Sewing Diaper Covers

Whether cloth diapering or using disposables, diapers leak - especially overnight. We have had very few leaks overall with cloth when compared to disposables, but overnights have still been tough. We've added extra liners to thicken the diaper but Ben's legs are so skinny that he usually leaks out of the sides. A solution I'm trying is for Ben to wear a soaker. A soaker is a diaper cover that holds any extra moisture by pulling it away from the diaper and skin without wicking it to other clothing or sheets. Wool is the best for this, but I know less about it, and it requires lanolizing and hand-washing. So for now, we're using fleece covers at night. I made a couple of different pairs, each with an extra layer through the middle for added absorbancy. I used the serger for the most part, which made the whole process very quick. A free, printable pattern and directions can be found here.


The first two were too small to fit over Ben wearing a Bum Genius diaper, so I had to move up to a size medium body with small leg openings. The waist is still a little big, but I haven't been able to get the bulk of the cover big enough with a small enough waistband just yet. I think tomorrow I'll have the pattern closer to perfected (and soon enough Ben will grow out of it).

I cut bottom off of a couple of onsies and serged the bottom edge to make the t-shirts. The pants are a little crazy looking when not on, because I used the same pattern and just made the legs longer. It's a little goofy, but has to be so bulky, again, to cover the diaper.


The best fleece to use is the non-pilling kind from Joann's, which happens to be on sale this week! (Fortuante coincidence.) I bought the spiders, neon green, and the Cardinal's fleece. We tried the first spiders one last night and it worked great! No leaks. I'm only making a few for now, to see how they work out after several washes. I also know Ben will grow out of these and need more soon.

I had a great conversation with mom today about how fun and rewarding it is to sew clothes. I might even try to make something for myself this week.

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Ben also went swimming for he first time today! He loved the pool Josh picked out and we splashed around for quite a while on this very, very warm day.