Prefold-to-Fitted Diaper DIY

I'd been working on this tutorial for a while, and then I deleted all my pictures and had to start over from the beginning! You can't imagine how frustrated I was. But I have some great friends who were willing to loan me some of their diapers to work with....So here is the finished product.

First lets look at the diapers.

There are are several different types of fitted diapers out there. In this picture above you can see that mine varies a bit from the one on the left. I suspect that the factory made fitted uses fabric from bolts because there is no possible way to get the middle soaker pad as big as that from a traditional prefold. If you have enough prefolds to use half for the middle soaker, that's great! It will add more absorbency and also a faster drying time if you only attach one end to the inside. 

In this tutorial, however, I use the cuts from the legs for the absorbent layers in the middle. We're trying to cut costs and just alter what we have to work with so that you have less bulk.

There are lots of free diaper patterns that can be found online to print for free, or you could even use a disposable laid out flat to accomplish the same thing. Basically you want a diaper shape to your diaper when you cut it. I used my pattern as a guide to show just a basic idea of where the legs should start and the wings should stop.

Make a small cut where you want your wings to be.

Using those first cuts as a guide cut over to the middle soaking layers, leaving about a 1/4 inch on the outside. That means don't cut all the way over to the middle seam! If you do that you won't have space to insert your leg elastic.

Next, on one side of your diaper you may have noticed when cutting that there were extra layers of fabric the closer you got to the middle seam. You are going to leave two layers of fabric on top and bottom. That means that you will trim out the middle 4 layers.

Next I surged the legs/wings. The threads I folded over one side of the wings and tacked them in place, trimming any loose threads. I should add here that if you don't have a serger, it's possible to use a zig-zag stitch all the way around as well. If you are to use the zig-zag, I personally would suggest going over it a few times. I'm paranoid and would want to make certain that the stitching would have a good hold on the fabric.

It will look similarly to how the factory serged threads were tacked down. This is just to keep threads from unraveling.

Now we're going to put together the inner soaker layers. From the material you trimmed to make the contoured legs, make a small pad to go down in the middle of your diaper. I trimmed a little to make it a uniform shape. Pin it down to the middle of your diaper. You can also see in this picture below where the serged edges formed a pocket for the elastic to be. We'll get to that after the soaker is sewn down.

Using a zig-zag stitch sew over the edges of the soaker layers to hold them down and reduce fraying.

Ok, now the leg elastic! This is the hardest part of the whole thing. And once you've done a few it's not really that difficult.

For this part we are working on the outside of the diaper near the serged edges. You are going to make a small hole using your seam ripper or scissors to insert your elastic. I did this to both ends near each end of the soaker pad, but on the outside edge where you trimmed the inner fabric layers. This is going to form a tube for the elastic to stretch through.

Attach a safety pin to the end of your elastic, (I didn't measure! I used the uncut elastic length and just fed it through. I trimmed after I sewed it down.)

Feed the pin/elastic through the tube until your reach the hole at the other end of the leg.

Pin it in place. You are going to sew this end that is pinned down first. Using a zig-zag stitch.

I sewed over the end of the elastic and the hole that I ripped at the same time, so that it close the hole and held the elastic in place all at once. Next tug the loose end of the elastic making it ruffle up. Give it a good stretch to make sure it won't be too tight on chubby baby legs. I would guestimate that the length of the elastic that is sewn in is somewhere between 5 and 6 inches. Zig-zag over this loose end/hole to hold the elastic in place. Trim off the extra! Repeat this step with the other side of the diaper for the other leg. When it's all sewn up it should look like this, below, with even tension in the legs from the elastic.

Elastic in the waist is optional. It has it's up sides, and down sides. The elastic in the factory made fitted extends beyond the boundaries of the middle soaker seams. I'm not quite sure how they did that, and I didn't want to take apart my friends lovely diaper. However, it is still possible and fairly easy with the homemade version. In much the same manner that you put elastic in the legs, you will rip/cut some holes along the upper back of the diaper between the two middle seams, insert elastic and sew it in place. 

The finished diaper will look something like this!

It can be closed with a Snappi, pins, or if you are feeling enthusiastic you could also add snaps.

Have you tried make your prefolds into fitted diapers?

I didn't use prefolds with my kids, but I did make fitted diapers! I'm tempted to borrow a friends baby for the day just to have the experience :)

If you try this out, let me know how it works for you!

 

Gentleman Jack BBQ Sauce

 

The star of this BBQ Show was this sauce. 

When I told my husband we were going to grill for dinner, he asked if we had any BBQ sauce. 

Umm. No. I seem to have forgotten that part! But, I promised, I could make some. 

He said to make sure to add some Jack. 

Happily, my dear man. Happily. 

 I'd like to say that the spices are a big part of the show here as well. I like spices. Lots of them. You can give me whatever is in the fridge, and if I have spices I'll make it a scrumptious something.

 Here is the recipe:

1 tsp Celery Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Dried Chopped Onion
1/4 tsp Chili Pepper
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Applecider Vinegar
2 shots of Gentleman Jack, (I'm pretty sure my husband poured in more while I wasn't looking!)


Pour everything into a bowl and mix it up.

 Have some small eager hands help you whisk it all together.

And then...lick the whisk. Really. Do it. 

 I was almost sorry to have to put the chicken in it. It's so yummy. I would definitely say to let your chicken sit and soak. Let it marinate for at least an hour in the fridge so all those flavors can soak into your chicken.

 When you're ready to eat, fire up that grill and let the smells wash over you. Its the smell of summer at it's finest.

I love to grill, but for some reason the men always seem to take that over. Hmmm. I handed over the tongs. He'll only be here for a short while, I'll let him get his grilling in.

 Let that sauce caramelize. A little crunchy almost-burnt skin...delish.

I served up a fresh mixed greens salad and some brown rice to go along with our chicken. There was nothing left. The kids came back as I was going to put the few chicken legs away and ate them cold. Alright then. It's a keeper!

Let me know if you try it! Even better...invite me over! :)

I've linked up to

You ARE someone. And so am I.

Ok, so I'm putting myself out there a little bit with this post...

That title might seem like a real "Duh, you should know that already" type thing, but sometimes we need reminders. Reminders that we are someone, that we are valuable, and precious and someone to be treasured. Over time, I've forgotten.

How often we go through life handing the reigns to someone else, or lots of someone else's, thinking (or maybe not considering at all) that they can drag you along through life, but then you aren't a participant in your own adventure. The Adventure of Life becomes mundane, and you become melancholy. I'm guilty of that.

It's not good enough for us to just be along for the ride. We need to be active participants. And even if we think we're doing our part, there's always room for more. If we are comfortable, we're not doing enough. There should be a constant volcano within your soul pushing you to be more, do more, become better, strive for greatness. Good enough, isn't enough. (I'm doing a little self talk here.)

I've got to stop being that fly on the wall of other peoples lives and do something great. Don't ask me what that is yet because I'm still figuring that out. But I see hints of it unfolding before my eyes and I'm amazed and hopeful. And a little scared of the unknown. It's all going to be alright in the end, though. You'll see.

I've got something special to share.
And I am something special.
And I think you are too. The question is....What are you going to do about it/with it?


Here's to discovering ME.

From the Weekend.

Lots of pictures. Good stuff. 

My garden is growing!

 

Some sparklers. They've become a tradition when daddy is home.

 

Some painting. (This is my friend Bri.) Really enjoying it a lot. I've painted more in the last few weeks than ever before.

 Outside fun with the kids. Water balloons and sprinklers. I love the way that outside play brings out the creativity in the kids.

And our chickies are finding their voices. The roosters sound like teenage boys trying to figure out what their voice range is supposed to be. It's somewhere between a crow and a sick cough.

Flowers from my gardens.  I love that they are growing so beautifully. I love even more, bringing some of that beauty inside.

And a little more painting. 

More good things coming this week!

May is the Month of Mary.

My kids attend public school right now, and so they get less faith formation than I'd hope for. But I still try to integrate our faith into their life with activities outside of school that will help them learn and grow in their faith. 

For us Catholic Christians the month of May is full of tradition and activity that is done in remembrance of Our Lord's mother, Mary. She's a shining example of how to serve God. During this month we honor her and use her examples of faith and service to help us grow in those areas of our own life as well. Sometimes I can't find crafts activities that I imagine being great teaching tools, so I make my own. This is one I made for my kids this month. 

This diorama is really simple to put together and you don't need much to get it started! There are many things you could add to it to make it as embellished as you like (glitter, ribbon, etc), but I'm going to show you the basics. So here we go!

You have a few options to print out Mary and her flower garden. You can right-click and save this next image. Or you can click this link and it will take you to a printable PDF. I will suggest printing it on a cardstock type paper if you can. If not, it will work still, but the pieces may be a little more floppy.

Next have your kids color the images and cut them out. You can be as detailed or simple as you'd like both with coloring, and with cutting.

When you are done coloring and cutting, the next thing you are going to want to do is help the kids cut some little strips to fold and tape to the back of their flower garden pieces and to the back of the image of Mary. I simply used some of the scraps of paper that were left after all the pieces were cut out. Cut small strips and fold them in half to form an L shape. Tape one side to the back of the colored images, and fold a small circle of tape so that it can be attached to the underside of the L and stick securely to the shoe box.

For my shoe box, I attached Mary first to some decorative card stock. Cut it to fit the bottom of your box by tracing around the edges of your box onto your paper and cut it out. You could also have your children color or paint the inside of the box, or cover it completely with pretty paper or glitter, or even moss might be pretty! 

I attached Mary to the cardstock, and then taped the cardstock with double-sided tape to the inside of the box.

Once Mary is secure, you can start placing your garden pieces. There's no particular way that you have to place them-- whatever appeals to you. You could even print out more copies and add more flowers if you'd like to!

Your finished project will look something like this! 

The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he has remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.

If you try out this project be sure to come back and let me know how it went for you! I'd love to see your own diorama's! 

Have a great weekend!

Copyright stuff--> Please don't copy and sell, or mass produce copies of this printable. It is my original art work and I am happy to share it freely. All I ask is that you link to me, or give credit where it's due! Thank you!

I've linked up at
Craftionary.net
www.jenniferrizzo.com