Delaminated Diapers DIY Project

What do you do when your cloth diapers bite the dust and are no longer waterproof? The answer I see most it “use it as a swim diaper!” But what if you’re like me and you live in a region where most of the calendar year consists of snow, or your kids hate swimming? With two littles in diapers, I really don’t need more than four swim diapers. There’s got to be something else I can do to put these ruined diapers to use.

I’ve been sewing for a few years now. I started with quilting, which will always be my hardcore crafting passion, and eventually made my way to altering and repairing clothing. Last year I decided to take a try at making stuffies. I had so many scraps from my quilting projects and I hate to waste all the beautiful fabrics. I attempted an assortment of animals, from elephants and giraffes to squirrels and owls . While I curse my way through every owl and squirrel I make, the elephants have become my hobby. I played with different patterns and eventually created my own. I found my rhythm and can knock several out in one day if my kids will allow it. They’re popular with my friends and have been a favorite for baby shower and get-well-soon gifts.

Then one day it hit me. People love their diaper prints. They look for matching shirts and accessories. They recreate them on solid diapers, t-shirts, and whatever else they can think of. Why not turn some old, ruined diapers into stuffies? I started with a worn faded Albert that I had sitting, a failed and forgotten attempt and the diaper coloring craze. The amount of uncolored PUL I had available was limited, so this elephant was smaller and needed cotton for the ears. But my next two attempts were with some of bumGenius’s Chelsea Perry line. With the exception of thread and stuffing, the entire elephant was created with diaper parts. Suede cloth for the belly, PUL for the body, and tabs for the ears. I now have a stack of Thirsties and Tots Bots prints waiting for repurposing, and I’m always on the hunt for cheap, delaminated diapers on the swaps.

I see parents say all the time that they dread having to say goodbye to their favorite prints once their little one potty trains. Well, you don’t necessarily have to. Turn it into something else! What is your favorite diaper print? What would you have it turned into?

Bio: Cecilia is the mother of two fluffy-butt boys. She enjoys sewing, crocheting, and taking naps when her children will allow it.


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Delaminated Diapers DIY Project

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"Why does your baby look like a Who?"

This is what my brother asked me within minutes of meeting my then-2-month-old baby Oskar over the holidays. My husband and I, baby in tow, made the eight-hour trek by car (typically five hours, but baby adds three) specifically to introduce our new bundle to my family. The highlight of this visit was that Oskar would have the opportunity to meet my brother's baby -- Oskar's cousin -- for the first time, along with a host of tittering aunts and fawning uncles and fussing grandparents. We arrived and made the whirlwind of introductions, barely surviving the onslaught of camera flashbulbs that went off when the babies held hands upon meeting. Then, not long after,

"Why does your baby look like a Who?"

"What?" I asked.

"A Who," my brother replied.

"A which?"

"A Who. You know, from Dr. Seuss?" he clarified.

"Oh," I said. "As in, Horton Hears a..."

"A Who." My brother pointed at my baby's butt.

I looked at Oskar and realized what my brother was trying to say in his typically colorful way. Oskar did look somewhat like a Who, one of the tiny, cheerful, and vaguely pear-shaped inhabitants of Whoville, with his one-piece romper stretched over his little body and his especially rotund bottom. That's because Oskar was sporting our pocket diaper of choice, a Smartipants, double-stuffed for the long car ride, and was looking extra-fluffy that evening.

Since he was about a month old, Oskar has been in cloth. We never planned on cloth; it never even occurred to us. We figured we would have enough on our plates with a whole new person living in our house, leaving a trail of soiled laundry in his wake. But a few things happened right after Oskar was born. We became tired of the constant trips to the baby store for diapers and wipes, just in the few weeks our baby lived in disposables.

We were appalled by the sheer volume of garbage we were tossing into our trash can several times a day -- made even more embarrassing by the fact we were tossing said garbage into the can directly next to the recycling bin we proudly frequent, the one right behind our hybrid car. We educated ourselves and I spent lots of time over at educated; I spent lots of time on Kim’s website, Dirty Diaper Laundry.

I was shocked at how different cloth diapers are from how I'd imagined (in other words, they didn't necessarily involve giant safety pins and a backbreaking laundry routine). We became sentimental; how could we possibly have been prepared for just how much we could love this new little person, for just how fervently we would want to give him the very best we could?

And so I explained to my brother that Oskar looked like a Who that night -- and in fact always looked like a Who -- because he wore cloth diapers. I waited for the standard response.

"Poop? In your washing machine?" He raised an eyebrow.

And, as I always do, I resisted the urge to reply, "Chemicals? Against your baby's skin?" or "Trash the planet your baby will inherit?"

Instead, I simply smiled and said, "You bet."


By Patti W-C.


Dr. Seuss photo courtesy of PBS

"Why does your baby look like a Who?"

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Diaper vs. Dog

We spent a little more than a week in Orlando, FL with my family for the holidays. The last time we visited our family in Florida we stayed with my sister and I opted to cloth diaper at that time. Since we were staying with my sister again I decided to go ahead and pack up our diaper stash and continue with our cloth diaper routine. However, since our last visit my sister’s family has welcomed a new member to the household - a puppy. Jethro, the now 8 month old 55 pound family dog added quite a bit of entertainment during our stay.

Brendan woke up a little after 7am the morning after Christmas. His portable crib was set up downstairs in the office; when I opened the door I was overwhelmed with the smell of a very dirty diaper. I quickly changed him out of his pajamas and put on a clean diaper before heading upstairs to get him dressed (wouldn’t want that smell wafting through the house). I rolled up the diaper and put it in the downstairs bathroom where I had been rinsing out the diapers and storing my wet bag. Then I peaked into my nephew’s bedrooms to see him and my older son Ian sound asleep. I also noticed Jethro still fast asleep in his crate.... on the other side of a tall security gate.

You know where this is going, right? Not more than five minutes after I went upstairs to get Brendan dressed I hear my sister calling, “The dog has your diaper!” At first I thought that she meant that the dog had gotten into the stack of clean diapers I had outside the office door. I washed and folded a load the night before just after putting Brendan down for the night.

I quickly walked down the stairs to find the bumGenius One Size 3.0 pocket diaper laying in the middle of the tile floor outside of the bathroom… and it was NOT one of the freshly laundered ones! It was the dirty, yucky diaper I had just changed moments before. Completely disgusted by the thought of the dog “cleaning” the diaper, my sister banished Jethro to the back patio and gave him a breath freshening dog bone to gnaw on. I picked up the diaper, threw it in the wet bag and continued to mop the floor where the dog had dropped it.

After pondering how the event unfolded that morning - the only thing we could think of was my 6½ year old nephew must have woken up, let the dog out of his crate and then failed to lock the gate which typically keeps him confined to one side of the house. Too bad my nephew wasn’t old enough to clean up the mess... I don’t find mopping the floor at 7am a particularly exciting way to start the day!

Ultimately, however, I’m glad my diaper held up to the “doggy test” and we can now all sit back and laugh at the unforgettable morning.

Final Score: Diaper 1 Dog: 0

-By Katrina W.

Diaper vs. Dog

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