sewing your own soaker pads

[chrissiviolin]

OK, I've literally ignored my son all day because I have been online reading and reading and reading and getting almost nowhere. I am making the switch to cloth diapers but will be sewing them myself. I've found lots of great cover patterns but can't find any one pattern that actually specifies exactly how much bamboo velour to use for the soaker pads. Anyone have experience with this?? I will probably make 20-25 soaker pads so how many yards of bamboo will I need?

I actually have a few cloth diapers already. My son who has never had a diaper rash before with disposables is all of a sudden breaking out wearing the cloth. I'm wondering if I should make the switch at all. Has anyone else had this problem when/if they switched? Is this something I will continuously deal with should I continue using cloth?

[Mags462]

I'm not much help because i really dislike sewing diapers But maybe post this question in the Craft forum and the ladies there will help you out!

[Alioop]

Your child may be reacting to the detergent, so strip the diapers in dish detergent, wash in HOT water, and run an extra rinse.

As for making inserts, the easiest inserts are "flat" diapers. Inserts are usually about 15" long, and about 4" wide. So, figure how many layers you want. Pre wash your fabric. Lets say you want 6 layers.....so that is 24" x 15". If you cut a piece of prewashed fleece that size, you can fold it into an insert and lay it into the diaper. No sewing needed.

If you want to sew them, a serger is best. Cut the pieces 15x4", and serge the rectangles (round the corners if you want) together. You can put 3-6 pieces together, as many as your serger will handle.

I would try the flat fold first though, they are easy to wash and fast to dry. If you have a serger, you can serge the edge if you want to keep the edge from rolling, but you do not have to.

hth

[Melly11]

I make my soaker pads with 6 layers of bamboo, and 2 layers of zorb. I do them trifold style. Most of the cloth diaper patterns you purchase come with measurment for soakers for that particular diaper, and with contour patterns aswell if that is your preferance. 2 of my favourites which include these options are darling diapers and the la-di-da pattern.

[chrissiviolin]

Hey thanks! That definitely helps But what is Zorb? I haven't seen this in any of the patterns I have looked at. I've been window shopping on diapercuts.com, celtic cloths, and kids in the garden, and haven't seen or heard of zorb? My son is a heavy wetter especially at night, so is this something I should look into finding?

[Melly11]

Zorb is a combination of natural fiber and microfiber. It's manufactured by wazoodle....www.wazoodle.com When you are using it to make soakers you do not use it on it's own, you pair it with another natural fabric..I like sandwhiching it between bamboo. I find it does help with longer absorbancy, and it does a better job of catching those fast pees. During the day i use 2 layers of zorb and 4 layers of bamboo fleece (thats the total when my insert is folded), and at night I add 2 more layers of bamboo and another layer of zorb in a doubler. My son is a medium wetter though, so you may need a little more.