I’ve got a new addiction lately – a vintagely perfect sewing machine lent to me by a kindhearted friend. So, I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of things on it, and hit upon the idea of sewing some tie-one diapers for the baby. These, if you are uninitiated (and if you are, your excuse had better be you have no babies and are therefore not quite up to speed on your cloth diapering ennui) are comfy, perfectly fitting, perfectly customizable diapers that take a tad more time getting on, but are my favourites for the long night-haul of diaper-wear. No snaps, tabs, pins, claws . . . just soft stretchy, absorbent goodness.

Anyway, keep in mind my sewing skills are a brilliant juxtaposition of inexperience and lack of willingness to follow any instructions whatsoever (it’s a trying trait for those around me, I know). As my brother circa 2003 might say, very rogue.

In this instance I used some luscious, whipped-creamery-soft bamboo velour (purchased very on-sale through an odds & ends bin at Greenbeans).  I used a double layer for a thick, squishy diaper. It works with any soft, stretchy, absorbent material though.

Then I folded it in half to attain a symmetrical shape

and cut out this shape – sorry no pattern – er, this is the pattern- don’t worry, it’s easy to freestyle, just guess based on the size/shape of your baby

turn it inside out and stitch up the sides

sewing in approx 1/4m of twill tape at the very bottom of the narrow end

to use – place an insert (in this case, a colourful prefold folded in thirds, but, it could be anything) in the middle, fold that up over the baby (the real one was asleep so ‘Sassy’ stepped in) and bring the two back sides over top

Sassy is, by the way, much more stiff and bow-legged than my real baby and this, combined with trying to take photos made the task a little more difficult. I promise you it’s easier on a wiggling child.  Bring the front over top and wrap the ties around the back.

and finally tuck the leg cuffs around nice and evenly (or not if you are, say, the lovely daddy and do not care about the aesthetics of night-diapers)

here’s another one I made with two kinds of cotton jersey (and a better model)

And of course, I couldn’t leave out photo-evidence of this dramatic moment at dinner -

Now that I’ve indulged in my secret desire to leave people step by step instructions for items which are essentially instruction-less, I will leap into my cozy bed, pre-warmed thanks to the sweaty bodies, of which, at least one has probably turned horizontal in the time it took me to invent this post (including sew the diaper). 110 minutes in case you were wondering.

Off to sleep the slumber of the on-call!

p.s. thanks to my preceptor for letting me steal her bear for modeling purposes while she was out

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