Purple - #photoadayAug

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Upcycled Challenge: Wool Sweater to Wool Diaper Soaker #freefromtrash

I have wanted to try this for a LONG time.  I have been cloth diapering the kids now since they were home from the hospital, so that makes it just about 11 months!  About a month ago, I finally drank the kool-aid on wool soakers.  Up until that point, I really didn't know how they worked or really what the point was.  And they can be expensive!  So basically a wool soaker is a wool diaper cover.  100% wool can absorb up to 30% of its weight before it feels wet but the caveat is that it doesn't retain moisture very well.  There can be compression leaking which is caused by, well, compression.  That is part of the reason people generally use wool for overnight diapering because kids aren't moving around much.  I use wool diaper covers over a fitted with a regular waterproof cover.  I was having issues with the regular covers shifting around and leaving the fitted exposed, causing wicking.  With a wool cover over the fitted/cover combo we have 12 hours of stay-dry babies!!  I have 5 of the Grateful Buns wool covers, which are super well-made and actually have several layers of wool to add to the absorbancy.  For my first attempt, I just made a single-layer XXL cover.

Having no throw-away 100% wool sweaters in the house at all, I needed to first take a little expedition to the Salvation Army.  The kids decided to throw a fit in the store so I was only able to wade through about half an aisle's worth of sweaters, but here in Southern CA, there really isn't a whole lot in the way of 100% natural fibers.  I found two sweaters, a black one from The Limited and Turquoise one from Anne Klein Knit Wear that were 70% lambswool, 20% Angora rabbit hair and 10% Nylon and it was about 14$ for both sweaters. Both were super soft but definitely needed to be felted to meld the larger stitches together.  When I got home, I tosssed them in the washer on hot with regular detergent and a cold rinse then hot dried them and then repeated the process to shrink and felt them.  It worked really well.  Then I found a soaker pattern by Katrina at Katrina's Sew Quick Soaker Blog.  The pattern for the XL-XXL can be found here and the instructions for assembly can be found here.  I followed the instructions except the sweaters I had weren't long enough to cut the main body of the soaker in one big piece so I had to piece together two pieces (front and back separate and then stitched together at the crotch area) to make the body.  I also used the waist band of the turquoise sweater to make the leg cuffs, which is actually pieced onto the body before sewing up the sides of the main body of the soaker.  I didn't take pictures at all the steps because you can find plenty of tutorials out there (like this one from scrimplythrifty) or you can make it up as you go if you are an experienced seamstress.

SO this is what I started with:

And here is the almost-finished product:

Now I just need to lanolinize it and it will be good to go.  Adding lanolin back to the fibers adds to its urine neutralizing powers.  I use liquid lanolin by NOW that is scented with lavender essential oils.  I think it turned out really cute and I can't wait to try it on the kids!

This post is part of the Upcycled Crafting Challenge (#freefromtrash) hosted by Calley, The Eco Chic, and is part of a one month challenge to create from trash.  This challenge will hopefully open your eyes to the number of items that we still end up trashing every day that could be used by ourselves or our kids to create fun and useful items.  To find out more about the challenge and to see other projects click on over to Calley’s announcement post. 


 

Making fleece soaker pants from fleece pants

I've recently begun to experience an aggravating reality in cloth diapering - wicking.  Wicking can be good (as in, wicking moisture away from baby's bottom) or bad.  I have the bad type, where if a small bit of a diaper inner fabric is touching other fabric like pajama pants or sheets, the moisture will wick out of the diaper and onto the other fabric, resulting in a wet baby.  This is not necessarily a diaper failure per se but it is nonetheless annoying to find a wet baby/bed.  So there are several causes and solutions to this problem.  One is that I am overstuffing the pocket diaper thereby stretching the diaper so that some of the inner pokes out.  I usually use 4 layers of inserts to make sure the kids are dry. I don't want to reduce this for fear that there may not be enough absorbency but what I can (and am) doing is to use thinner but more absorbent materials such as hemp and bamboo.  I have been using hemp cotton inserts for a while and have just recently added bamboo.  I like their trimness and their absorbency, although they are slower than microfiber, so I usually use at least one microfiber insert to catch the pee quickly.  Another solution is to use fitted diapers at night.  We do use fitteds, in which the whole diaper is absorbent and requires a waterproof cover.  I am not sure sure the fitted we use would last overnight but it's an option.

The third option I came up with is to use fleece and wool covers over my pocket diapers. I currently have two upcycled wool covers from Grateful Bums which I really like.  I used them over fitteds and still had some leaking (caused by compression - wool can hold moisture but if you smoosh it, it comes out easily) but they should so great for protecting the edges of the pocket diaper from touching absorbent fabrics like the cotton sheets.  I also have several pairs of fleece pants that I know the kids won't wear.  Fleece is not absorbent so it acts as a moisture barrier.  I wanted to make sure that no wetness would escape so I decided to add another layer of fleece inside the fleece pants that I already had.  Here is what I did:

1. Using a small outgrown pair of fleece pants, I ripped open the seams on the sides and through the crotch to yield two pant-shaped pieces of fleece.

2. I then sewed one pant-shaped fleece piece (brown) to the inside front of a larger pair of fleece pants (green). I used coordinating green all-purpose thread and machine sewed it.

Here you can see the sewing detail.

I didn't sew the other brown piece to the inside back of these pants because my leaking mainly comes for the front but you could do the same to the back to make it an all-around soaker.  I am saving the piece to sew into another pair of fleece pants.  I am not sure I would use these over a fitted as there are some sections especially around the seams that only have one layer of fleece so there might be some leakage.  This is a great way to upcycle outgrown fleece clothes.  I have several fleece jackets that the kids have outgrown so I might use some of those for scrap fleece as well.

I used these pants on Greyson last night over a regularly-stuffed pocket and he was dry this AM.  YAH!!!

Done with Velcro (sorry, "hook and loop")

OK. So in the cloth diapering community Velcro is called "hook and loop" because Velcro is a brand name just like "Kleenex" are a brand of tissues and "Bandaids" are a brand of bandages even though these are used in the vernacular to describe many brands of tissues and bandages, respectively.  UGH.  So I am DONE with hook and loop (H + L) diapers.  We have been diapering in cloth for 9 months now and have been a lover of Thirsties brand since the beginning.  We use the Thirsties fab fitted, Thirsties covers, Thirsties duo AIOs, Thirsties old style AIOs,  and Thirsties Duo pockets diapers. Until recently I have loved all of the Thirsties products but the H + L on these dipes have gotten weaker and weaker over time. I do my best to close the laundry tabs when I wash these dipes and I also occasionally pick out any accumulated fuzz that H + L naturally gathers.  My kids are 9 months now and getting very handsy.  They will fuss with the H + L closures and occasionally I have found my kids diaperless in the morning.  UGH.  So I decided today that I am going to phase out my H + L pockets that we use for overnight diapering.  If I had it all to do over again, I wouldn't even buy H + L dipes.  I know that some brands have very strong H + L and that can be a catch-22 because the stronger the H + L, sometimes the harder it is to open the laundry tab to put it on your kid.  This is the case with the Best Bottoms H + L.  It is so strong that I can barely get it open with one hand.  But I'd rather have them have stronger H + L than not.  I am bummed that I have to phase out many of my thirsties dipes and luckily I have several of their covers and AIO's in snaps so I can still use those.  On the brighter side I get to buy new diapers!!!  Weehoo!!

TrendLab One-size All-in-One Cloth Diaper Review

I'm a sucker for a sale.  So when my friend introduced me to Totsy and I saw TrendLab Cloth diapers on sale for $8.75 each I was intrigued.  I hadn't heard of this brand on the cloth diaper blogs.  So when I googled it, I came to their website and read about the features of their cloth diaper.  It looked to me like an All-in-Two diaper (not an All-in-One as they have named it) because the liner snaps in and out and you can reuse the outer shell (that is lined in fleece).  They did have one interesting feature.  They have three different types of snap-in liners that are "gender-specific."  In addition to being color-coded (GAG): blue for boys, pink for girls, white for all, they have different levels of extra padding where that gender needs it most.  Sounds interesting though not sure why you wouldn't just use the white ones all the time but it seemed novel to me.  In addition, the inserts are contoured, that is, they aren't flat but have a little gathering in the middle to make the sort of concave to fit around the private zone.  They also only have one snap to secure the liner in place inside the shell, but that is the same model that Softbums has so that is not so unusual.

Blue boy insert and white gender neutral insert

So I purchased two shells (each come with a white snap-in liner) and two sets of two "boy" liners at $5.75 each.  One was a nice sunny yellow and the other a steely grey color. My first impression is that yes it's a pretty cheap diaper cheap. It's made in China.  The boy liners are all microfiber even the top which touches the baby.  I was sure I had read on many a cloth diapering website that that was a no-no when it came to absorption in using cloth diapers.  The white ones however have a nice soft fleecy top.  Don't see why they couldn't have topped the boy (and presumably the girl) inserts with a fleece topper but I was still ok with it.  I washed them up and tried them on my kids.  They have a nice generous fit around the bum and waist and are pretty stretchy tabs with a hip snap.  I tried the boy inserts and have had no problems with over-drying or rashes or anything.  Their tushes are really squishy with these diaper/insert combos which is funny.  I actually haven't had any leaking problems with this diaper because of the good fit around the legs on my giant children and the really absorbent liners (both blue and white).  I only use it for daytime use at the moment.  I will say that they are actually a little big on my kids in the waist and I often can't do up a d hip snap because i have to pull the regular snaps pretty far into the middle of the diaper.  So I get some wing droop.  I don't particularly care about it but it can look a tad messy.

the outer snap setup

the tabs and hip snap

boy insert in shell

Greyson wearing the yellow trendLab

Now, as for their claims you can reuse the shell, well, that is a bit of a stretch.  My kids usually soak through the liner and thus urine gets onto the fleece of the inside of the shell.  I COULD snap in a new liner and put it back on my kid, but that is getting a tad gross.  It would make SO much more sense if the liners were backed in PUL so that the moisture was contained in the liner and then you definitely could reuse the shell.  Here you are better off just using it once and then laundering.  But I will say with the amount the liners absorb you probably can get 3-4 hours out of it so that is pretty decent for a daytime diaper.  Some other reviews (on amazon and the like) complain about the microfiber-to-skin issues and while I haven't had any that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.  Some people suggested cutting a slit in the fleece of the shell and using it as a pocket diaper.  That could work if you are that concerned.  I am tempted to add a PUL layer to the back of the inserts or even to the inside of the shell but at like 9$-12$ for these diapers, it probably isn't even worth it to break out my sewing machine.  I can also see that the fleece on the inside isn't super high quality and that the stretchiness of the tabs will probably wear out quickly.  Again it's a cheap diaper cheap.  Not super fancy but not total garbage either.  I am giving it a rating of 3 snaps.

Pros

• Contoured microfiber liners
• Gender-specific liners
• Inexpensive
• Generous fit

Cons

• Cheap construction
• Shell not reusable if soaked with urine
• Microfiber liners not fleece topped (except white liner)

Reviews are the opinions of Experiment MOM only while using the actual garment reviewed. I was not provided the diaper and I was not compensated for this review

Sew is Your Baby Pocket Diaper Review

I am addicted to cloth diapering.  If you are reading this, chances are you are as well.  I am always on the lookout for new cute diapers to try on my kiddos. Recently I decided to try one of the Sew is Your Baby (SIYB) pockets.


 I LOVE the silky denim print and since I usually let my kids go pantless I thought this would be adorable.  And WOW is it adorable.  This is in the silky fabric so my kids can slide around on their bottoms easily and jammies go over it very easily. Now I usually don't use pockets for daytime (too little bang for the buck especially when changing two kids in diapers all day long) but I was eager to try this one so I stuffed it with 3 inserts (not Sew is Your Baby inserts) and it fit great and no leaking at all.  You can see baby Jack modeling the dipe here.  He is 8 months and about 23lbs with really chunky legs.

Then I put it to the overnight test. Usually I put in 4 inserts into pockets for overnights.  Generally I use 2 microfiber and 2 hemp, either Thirsties Hemp doublers or gCloth.  So you can see they are heavy wetters.  This diaper held up perfectly, no leaks or dampness.

As far as features, this is a basic pocket.  It reminds me of a Bumgenius 4.0 pocket. It has a nice soft pocket which they say is microfiber but it isn't really absorbent, more of a "sueded" stay-dry polyester.  The pocket opening is about 4 inches which is a tad small for stuffing but the pocket itself is pretty wide.  It has the typical one-size snaps to adjust the rise (clearly we are beyond that stage) and a hip snap.   The legs have a single elastic layer.  In the bottom photos you can see a length measurement and comparison to a Thirsties AIO Duo.  The SIYB pocket is nearly 2 inches longer than the Thirsties AIO and I can definitely notice a difference on my kids. With the Thirsties AIO, they always have an exposed bum crack while with the SIYB their bums are fully contained.

Overall I am going to give this diaper 4.5/5 snaps.  The ONLY issue I have with this diaper (and it's a small one) is that it's manufactured in China.  There are a lot of diapers manufactured in China and many cloth diapering companies choose manufacturers that have good wages and treat their workers ethically so I can't comment on how these diapers are made.  I have also had this diaper for a short time so I don't know how it will hold to multiple washings. What I do know is that at 11$ for this diaper (alone, no inserts) it is an excellent value that rivals bigger-name diapers.

My rating:

Pros:

• long length
• nice material in and out
• big pocket
• easy clean/quick dry
• good value

Cons

• made in china

Reviews are the opinions of Experiment MOM only while using the actual garment reviewed. I was not provided the diaper and I was not compensated for this review

Solving a Small Problem with Diaper Covers

So we use mainly AI2 and fitteds for daytime diapering.  We like Grovia, Bestbottoms, and TrendLab and for fitteds we use Thirsties Fab fitted duos with Thirsties Covers (sized and duos).  Occasionally when my HUSBAND diapers them in the fitted we have some leakage, generally due to operator error when putting the cover on over the fitted, either at the leg holes or at the waist due to peek-through.  Here is an example of what I mean:

Every time this happens I ask myself,  "Well there must be a cover that has some sort of flap of the PUL that I can tuck up and over the fitted."  I am not talking about tuck-in flaps that you would use to insert flats or inserts into a cover. I am talking about a fly flap, kinda like what a tent has.  After a facebook query to my new FluffyBlogger friends (thanks ladies!) and poking around the internet and Etsy, I came to the conclusion that what I was seeking doesn't exist, at least not without it having to be custom-made.  (Not that I was able to find anyways so I APOLOGIZE in advance if anyone has made covers like this.)  Being a crafty lady I thought I could make a cover with some PUL I have out in the garage that was meant to make cloth diapers for the twins (yeah that happened, NOT!) but then I thought why don't I just modify an existing diaper cover.  So out came the sharp scissors and VOILA, I created what I had envisioned in my mind, a cover with a "fly flap."
Here I used a Large Thirsties sized cover with hook and loop and I simply cut the attachment of the tuck-in flap on both edges:

Now when I put the cover on I can literally tuck in the "fly flap" over the top of the fitted underneath to ensure no accidental bleed-though.  And because it's PUL I don't need to finish the edges or make any further modifications, although I haven't sent it through the wash yet so not sure how it will hold up.  Now the caveat of doing this is that you wreck the cover for resale if people want to use them for flats or inserts. In addition this won't work on the Thirsties Snap covers because the snaps go all the way through  flap layer. That's kinda a bummer because my kids are starting to take off hook and loop diapers.  Argh.  Well anyways that is my brilliant idea and I'd love to hear your thoughts.  (This million-dollar idea is for sale, just PM me. LOL)

Welcome to Change-Diapers.com Blog Hoppers and #Fluffybloggers

So I've been debating whether to make this blog "go public" by linking up to blog hops for newbie bloggers.  I am just not certain that anyone cares about my kids, my opinions, my experiences or anything else I write about.  Many times, linking up requires some sort of hosted giveaway or other requirements that I am not sure I will have time for.  Then this morning I read on www.change-diapers.com about a blog hop that is cloth diaper-centric but which doesn't require any extra time or posting.  So I though I'd give it a try.  So welcome if you've reached my blog through that link and THANK YOU to change-diapers for giving me an outlet to receive new followers!!  I also have been getting great support from #fluffybloggers.  WELCOME ALL!!!

Let me make a quick intro and then you can decide if you'd like to stay (ie subscribe by GFC, networked blogs or email).  My name is Jen Gardner and welcome to my blog, Experiment MOM (that is, Mom Of Multiples).  I have twin sons, Greyson and Jack, who are 8 months old.  before I had the twins I was an oncology research scientist in Boston MA for a large biotech company.  At about the time i conceived the twins by IVF, I was laid off when the company cut our department.  I welcomed the time off (with a nice severance pay to get us through) and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I had a fairly hard pregnancy.  At 24 weeks I was admitted to the hospital for previa bleeding and was there for a week.  The twins were fine and I was fine but it was all for precautionary reasons that they held me for a week.  I was on modified bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy.  At 36 weeks (August 2011) we welcomed the boys by scheduled c-section and they were both healthy and beautiful.

I had decided to cloth diaper the kids before we gave birth and was encouraged by several coworkers who also cloth diapered their young children.  My husband and I were able to take a CDing class at a local shop called the Diaper Lab and we were hooked.  I received several Little Joeys at my baby shower and I was very excited about cloth diapering, not just for the environmental aspect but also to save money CD'ing TWO at the same time.  In December of 2011 my husband took a job at his company that would require a move from MA to Southern California.  After a very quick 3 months of getting the house sold and all our stuff packed we are here and enjoying the weather although it is very hard to be so far from family.  So that is one of the reasons I started up my blog again, to have an outlet and to share what is going on with my life with my family and friends.  But you are most welcome to follow along and please if you have any comments or questions (CDing, IVF, science etc) please don't hesitate to ask!!.  My topics can include crafts, photography, kids, cloth diapering, CD reviews eventually, nature, science etc.  Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the blog!!

Mother's Day Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop

Have you ever heard of a "giveaway hop?" Basically  a bunch of blog writers get together and sponsor a giveaway for a product or products that usually fall under some sort of theme.  This is a great way to promote your blog/twitter posts and it also introduces people to your products (for example, if you are a work-at-home- mom making things like cloth diapers etc...).  After winning a couple of giveaways lately I have to say that I am HOOKED on entering giveaways especially for cloth diapers and accessories.  Usually the blogs have an entry form supported by a program called Rafflecoptor which makes entering easy.  They usually require you to LIKE their facebook pages and their sponsor's pages as well as follow them on twitter,GFC,networked blogs, email updates and/or pinterest and SOME forms require a little more, like commenting on their blog post and/or visiting sponsor pages.  It can be a lot of work but then again it might be worth it to win free stuff!!

So the most recent "hop" that I am doing in the Mother's Day Cloth Diaper Hop.  It is hosted by Daily Mothering and has about 100 blogs all linked together to giveaway a TON of cool stuff.  I personally only enter the ones that have actual cloth diapers in the prize packages and if the kids are being crabby I only do the easy one-click entries like LIKE facebook pages and follow on twitter. I can only ignore my children for so long.  I'll have to admit that i have stayed up for several hours past my bedtime to enter giveaways.  It can get addicting. Guilty as charged.

One of the blogs on the hop, Mamantics, is sponsoring a package with a Babu Baby cloth diaper in it.  Here is the link.  Good luck and hope you win something!

http://www.mamantics.com/2012/04/mothers-day-cloth-diaper-giveaway-hop_19.html?showComment=1335890820482#c1603321508606048284

Fluffy stash and work station

So I just re-read my post from when the kids were 6 weeks old.  We were struggling with diaper leakage mostly because the fit wasn't just right and they were so small (WERE!!!).  Now, at 8 months old, we are in a really good place with cloth diapering.  So much so that I would say I am addicted.  We have many different types of diapers and brands in our stash.  Our daytime diapering stash consists of AI2s (all-in-twos) like Best Bottoms, Grovia and Trend Lab as well as fitted diapers like Thirsties Fab Fitted Duos.  Our nighttime diapering stash consists of pockets like Thirsties Duo diaper, Thirsties AIO pocket (old style), a DiaperRite, a Bumgenius, and one Fuzzibunz.  We tried gDiapers but they never fit the kids right and we always had leaks around the legs.  Here are some pictures of my stash and our diaper change station:

I feel like we have some unique features of our diaper change station that i'd like to share. The first is shown in the second picture.  I use a lot of AI2 shells and we needed a place for them to "dry out" between diaper changes.  Here I have used a multi-tier skirt hanger to hang the shells between uses.  Cute and functional.

The second is using Lock-and-Lock containers to contain used (pee-soaked) flushable liners.   I keep these because they can be laundered and reused 1-2 times.  I especially like the Imse Vimse brand liners because they hold up well to multiple uses.  The other container we use to hold liners with poo that needs to be flushed.  Let's face it. I can't always get right to the toilet after a change with two babies demanding attention.  I used to use an open bucket to hold and transport poo to the toilet.  But it smelled because it was open.  Now with the lock and lock, smells are contained until I can get it to the toilet.

The third feature is a set of plain old tongs.  We use a lot of pockets and I was finding that my fingertips were getting really raw as a result of touching urine-soaked inserts.  Even if I washed right away, they would still get raw.  We tried using dipes that have large pockets in order to allow the inserts to "agitate out" during laundering but my new top-loading HE washer doesn't seem to agitate enough to make these work right. Also my husband had been balking at touching the dirty parts of the diaper, fearing he was transferring germs to the kids before he could get to wash his hands which was a legitimate concern.  So we repurposed an old rusty set of kitchen tongs to remove inserts.  Now we don't have to touch any dirty parts of the diapers to separate inserts from the pockets.  Genius!  I am surprised someone hasn't marketed this yet!  I did a quick search online for diaper tongs" and this is what i found, from 1958!

Wordless Wednesday - Cloth Diapered Butts

Great Cloth Diaper Change

So today was the Great Cloth Diaper Change, which was an event to record the most cloth diaper changes occur simultaneously.  It was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records which is pretty neat.  But more importantly it is a day to promote the use of cloth diapers as a greener and cost-saving alternative to disposables.   Now, I am not going to get on my soapbox about using cloth.  It is not for everyone and it really takes a certain amount of commitment that many people can't or won't make.  But I wonder why that is.  Do you recycle?  Of course you do.  But WHY?  You don't get paid to do it and you don't save money by doing it.  Is it easy?  For some it is, and for some it takes an extra bin in the kitchen or an extra run out to the trash area to put stuff in the recycle bin. You've made the commitment to do it and that is great for the environment.  So is cloth diapering and really all it takes is the awareness that our actions affect the planet in deeper ways than just what we are doing at this very minute.  Think about it, get educated and take action if your heart tells you that is the right thing.
And now, some cute baby photos from the event at Granola Babies in Costa Mesa CA.  I changed Jack from a Softbums Omni to a Grovia AI2: