Making An Old Diaper Like New

Now that Brendan, my youngest son, is almost a year and a half old, I've noticed some of my diaper have began to show some wear. After all, my initial cloth diaper purchase of 24 bumGenius 3.0's was heavily used the first 3-4 months while I was cloth diapering two children. Earlier this year I noticed that five of my bumGenius 3.0's were experiencing lifting between the aplix/velcro and the diaper. It wasn't completely separated, but it was well on it's way. Knowing bumGenius offers a 1 year warranty on their diapers, I contacted their customer service and explained the problem. They happily exchanged the diapers for me. All I had to do is provide proof of purchase with the date (from Kelly's Closet of course!), and ship the diapers to them in clean, unaltered condition. Within a week or so, five new bumGenius 3.0 diapers where in my mailbox. Yea for fluffy mail!!

As summer progressed, Brendan began to figure out how to take off diapers with aplix/velcro...a problem I never had with my older son. I quickly grew tired of extra changes due to him loosening the diaper and allowing his clothing to get wet. I heard of people converting their hook and loop diapers to snaps; so I began to look into that option to solve our new problem. I found quite a few people who sell this service, and chose one whom I "know" from an online forum. I chose to convert 7 diapers: five of my bumGenius 3.0's and two of my Blueberry Minky's.

It is very important to note that by altering the diapers, you will void any warranty on them. This wasn't a problem for me since I chose diapers that were past their warranty period. I sent off my diapers, and about two weeks later, I had 7 "new" diapers that my son can't take off. They turned out looking great, and I am happy to say that our problem has been solved. I was so happy that I was able to salvage the diapers that I already had in my stash, and give them even longer life. Whereas I love buying new fluff, I enjoy adding to my stash, not replace diapers already in it.

Making An Old Diaper Like New

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Bringing Velcro Diapers Back to Life

I must admit I am guilty of cloth diaper abuse. When I started out with cloth diapering I was cheap and only bought 10 bumGenius All-in-Ones and washed them every day. At the time I thought this was a thrifty way to save money. Although I dutifully secured the hook and loop (aka Velcro) to the laundry tabs they seemed to come apart during each and every wash. The Velcro repeatedly became filled with lint, hair and fuzz. Eventually, the hook and loop started bending backwards and would no longer stay fastened. This often resulted in my house looking like a toddler nudist colony. You know what I am talking about. First you hear riiiiiiiiiiiip immediately followed by the joyful squeals of a toddler in her birthday suit!

Here is what my hook and loop tabs looked like after a few months of use.

When I found out I was expecting baby #2 I realized I needed to find a way to extend the life of my investment. Like many families, one reason I turned to cloth was to SAVE money. I started freaking out that I would need to replace a good portion of my diaper stash. After asking around on Twitter I discovered that bumGenius (Cotton Babies) would provide me with FREE replacement hook and loop and laundry tabs. I sent a quick e-mail to customer service and in just a few days had my replacement kits in hand.

The first part of the job entails taking off the old hook and loop tabs. This seam ripping probably is the most time consuming part of the project. I had my diapers and seam ripper in a bin on my kitchen counter for about a week. I did a few tabs here and there when I had time. It turns out seam ripping is relatively relaxing.

The next step was to sew on the new hook and loop tabs. bumGenius sent clear instructions along with a diagram showing exactly how to sew the tabs onto the diapers. If you can sew at all you should be able to do it with no problem. Unfortunately, I must have been nodding off, daydreaming, or writing love notes in home economics because I can’t sew a stitch. Luckily, my mother-in-law, the always there when I am in a bind Grammyita, is handy with a sewing machine and was willing to help me out. My husband also sewed the hook and loop tabs onto about half of the diapers. Sorry ladies. He’s all mine. In all honesty I absolutely could have done it myself if I didn’t have anyone to help.

The final step was to sew on new laundry tabs. This step is really important because without new laundry tabs your new Velcro will never last. I must admit, we did not take off the old laundry tabs. Instead, the new tabs were sewn directly over the old tabs.


That’s it! It took just a few hours of work to completely replace the hook and loop on ten diapers. OK. So I just sat there eating a sandwich and watching. I was soaking it all in for next time. The finished diapers are just as good as new and are all ready for baby #2.

Just in case you were wondering you need not call the diaper authorities on me. I have long since ended my cloth diaper abuse. I have a much larger stash now, including some great snap diapers, so I know this hook and loop will go the distance- and if not I can always call Grammyita!
-- By Danielle

Bringing Velcro Diapers Back to Life

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