Savings with cloth diapering

We haven't cloth diapered very long and our stash is small and simple on purpose because I'm determined to save money with this. Not counting the sewing machine fiasco, I've done pretty well.

I've spent $111.

$36 for a few things from FSOT (For Sale or Trade at DiaperSwappers.com)
$10 for materials to make diapers (two flannel sheets from Goodwill and a few really big men's t-shirts from yard sales)
$10 for sewing notions (scissors, thread, pins, measuring tape, etc.)
$35 for used sewing machine at Goodwill
$20 for a new bobbin case for the machine

And a lot of my time, which is priceless!

I got most of my materials for free from my mom and she has a lot more for me to make some more diapers if I want.

I have made sure that all of the materials I've used are being recycled with nothing bought new for this project. Of the few things that I've bought from Diaper Swappers, they were all mama-made and had a life before coming to live with us.

We have enough for 3-3.5 days right now but I wash every two days because I can't stand dirty things laying around even if they are well contained in my presoak buckets (also recycled, they are one-gallon ice cream buckets). He still wears disposable diapers at night and sometimes on the weekends when his dad changes him.

These will last him through the next few months. At 18 months, he's got at least six more months in diapers, but being that he's a boy (they are hard to potty train) he may be in diapers longer.

If we'd started this earlier we could have saved more money but you can't think of everything.

Our cloth diaper stash

A dozen t-shirt/flannel prefolds (mama-made by me out of old t-shirts and flannel shirts, and the green plaid is a sheet I bought from Goodwill)


Receiving blankets used for flats and flannel flats cut from the back of men's shirts


Pocket diapers I just made with the Rita's Rump Pockets pattern out of sheets I bought from Goodwill


Cheap Gerber prefolds and t-shirt/flannel inserts/doublers

We have a few other assorted things, a few fitted diapers and AIOs (all-in-ones, they have a cover on them) we don't use a whole lot, and of course there was the dirty flat and doubler, and the flat and doubler on the bum while I was taking these photos.

I'm going to make a couple more pockets to make it an even half dozen and then make a couple of fleece covers.

Our cloth diaper stash is small on purpose since I'm trying to save us some money with this.

New diaper style

The four pocket diapers I've made. Made of two layers of flannel and elasticized legs, the fit is great!

I've been sewing t-shirt prefolds and went through all the t-shirts I had on hand. I had the Rita's Rump Pocket pattern that I wanted to try. It's a diaper made of two layers of flannel and elasticized legs. You stuff it with prefolds, inserts, etc. for absorption.

I haven't had time to sew in a week, and then when I sat down to do it late last night I had scissor issues (very dull all of a sudden) and my very old sewing machine was having no parts of sewing any elastic or anything else for that matter. It hadn't sewn in a week and so it had to warm up, then the needle broke, and then it just plain hated the elastic. But I kept going and ended up with two pockets. I didn't make any more last night because I wanted to try the fit to see if there needed to be any adjustments. They fit perfectly so I made two more today.

The pattern calls for longer back wings and using pins to close. I made the wings not quite so long because of the size fabric I had. We are pinning for now but I think I'm going to try putting velcro on the next one I make. That would make diaper changing so fast!

My sewing is rudimentary at best but it's working and the second diaper looks much better than the first.

The elastic is kicking my butt on these. My sewing machine is old and cantankerous (like an old cat) and she hates elastic. The thread breaks repeatedly while I'm sewing elastic. I think I'll make a couple more to make an even half dozen of these and quit this, and find something else to sew that she likes better.

Pocket diaper in photos

The open diaper (the first one of four I made)



Folded up



Stuffed with a Gerber prefold and a mama-made by me t-shirt and flannel doubler (waiting for some love)



And lastly, here is the second one I made being modeled by the resident diaper model (who greatly approved).

I have to say that as soon as I took these pics the diaper MODEL turned into a diaper TESTER and put his new dipe to the ultimate test. I'm proud to say it held up very well.

Old flannel shirts

I've been cutting up old flannel shirts for diapers and have found that there are a ton of things hiding in an old shirt.

Here's how I've been using them:

* The back: Flat diapers. Tthe backs are probably big enough for fitted diapers, too.

* Two front panels: Stripes for the backs of prefold diapers. A beautiful black and white plaid was used on the diaper in the photo.

* Sleeves: Soakers, an extra few layers on top of the diaper for absorption. I've been sewing old T-shirts inside.

* Scraps: Wipes, handkerchiefs, etc.

I'm getting better at fully utilizing all of the fabric in the shirts, which is good because flannel is so wonderfully soft and absorbent!

Share your ideas for old flannel shirts!

Diaper sets

The "green" set ... four prefolds, two flats, and the solid green thing is an insert for more absorption. The green plaid all came from a flannel sheet that I bought from Goodwill. There is still over half of the sheet left so I am going to try to make a different kind of diaper with what is left. The bodies of these diapers and all of the ones that I have made are old T-shirts that came mostly from boxes of old clothes at my parents' house.



The "blue and orange" set ... three prefolds, a reversible "pocket" for a prefold, and an insert! All of the plaid came from an old flannel shirt that I pulled from one of my mom's many yard sale piles this past weekend. The shirt was my dad's, I think.



My favorite, the "black and white" set ... two prefolds and a flat. The flannel came from a shirt that someone gave my husband. Since I took this picture I made a soaker insert with the black plaid. The insert has an old T-shirt of mine folded up and sewn inside of it.



The "red and white" set ... a flat, a prefold, and an insert! The flannel came from a shirt I got out of one of my mom's yard sale piles last weekend. I made another insert after I took this picture.


This set is just a lone prefold and insert. The plaid came from a shirt that my sisters wore in high school. (I need a picture of that!)

I wasn't intending to make "sets" but it just happened since I was using the same shirts to make different diapers.

Now I'm tired of sewing and washing diapers so I think I'll give it a rest for a while.