My Cloth Diaper History

My mom used cloth diapers. Here you can see me (with my mom, little sister, and my dolly Polly), and there is my cloth diaper.


They were the big cotton flats, 36inches square, layered two or three thick then folded into a trapeziodal shape and pinned on with four pins (one at each hip, one at each leg), and covered with good old gerber plastic pants. They were very bulky. They were all white, and were always soaked in bleach water until laundry day.
I am the oldest of 9 kids, and all of us wore those same cloth diapers (or the same kind at least!), so as you can imagine I had to learn how to change diapers pretty early on. I think I was about 7 when I learned to change a diaper. I had to learn to do it because our babysitters couldn't figure out how to handle the pins. To the best of my memory, I only poked a baby once, but I poked myself a few times.
I hated the pins, I hated the bleach, I hated how bulky they were, I hated the stinky sopping wet diapers (and the idea of the baby feeling wet all the time). I swore I would never ever use cloth diapers.

When I was a newlywed I met some mamas who used new cloth--I think a FuzziBunz may have been my introduction to things like PUL and shaped diapers with elastic (elastic!!! How brilliant!) I thought they were pretty cool--and pretty cute. I saw how trim they were, and the fact that they were all one piece rather than needing those awful plastic pants.
Around the same time I started using cloth pads for myself, and the difference in comfort between cloth and the paper/plastic disposable pads was enormous. It made me consider cloth for the pure comfort of it.
When I was pregnant, I started researching cloth diapers. I learned about dry pails and I was sold. One day I approached my husband about it, and he said "well, let's be honest, you'll probably do most of the changing anyway [since I was a stay-at-home-mom and he worked full time], so if you want to do it let's go for it." I read reviews of various brands and started doing price comparisons, and realized that if I was going to buy them I'd pay $15 each for pocket diapers, but that I could make them for $4 each. So I bought fabric and started sewing my own.

I happened to mention to a friend what I was doing, and she commissioned me to make 6 diapers for her. Then she asked if I could do 6 in the next size... Then (after two months of buying disposables) my sister decided to switch to cloth and hired me to make them for her since she doesn't sew. So I opened shop!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade lilbees.etsy.com

Giveaways!!

I am sponsoring the "Fluff a Rump on Hump Day" giveaway over at the Etsy Cloth Diaper Team this week (winner drawn on Aug 4). I'm giving away a custom AIO (all-in-one) diaper, with the winner's choice of fabrics, size, and closure (snaps or touchtape). They can choose from something in stock, or I will make a custom diaper.
You can enter at the team blog (link above), and get extra entries for following that blog, following this blog, liking my facebook page, liking the team facebook page, twittering about the giveaway, or blogging about it! A purchase from my shop during this time will earn you FIVE extra entries, just leave a note to the seller (me) when you check out and I'll get your entries put in!

Keep an eye out, because in a couple of weeks I'll be sponsoring another giveaway at 3am Cloth Diapers, No Pins Needed. She is doing a big "Made in the USA" event, with multiple reviews and giveaways of cloth diapers made by work-at-home-moms in the USA. Check it out! (I'll be sure to let you know when the giveaway goes live, but in the meantime, the same kinds of things that are worth extra entries on the other giveaway will be good for this one too--follow her or my FB page, follow our blogs, twitter, blog, etc). ☺

And after both of those, if my facebook page gets up to enough fans, I'll do a third giveaway there--this time for a gift certificate, which would be good for any item in either of my shops (not just cloth diapers).

Beatles inspired diapers

A couple of months ago I made this diaper:

As I looked at it, and tried to decide what to title it in the listing, the thought came to me to call it Strawberry Fields Forever. I admit that I did not know very many Beatles songs before I got married. I knew who the Beatles were of course, but I only knew a few songs, and not well enough to sing along to any of them. Then I met my future husband (who owned every Beatles album) and his three-year-old son (who could sing most of "Hey Jude" even before he knew "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"). Obviously my life has changed a little since then!
So I decided that a line of Beatles-themed products was in order, and last night I listed the next in the series:

Here Comes the Sun Little Darlin

So, the great question is, what other Beatles' songs are begging to be artistically rendered as diapers?!