DIY Fleece Wetbags

Over Christmas, the hubby, kids and I had the opportunity to head home from South Africa for an extended time of rest and holiday with family. Of course, the cloth diapers came too! I don’t have an issue with using disposables from time to time, but since we’d be away for more than two months, I didn’t like the idea of relying on them exclusively.

Since our trip was going to involve quite a bit of moving around, there was some planning required in figuring out how it was all going to work. One of the main concerns I had was where I was going to store our dirty dipes. At home, we successfully use a plain, lidded plastic bucket, but taking it along in our luggage wasn’t going to work. I also wanted something inexpensive, which wouldn’t be a big deal if it got left behind accidentally in our travels, or left behind on purpose if space in our bags home became an issue (traveling over Christmas + super generous family + 2 kids = packing nightmare).

Enter, the DIY fleece wet-bag.

It was about as simple as it sounds, really. Fleece material, though not waterproof exactly, is water-resistant, and is already sometimes used to make breathable diaper covers. The wet-bags I quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) sewed together were not bulletproof, but enough to suitably contain two or so days’ worth of dirty diapers.

I managed to find fleece on sale at the fabric store at the end of the South African winter (yep – they do have one!), and bought about a yard of two different prints. At home, I folded them in half, used scissors to even them out where they had been cut a little crookedly, and then stitched up the two sides (fleece doesn’t fray, so there was no need to serge). Along one side, I stitched in a little loop to use for hanging on towel hooks or door handles, and then sewed a casing at the top for a drawstring.

Voila! That was it!

You know, they worked out pretty fantastically. Each bag could hold about 20 or so diapers. Smell wise, the bags seemed to contain everything, unless I got up really close and took a big sniff(for testing purposes only, of course). When the bag was full, I would throw it, and all the dirty dipes, in the wash, and once dry use it to hold all of the clean diapers, whilst the other fleece wet-bag was used for dirties. The bags also worked well as extra storage for other dirty laundry, or as a large tote for all our bits and pieces when out and about. It was, overall, a perfect solution for on the road, international travel or even out camping.

Would it work in my nappy bag on the go? Doubt it. Will I abandon my beloved pail system at home for fleece wet-bags? Nope.

But is a cheap and easy solution like this just more proof that Cloth Diapering is as flexible and inventive as you make it? I certainly believe so!

Bio: Belinda Lamprecht currently lives in Africa with her husband, working for an international missions agency and raising her two kiddos, one who joined the family through adoption and one…ahem…the old-fashioned way. You can read more about their experiences at www.reaboka.wordpress.com