Make a Homemade Diaper
The price of diapers can really add up, straining your budget as a new parent. To save on the cost of diapering, you can try making your own pre-fold diapers using inexpensive sources of fabric like t-shirts and receiving blankets. Making homemade cloth diapers can be fairly easy and only requires minimal sewing, if any.
Contents
Steps
Folding a T-Shirt Diaper
- Use a shirt that is 100% cotton. Cotton is more absorbent than most synthetic fibers, so it makes a better material to use for a cloth diaper.
- Use a short sleeve or three-quarter-length sleeve for best results. A three-quarter length sleeve may make it easier to pin the diaper on larger babies and toddlers, but may be more material than you need for smaller babies.
- Choose a size based on the size of your child. An older baby or toddler may need a large or extra large shirt, but a newborn would likely only need a small.
- Lay the shirt flat. You can do this on the floor or on any other large working surface. Lay it so the sleeves are at the top.
- Fold one side of the shirt over. The bottom of the shirt should be folded over about 1/3 of the way, and the seam where the sleeve meets the body of the shirt should be just below the center of the neckline. Keep the sleeve of the shirt pointed outward.
- Fold the other side of the shirt over. This side should be identical to the fold made on the first side, so that the shirt is folded into thirds. Keep the sleeve pointed outwards. At this point, you should be left with a "t" or cross shape.
- Fold the top of the shirt down. Bring the part of the t-shirt extending above the sleeves down over the sleeves. The upper part of the lowercase "t" shape should be folded all the way over, creating a capital "T" shape.
- Fold the bottom of the shirt in half. Take the bottom portion of the shirt and draw it up to the bottom sleeve line. Essentially, you are making a fold that shortens the length of the shirt by half. You will still have a capital "T" shape, but it will be a shorter "T."
- Wrap the diaper around your baby. Sit the baby on the part of the shirt that starts just below the sleeves. Bring the bottom portion of the diaper up and over the front of your baby, and wrap the sleeves around the back and to the front. Pin the sleeves to the front using a diaper pin.
Making a Receiving Blanket Diaper
- Use a 100% cotton receiving blanket. Receiving blankets are cheap, and cotton is fairly absorbent. You can also use other rectangles of fabric made from terry cloth, flannel, or other absorbent materials.
- Make sure you use a square receiving blanket.
- If you're using another fabric other than a receiving blanket, cut it into a square that's 34" to 36" on each side.
- Spread the blanket out flat. Use the floor or another large surface. Smooth out any wrinkles in the blanket.
- Fold the blanket in half. Take the two right hand corners of the blanket and bring them to the two left-hand corners so that the blanket is folded in half.
- Fold the blanket in half again. This time, take the two top corners and bring them to the two bottom corners to fold the blanket in half again. You should now have a square shape again.
- Smooth out any wrinkles in the blanket after folding it.
- Fold one corner to make a triangle shape. Take the top layer of the bottom left corner and pull it towards the right. The corner should lie to the right of the rest of the blanket, and this should form a triangle shape. The blanket should now look like a wide triangle with a square layer underneath the left side.
- Flip it over. Grab hold of the bottom right and the top corner of the triangle shape and flip the entire blanket over so that the triangle points down instead of up. Flatten it smooth again.
- Fold the square part of the blanket. Grab the two edges of on the left of the blanket that make up the square shape. Fold this into a rectangle that lies in the middle of the triangle by folding it over two or three times. This is your diaper shape.
- Use the diaper. You use the diaper by laying your baby so that the wide edge of the triangle is lined up with their waist. Fold the bottom of the diaper up the baby's front side. Fold both sides of the triangle in to meet the front of the diaper and pin them all together over the baby's waist.
Sewing a Prefold T-Shirt Diaper
- Print and cut out the two patterns. The patterns for this homemade diaper can be found here: http://www.adventuresinfluff.com/2011/08/how-to-sew-your-own-recycled-t-shirt.html. You can either print out the scaled pattern or the measurements pattern. Use scissors to cut the pattern out.
- The measurement pattern is just a reference for you to be able to draw your own pattern based on the size you want. Each line is labeled and each label has a corresponding length for each size. For example, if you want a diaper for a newborn, you'd draw the shape shown with the "C" line being 2.5".
- The scaled pattern should be printed out on standard printer paper. You need to do so with a printer that prints in color. Then you cut out the pattern of the desired size. For example, for a small diaper, you'd cut along the green lines. Then you line up pattern A and pattern B using the black dots as guides. Then you mirror the patterns across the appropriate dashed line for the size you're using. Then you tape the pattern together.
- Trace the pattern onto the t-shirt. Lay your t-shirt out. Make the t-shirt inside out. Then lay it on a flat surface so that the sleeves are at the top. Lay the pattern on the middle of the t-shirt. Hold it in place with pins or weights. Use a marker or sharpie to trace around the pattern.
- Smooth out the t-shirt so it's free of wrinkles. Iron it first if necessary.
- Pin the t-shirt. Remove the pattern. Then pin the t-shirt all the way around the marked cutting lines, on the inside of the lines. Make sure you pin both layers of the shirt together.
- Cut out the diaper shape. Use scissors to cut through both layers of the t-shirt, and cut out the shape.
- Cut a soaker out of a towel. Use an old towel and cut out a rectangle to be used as a soaker for the diaper. Cut it out using the following size guide:
- Newborns: 8" by 12".
- Small: 9" by 14.5".
- Medium: 9" by 16.5".
- Large: 10" by 19".
- Pin the soaker to the diaper shape. First, fold the soaker in half by the short side so that the long side is still the same length and the short side is half the length. Then lay the soaker on the diaper shape so that it runs through the center with the wings on either side. Pin it at the top and bottom.
- Sew the diaper. Sew all the way around the diaper shape except for the bottom where the soaker is. The soaker should be sewn to the diaper shape at the top where the wings are but not at the bottom.
- Make the stitch line about 1/4" from the edge.
- Turn the whole thing inside out. Pull the entire inside of the diaper out through the hole where the bottom of the soaker is. Straighten the whole thing out so that it looks how it did before being turned inside out. Straighten out the soaker so that it runs down the middle of the diaper again.
- Sew the opening. Pin the soaker in place at the bottom of the diaper. Sew along the bottom of the diaper so the opening is closed.
- Sew the soaker in place. Sew along each side of the middle of the diaper so that the soaker stays in place on the inside of the diaper. The stitch lines should run vertically up and down the diaper and should be near the wings.
- Use the diaper. Fold the long edges in toward each other so that only the wings stick out. Sit your baby in the center of the diaper. Fold the bottom of the diaper up the front of the baby. Pull the wings around the waist of the baby and pin it all together in the front.
Tips
- Homemade diapers tend to work best for smaller babies with less urine. They are not as absorbent as commercially made diapers and older babies and toddlers may leak out of them. Active toddlers are also more likely to slip out of the diapers if you do not pin them securely.
- Wash the fabric at least three times before using it for a diaper. Use hot, soapy water and tumble dry it. This preshrinks the fabric and ensures that it is sterile and safe.
Things You’ll Need
No Sew T-shirt
- T-shirt
- Diaper pins
Receiving Blanket
- Receiving Blanket
- Diaper pins
Prefold T-shirt
- T-shirt
- Printer
- Printer paper
- Sharpie or marker
- Diaper pins
- Sewing machine or sewing needle
- Thread
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