BundlesOfJoy product review

I've decided that I need to start doing something new on this blog--in addition to talking about shops and sellers that I love, I will be posting some reviews of fine etsy products that I've purchased!

Today I'm starting with BundlesOfJoy's fitted diapers and longies. It seems fitting to start with Joy, because my very first etsy purchase was a pair of longies from her three years ago for my last baby! She went on to start the EtsyClothDiapers Team, and so I started to get to know her. Then I moved to Alaska (she's Alaskan as well) and I even got to meet her! We have negotiated a couple of trades and additional sales, and I now have a nice stock of wool longies from her. In addition, we have become good friends, and when my baby was born this fall she sent me a pair of fitted diapers as a gift (really, don't I have the best friends?!)
SO, without further ado, here are my reviews.


Recyled Wool Longies

(Can you see, these brown ones on the right have pockets!!) 

These are sooo soft. Joy says right in her listings that she will "bypass the scratchy wool sweaters and use only the soft ones," and that's exactly right. If she feels the sweater isn't quite soft enough, she lines the longies with lambswool or cashmere! I have felt longies from several other sellers, but honestly I'm not inclined to buy them because nobody has longies as soft as Joy's. They are nice and roomy through the toosh, and built with a crotch gusset to allow free movement. I find that the legs are sometimes a little long on my kiddos, but my kids tend to be all torso with short legs. I just roll over the cuffs for a walker, or leave them down over their toes for a baby (I figure it keeps him toastier than falling-off socks!)

The one thing I have noticed is that the sizing (S/M/L) runs a little different than my diapers--so while my baby is currently moving into medium diapers he still fits the small longies. There is often sizing variance from one diaper maker to another though, so most cloth diaperers are used to checking that. Joy has good sizing information in her listings, so as long as you pay attention you shouldn't have any trouble getting something that fits properly. And you can always convo her with your kiddo's measurements and she will help you figure out which size will be best.☺



Velour Pocket Fitted Diapers

 As with any velour diaper, this is marvelously soft, and since it's a pocket the absorbability can be customized. It looks the same size as the towel diaper (below), but I found that it didn't fit quite the same way--probably because it's a stretchy fabric whereas the other is not. My baby didn't grow into this small until he was probably 11lbs. It would have fit him in the waist before that, but he has really skinny legs and this diaper has a roomier leg opening than the other (you can see in the photo that they're still not super snug at 13lbs). If I were to order one in the future I would have it customized with snugger legs for my chicken-legged baby, but otherwise it's a darling diaper. For a chunkier kid, it would be perfect.

Towel Diapers (Fitteds)
In a fit of genius, Joy started making diapers out of soft old towels. (She's a master of upcycling things.) In her own words she is "allergic to long dry times" so she makes it with double snap-in soakers so that it washes thoroughly and dries quickly. (Forgive me, I forgot to rotate these photos, but you can still see how it works!)


Here again, she is very picky about softness--some towels are rough, but if it's one of Joy's towel diapers you can bet that it's a soft one. This diaper is terry but it feels almost like velour, and it has become one of my very favorite diapers. Actually I'm seriously contemplating buying a few more even though I don't really need more diapers! I love the sustainability and affordability of recycling old towels and bathrobes as well as the old sweaters. Plus, if there is anything a towel is good for, it's absorbing! This diaper holds up great for naps (especially when combined with some nice wool longies *wink* ) If you don't need as much absorbancy it's easy to leave one of the doublers off (I did that when my baby was still tiny), but with both of them in it would probably be great at night too.
These diapers have a separate casing which 1--keeps the bulky part of the diaper narrow and trim and 2--serves like a gusset to keep messes in. I've never had a leak with this diaper. Here is my baby in the small towel diaper when he was about 2 weeks old (9lbs). I love that it's so trim (especially for a baby that size). He's 13lbs now and it still fits him well, and I estimate it will last at least a couple more pounds before he outgrows it.

a postscript...
as I was writing I found that I kept using exclamation points...not just a few, but everywhere. Even as I tried to edit them into control, I still just seemed to need a lot of them. I guess that alone says something about how I feel about these diapers and longies, doesn't it?!