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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Prefold Cloth Diaper from Old T-Shirt

See my logic on why I use cloth diapers and why I make them this way here.

Here are my instructions on how to make a prefold cloth diaper from a t-shirt:

I center an old diaper on the logo of the t-shirt solely for anal purposes, you can put it anyway that fits best and leaves a good sized strip for the center.

I first cut the strip for the center and take off the hem.
Then I cut out the diaper rectangle. If you do not have a cloth diaper to start with they are roughly 18"x15" anything close will suffice. Any other areas of the tshirt that are fairly large, I cut to make diaper wipes or normal cloth rags.

I then place the strip in between the two pieces of t-shirt diaper. I leave the extra length hanging out because of my choice to sew without pinning.

I then sew a straight stitch along both edges of the inside strip to tack it into place. I just use my fingers to feel where the strip is and I keep the diaper edges as close together as possible as I sew.

Then when it is tacked into place I go around the edges and cut them evenly where I have pulled while sewing or mis-cut so that all of the edges meet well enough for me to sew around the edge.

Then if you are blessed with a serger, have at it. If you are like me, use the large zigzag stitch and sew around the edges. Have one side of the zigzag stitch hop off the material and the other side go into the material, so that the edges are sewn together.

Here is the finished product. An Old Navy Prefold Cloth Diaper and Four Diaper Wipes.


If you would like to make it into a no pin adjustable prefold see further instructions.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the visual aids along with the instructions. Helps the beginners, and those that have only used patterns.

Melissa Jagears said...

I am glad you like it. I hate it when I find instructions and no pictures since I am a visual learner. And I hate patterns! I always fair better when I create it myself - now I am sure if I used patterns they could all possibly come out looking exact and perfect if I put in the time, but that's hardly ever my goal. My goal is generally to be inexpensive and not take up too much time out of my day.

Ally said...

So these are 2x4x2? How well do they work?

Melissa Jagears said...

They work fine. They are a bit stiffer than the birdseye cotton prefolds (like a diaper service prefold) and they don't take a snappi too well, although it works. I am thinking about adding snappiable material if I have another kid since mine is out of diapers. Like this link.
http://fernandfaerie.com/sewing_prefolds.html

I am also not too picky I prefer cheap over the best you can get, but they are simple enough to do, just whip one or two up with a stained t-shirt and see if you like it, otherwise they can double as a rag. :) Yes, they are 2 by 4 by 2. If you have a thin t-shirt more like a man's undershirt t-shirt, they are much more pliable.