Reasons why not to make your own nappies - we squash them here!

Why make your own nappies?

There are a number of good reasons, as a new mum, that would encourage you to buy nappies already made. But there are a greater number of good reasons to have a crack at making your own! 

“But - I don’t have enough time to sew!” - that’s probably true - for a little while. But there is something soothing to a new baby about being worn wrapped around mum while she does her everyday jobs - and let’s face it, sitting down sometimes makes us feel as though we are lazy. If you’re DOING SOMETHING while you are sitting down, it’s not so bad. And if you are doing something that is both practical and creative, you are ticking more boxes than you thought you had!

“But - it seems so HARD to do!” - this one is really not the case. Sure, your first ever nappy might be a little bit wonky. But really, a nappy is straight stitch, elastic, some more straight stitch, and possibly, if you feel like it, a little bit of zig-zagging. It’s not fiddling with pleats and gussets and zipper placement, and it’s not rocket science. But there are enough patterns and tutorials out there that even if your first nappy is wonky, it will still work. And that’s the really important thing. (Put it on bubs when it’s cold and he or she is wearing pants over the top, and no-one will see it anyway!)

“I can’t make good colour and design matches, I’m hopeless with that stuff”. “I don’t want to buy metres of fabric if I can’t do it! That’s too expensive”  Neither of these are valid excuses. We’ve taken the hard work of colour choices away from you, and made it easy to buy just ONE nappies’ worth of fabric with the pre-matched kits we sell. And as our range of prints and colours is so large, you are sure to find something that suits your personal taste!

“I usually HATE sewing” This one is great. I used to hate sewing. I used to LOATHE it - because I was always trying to make big things that never fitted properly. Things for me that looked like sacks when I finally got around to wearing them. OR - I went the other way, and spent hours sewing boring, straight seams on library bags and pillowcases in the vain hope that by doing that, I’d somehow be able to miraculously manage shirring on a top the next time I sat at the machine.
 The thing with nappies are - they are simple, yet you learn new skills that will make them enjoyable to sew and give you a huge sense of achievement once completed. They are small enough to be a little project that doesn’t drag on over a week - and that makes you feel good too!  And because they are a little bit like underwear, they are still usable if not 100% perfect - which means no throwing out mistakes!

“I don’t have a sewing machine and I can’t afford one” This is one objection that’s hard to overcome. However - for every person who doesn’t have a sewing machine, there are two people who have one who don’t use it (Don’t quote me, I made that statistic up. But every writer is allowed a little bit of literary leeway, right?) One of those people may be your mother, your sister, your uncle, your next door neighbour, even that strange old fellow down the road who walks past every day mumbling under his breath and doesn’t really look at anyone. For all you know, he might be mumbling about seam allowances and set-in cap sleeves as he walks along. 
There are also community centres with sewing machines available for use (these sometimes come with creches, which can be very useful!). Essentially, I’m trying to say that finding a sewing machine might not be as difficult as it first looks. The simplest of machines will work for a nappy. Your local op-shop may even have one for next to nothing. 

“I don’t want to sew them. I just want to use them!” - Ok. If you really really don’t want to sew your own, there are still a few ways to get the nappies that you want. Pre-made colourful WAHM nappies are absolutely beautiful, sewn by Mums and Dads that have made so many nappies their skills are near to perfect. But that experience can come with a price tag. 
If you want nappies in your choices of fabrics for a better price - find that friend or relative with the sewing machine, and ask them to do the sewing for you. They will feel like they are helping out in a real, practical way. They will learn some new techniques and skills in the process. You will have the nappies that you like and you chose. And you have also spread the word about modern cloth nappies in a simple, non-threatening way to your nearest and dearest. With this option, everybody wins!

Nappy Fabric - Not just for nappies!

There are endless uses for fabrics. Endless. Probably thousands more uses than there are types of fabric.

Have you ever considered what the other uses of your nappy fabrics could be? I mean, - well, there were fabrics around BEFORE modern cloth nappies - and they must have been used for something, right?

So, let’s have a little brain-storming session about possible uses. I say brain-storming. I mean - let me think about it, after all I am the only one doing the talking here.
 


Microfleece.

Microfleece is that super squishy polyester fabric made out of recycled PET bottles. We use it in the nappy world as a liner between bubs’ bum and the absorbent part of the nappy. Sometimes we can double it up and use it as a breathable outer layer for a daytime nappy.

You’ve probably seen it used as a winter school uniform fabric. It keeps you warm with only a light layer and washes up well time and time again. It’s also difficult for boys to wear through the knees of, so it makes fabulous trackies.

Have you ever wondered what else you could do with it? Here’s a few ideas that I threw together that you might want to try - and if you do I want photos!

- Softies - making little soft toys for your children is easy peasy out of microfleece. It doesn’t fray, and therefore doesn’t need hemming OR overlocking - just cut and sew and stuff! It’s also easy to wash so if you stuff it with polyester you can machine wash them when they get covered in spaghetti sauce and weetbix.

- Scarves - oh so easy peasy fringed scarves, warm and toasty, NO SEWING REQUIRED! Just cut it long and then chop the ends into strips for tassles. A great fun winter school holidays project.

- Blankets! - There are so many different ways of making microfleece blankets. You can patchwork it, you can sew them seams out for texture (remember, no fraying!) and you can even make blankets with NO SEWING - cut large squares, cut fringes into all four sides - and tie the fringes together with the square next it - voila! Blanket in no time!

Suedecloth is another polyester fabric that washes up beautifully that we usually use as a nappy liner or inner. It’s not so warm as microfleece, but it certainly has other uses!

- Upholstery - yep, I said it. Fabulous for chair backs/cushion covers/seat covers. Heck, you could even try covering a couch with it - a couple of swappable couch covers would be perfect to save your couch from the vagaries of texta and corn chip crumbs, and will wash up in your machine and look like new. Team it with the fold-over elastic to snuggle your edges in tightly and you’re good to go.



Bamboo Terry

- Towels. OK, so it seems obvious, but Jodie has  made a towel from the bamboo terry, and I have seriously contemplated holding it for ransom. I want one. Or 6. Soooooo thirsty and fluffy and soft despite repeated washings. *sigh* I have bamboo towel lust. You could easily do face washers too. And if you really care a lot about Grandmas old crystal collection you could spoil it with a bamboo terry tea towel.

- Blankets and wraps. Because of the pile on this fabric, it not only works fabulously to trap the wetness in cloth nappies, it also traps air. Which means it insulates REALLY well. It’s super soft, and with the extra insulation properties, you have the perfect winter blanket, pram blanket, or wrap. Just overlocking the edges of a single layer will keep your little one snuggly and warm, encased in a purely natural fabric.

Flannelette

Whilst the traditional use for flannel is pyjamas, there are loads of other options that work equally well.

- Bibs made from flannel are fabulous. Edge them in bias binding or just turn and top-stitch. Using flannel as a bib at mealtimes means that you can use the bib to wipe your little one’s face clear of the spaghetti sauce and throw the whole thing in the wash - without the itchy scratchy feel of a synthetic against the skin. Or course, you can back the bib with PUL, meaning that brand new white top he’s wearing won’t turn pink after dinner too.

- You can buy a nappy cut of the flannel, to use JUST for the gorgeous prints - cut around them, and use them as applique on the corners of towels, facewashers, and wraps.

- Speaking of wraps - nothing is better than a flannel wrap for a newborn in winter. Thin enough to wrap securely, a double layer flannel wrap is cosy and warm too!





PUL

Because of it’s waterproof qualities, PUL has a whole range of uses other than just the outers of nappies.
- Swim bags! Yep, keep your kids bathers and towel in style. PUL will stop the usual slow leak from the nylon-style bags you get at the shops, it will mean no plastic coles bags are required, and it’s super strong too - no tears or rips are likely! And it comes in so many colours your child will recognise the bag from miles away - and so will their teacher, when they leave it behind. Seal the seams up with our seam-seal tape, and you’ve got an extra layer of protection in place that will prevent soggy schoolbooks at the end of the day.

- Backing bibs, as per the flannel conversation. Also, using as the front of a bib for those super-messy, wipe-ups required style meals. Works well if you have a husband who slurps his soup, too.

- Nappy bags, Wipe bags, backing washable menstrual pads, even backing your nursing pads if you are anything like I was when breastfeeding - one side feeds, the other showers the entire neighbourhood - having a PUL-backed nursing pad with 3 layers of bamboo on the front was PERFECT for that let-down rush.



Bamboo Velour

I’ve already raved about bamboo velour, in my bamboo post from earlier in the year. I love bamboo velour. It’s slinky and soft and sexy and just superb. Blankets, wraps, facecloths, tracksuits - so many things you can do with it! Nappies are only one small part of the glory of the bamboo velour. I want bamboo velour handkerchiefs. Imagine how spoilt my nose would feel after it’s latest sneezing attack. I’m allergic to grass. Bamboo is a type of grass. But I’m SOOOO not allergic to bamboo fabric.


So, I hope I have proved that the only limit to uses for nappy fabrics - is your imagination!

Lime Daisy Designs - Cloth nappies for your boobs!

This time we are meeting the lovely Aileen from Lime Daisy design, another one of my customers who has taken her beautiful sewing skills and made a business of it :)  

Here's the hello from Aileen -

Hi, I’m Aileen Mum of 2 little ones and owner of LimeDaisy Design.  I started LimeDaisy Design long before I ever had children and use to focus mainly on painted crafts and candles.  

With my first son I found that I loved using cloth breast pads and found some in Canada that were good, but not great.  I leaked often and must have had about 40 pairs to ensure I always had some dry ones on hand.  With my second child, a daughter, I figured there had to be a better way.  

I discovered Nappies Covered just after my daughter was born in 2009 and Jodie was so extremely helpful and wonderful in helping me out with the fabrics I needed to use. I even went to the Melbourne Baby show just to meet her and see the fabrics in person.   

Essentially I made a cloth nappy for your boobs!  If the fabrics were good enough to put on your baby’s bottom and contain the mess, then they would definitely be good enough for the milk I was producing!  So after some trial and error I came up with Daisy Pads – Bamboo Core breast pads and have not looked back since.  

There are hundreds of Mums out there using them now (one customer told me that LimeDaisy boobs, were happy boobs – my new unofficial slogan).  I chose to do them in fun fabrics because I really want Mums to have fun while they are breastfeeding.  

I feel that it is extremely important to care about the environment so these pads should last you through all your breastfeeding years.  They save you money on buying the horrid papery disposable ones and with the fun fabrics they make breastfeeding a special time and a talked about time.  I love that I have gotten to have a fantastic experience breastfeeding my children and I would encourage every Mum to give it a go. 

If it works for you, it will be the most wonderful experience.

 

Since starting making the breast pads I’ve also rediscovered a love of sewing so I am slowly branching out to other fun items – and ones that work for my toddlers as they grow.  Stop on by my store for a visit, you might just find something you didn’t know you needed.

Lime Daisy Online Store
Lime Diasy on FaceBook