughter’s rashes.  The second time was while potty training my daughter, I told her sposies are bad for the environment.  I couldn’t then go and put one on her baby brother.

What was your first cloth diaper purchase and why?
First time was flats with covers because that is all I found.  The second time we started with G-diapers, shifted to G’s with home-made inserts, finally my own covers and brand name pockets.

Have your family and friends been supportive?
People have been very supportive.  Friends are the reason why I was able to start selling my longies.

What are your top 5 favourite diapers?
Hand knit covers, recycled covers, Northern Baby fitteds, BG’s, Monkey Doodlez.

What is biggest challenge you encounter with cloth diapering?
Rinsing them out at the end of the day.

What’s your favourite diaper rash cream?
I use 5 drops of grapefruit seed extract in the laundry and canestin on his rash.  My little guy only gets occasional yeast.

Do you occasionally use disposable diapers?  If so, what brand(s)?
I have used Nature Babycare and G-diapers on hotel trips but use cloth the rest of the time, including for daycare.

I just completed some bamboo fleece and minky AIO diapers with snap-in soakers (front and back) and really wanted to share some pictures with you.  I’m really excited about these because I haven’t made diapers for anyone other than my daughter in 4 months or so.  In addition, these took me a while because of fabric supplier issues, hip problems and the lack of time thanks to a very energetic toddler and some web design work I’ve been doing in the evenings.  I hope you’ll enjoy these pictures!