Beaverroo: Diaper Diary Woes Part V

My diaper story is well past-due for an update. This past week hasn't just been about relaxing around the farm, floating in ponds and whatnot. I've also managed to get our baby stuff much more organized, to the point where I feel almost ready for her arrival.

I washed and sorted Amelia's clothes, and set up her changing station/nursery as best I could in the top drawer of dad's sock and underwear dresser and a wooden desk.

Amelia's diaper drawer/change station all set up for her arrival!

Our hospital bags are officially packed and ready to go. I watched enough youtube videos on "what to include in your delivery bag" to make my head spin. Some of the lists are like, 47 items long! You'd need a rolling piece of luggage the size of me to fit it all in! I chose to keep mine pretty simple. No hair straightener for me, because, seriously?

So, the diapers.

This first photo is a pattern laid out on PUL, or for you non-sewers, waterproof fabric that is used to make diaper covers.

I thought making covers was going to be easier than diapers.....WRONG!! Fold over elastic sounds simple enough, but it wreaks havoc on your sewing technique. I think I have the wrong presser foot set into the machine for the job of pulling the fabric forward while I pull back to stttreeeeetttch the elastic out as much as possible. To do it effectively, you really need three hands.

So then I thought, "this fold over elastic is expensive, difficult, and probably unnecessary. I will just make leg gussets with it (heh. Those take an hour ALONE!) and bind the rest of the edges with white binding tape like quilters use. Cuz that will be easier."

WRONG!! The diaper on the right took me a day and a half, many uses of a seam-ripper, and some choice swear words. And fold over elastic or no, they both are still, in my opinion, the ugliest things I have ever created.

Good thing Amelia won't be able to talk when she is wearing these. Otherwise it could be a battle!

On a more positive note, I have managed to alter a different pattern from the babyboutique book mom bought me, and changed it from a fleece lined PUL pocket diaper to a two-layer fleece pocket. Here are the five I have made so far.

Complete with their own matchy-matchy inserts

I'll admit, I'm rather proud of these little guys. The first one took me FOREVER to figure out, and had me second-guessing every step of the way. Hey, I'm new to this, and only really 4 mauve ties into calling myself a seamstress. But by the fifth one, I was watching youtube videos with Taz while I was sewing, and chatting away instead of demanding rigid silence while I sew this seam. And they actually look kind of cute.

I opted not to put either velcro or snap fasteners on them. Since they are made with the exact same fabric as my flats and pre-folds, it makes more sense just to use snappis. They are going under covers which have velcro anyway, so they should be relatively snug and easy to keep in place.

So that puts my total stash up to:

18 flats

3 newborn pre-folds

7 newborn diaper covers (bought these second hand in London)

4 medium diaper covers (2 uglies, 2 kushies)

5 kushie inserts (to be used with flats I guess)

3 "dressy" AIOs I got as gifts. (The special occasion diapers I'm calling them)

and 5 fitteds.

I ultimately want to have 36 diapers on hand. I doubt I have enough flannel left over to make 8 fitteds. I don't want to cannibalize any more receiving blankets (I already did to make the ballerina diaper) so I might just buy more flannel. Or my darling big sister can order the pre-folds from Green Mountain Diapers that she promised me for a baby shower gift.....*cough, cough* Either way, I can rest easy now. Even if she is born tonight, we have enough diapers that I won't really be pulling my hair out and making mad dashes to the laundry room every day.

Oh, another fun note. Today I finally stopped procrastinating and bought myself pads and underwear for post-delivery. I wanted some cheap granny panties that I could just throw away afterwards. Thing is, the dollar stop, which is the cheapest place for underwear close-by I am told, only had men's briefs. Dinosaur-covered men's briefs. Well, it isn't a fashion show. So I bought myself four pairs. Didn't try them on, just held them up and went "yup, those'll fit."

Well....the waistband fit, but those narrow skinny boy-leg holes were not making it around my ample baby-bearing hips. So what's a girl to do? I didn't want to waste precious time or money getting new ones and I already HAD these.

Behold.