How to sew pocket diapers

Here are my favorite (FREE!) directions on sewing pocket diapers.

Rita's Rump Pocket diaper pattern

I took some photos as I was making one of these and posted them in my favorite diaper message board.

Sewing a Rita's Rump Pocket diaper -- photo tutorial

Her directions are very easy but sometimes it is good to have photos you can look at.

The pattern calls for two layers of cotton so I used some old flannel shirts and other cotton fabrics to make our pocket diapers. It doesn't have closures like snaps or velcro on it so you can pin them to get a good fit every time. Some people like to use different fabrics for them and add closures. You can basically make this diaper any way you want; I found that I love it according to the pattern.

How to sew cloth prefold diapers

Here are some of my favorite directions for sewing cloth prefold diapers.

How to make a prefold diaper from T-shirts and scraps

How to make a prefold diaper from one T-shirt

How to make a 10-minute prefold

How to make a prefold with two large pieces of fabric

How to make a prefold the "real way"

I have used the top one most; it is the pattern I used to make the diapers in the photo. I have also used the second pattern and really like it. I have two diapers made from the third pattern and I recommend using a stretchy fabric with it and with the fourth.

There are other patterns on the Internet; just search "sew cloth diapers" or something like that and you will find lots of links. These links I have posted here use mostly recycled materials like old clothing since that is how I like to make my diapers but there are many other patterns with other fabric choices out there.

Plushy Penguin Prefolds

The Plushy Penguin Prefolds that live with us now. They were pillowcases and a couple of t-shirts yesterday.

We have a new family of six Plushy Penguin Prefolds that have come to live with us!

They cost $1.50 (actually less) plus an hour of my time to make.

The kids and I went yard saling yesterday afternoon and for 50 cents each I got two king size super plushy penguin pillowcases! I got two diapers each out of the pillowcases for a total of four penguin PFs made with that style. The fabric is so plushy that I just used the two layers already there without sewing anything in the middle.

With the scraps and a couple of t-shirts for 25 cents each, I made two embellished penguin PFs.

Now we have a set of six beautiful and super soft and plushy penguin PFs!

(I promise I'm just about finished talking about sewing diapers if my two or three readers are terribly tired of hearing about them!)

Girly diapers!

The yummy soft and squishy diaper set I made to trade with another cloth diapering mama who sews her own diapers from recycled materials!

Finally I got to make some girly diapers! I'm doing a trade with a mama from DiaperSwappers.com and I made up this set of four soft and squishy diapers for her. They are so little, 10x12, for her baby-to-be, much smaller than the big 13x16s I've been making for my son.

They are made from some flannel and old t-shirts my mom gave me.

For my end of the trade, I'm getting two Mickey Mouse prefolds made from an old bed sheet and two blue and brown flannel diapers made with a single strip of fabric each with the 10-minute prefold pattern! I'm so excited, and I'm so glad to trade with her. She and I have similar diapering philosophies -- it's supposed to be simple and cheap. Like myself, she has made her entire stash with recycled materials.

When I get my new diapers I'll show off her work.

Yummy soft diaper set

The baby's new diaper set, made from one super-soft flannel shirt and some t-shirts.

The baby has a yummy new diaper set today thanks to my purchase of a 25 cent flannel shirt (huge and the softest flannel shirt I've ever felt) and a few t-shirts this weekend and a sewing marathon of sorts last night.

He's got a prefold diaper, a flat diaper, two pocket diapers, and two inserts, all with a yummy soft green flannel pattern.

I did a couple of slightly different things with this set of diapers. For the PF, I used two different color t-shirts for the body; black on the outside and white on the inside. That was because I ran out of enough t-shirts. For the pockets, I used three layers (two flannel and one t-shirt) instead of just two layers of flannel. That too, was improvising because I wanted to make two pockets with the two sleeves, but didn't have enough flannel for two inner layers. Well, I should say boyish flannel. I have a bunch of flannel with little green rosebuds on it that my mom gave me. So I put the rosy flannel on the inside with the plaid flannel on the outside and a layer of t-shirt next to the baby's skin. That extra layer makes the diapers so much softer. They only take slightly longer to dry as they are a tad damp at the elastic coming out of the dryer.

I have another piece of flannel for another PF but I thought I was out of t-shirts. I have a few thin white ones but one of them might work. Who knows what I might find if I go digging around in my fabric box.

I washed diapers yesterday morning but had to do another load last night to get all these clean. They are ready for him this morning!

So cute!

Some of the pocket diapers I've made.

The pocket diapers I've made using the Rita's Rump Pockets pattern are just so stinkin' cute! I made a baker's dozen with these fabrics, mostly plaid since that seems to be the pattern of men's flannel shirts! The green plaid on the bottom left was a sheet, and the off-white gender-neutral fabric on the top left was a sheet. I used the off-white fabric inside all the plaid diapers except the green one.

Now I need some more shirts and sheets to make some more. Not only are they cute, they are easy to sew, easy to use, and they work great!

My diaper stash is finished!

Our diaper stash! Inserts (clockwise from top left), flats, prefolds to use as inserts, pocket diapers, and prefolds!

We now have a complete diaper stash, and almost all of it I made!

We have a dozen prefolds made from flannel shirts and sheets and old t-shirts.

We have a dozen pocket diapers made from two flannel sheets and a couple of flannel shirts.

We have two dozen inserts/doublers, made from flannel and t-shirts.

We have a dozen and a half flannel flats. Half of them I made from flannel and the other half are flannel baby blankets.

To round things out we have eight or so cheap prefolds that I use for inserts/doublers.

We also have a few other assorted things like fitted diapers, covers, and all-in-one diapers that I bought from a few mamas on DiaperSwappers.com.

I am going to make a few fleece covers for when it gets colder but I'm not worried about that right now.

I'm proud of our stash and glad I started doing this. We will be saving money by cloth diapering and we have saved even more with me making everything from recycled materials. It's also nice to know that I've made something practical for the baby.