Banana Bottoms on Etsy

Kristen of Banana Bottoms is a fellow member of the Etsy Cloth Diaper Team, and she asked if I'd be willing to do a review and host a giveaway for her. (Official disclaimer, I did get a free diaper out of it.) I jumped at the chance because I traded her for another diaper a few months ago, and it's a great diaper. ☺

My favorite things about Banana Bottoms diapers:
♥ They are very trim. The photos should give you some idea of this.
♥ The double-layer snap-in doubler is nice and trim, but gives a LOT of absorbency. These are trust-them-for-naps-and-overnights kinds of diapers. That's a rare thing to find in a diaper this trim!

♥ Cuteness factor, of course--lots of cute prints!
♥ Comfort factor--all the diapers have bamboo velour inside (which is just astoundingly soft). I also love that every diaper is turned and topstiched--no serged edges to rub or irritate (this is how I make my own diapers, if that gives you an idea of how much superior I think it is).
♥ One of my favorite features is that the snap placement is closer than on most diapers I've seen--3/4 inch rather than 1inch apart). This gives greater adjustability than the wider placements do. Also the first snap on the wing is right at the edge--no wasted space there.
♥ A second thing about the snap placement is the way she does her crossover snaps--the wing snaps are double spaced (so they snap down with one 'empty' snap socket between them) and that means that they overlap smoothly. I'd only seen this once before and I LOVE it.

In fairness, I will mention the one downside (and it only applies to those in the USA) and that is that Banana Bottoms is based in Canada, so the shipping time can be a little slow because of customs. I think the wait is worth it though. ♥ ☺

Now for the GIVEAWAY!!!

It's being hosted over on my main blog--open Aug 23-29, go here to enter!!

Don't miss it...

The giveaway over at EtsyClothDiapers is almost over...just two days left. If you haven't been over to make your entries then hurry up!

Since the mandatory entry was to visit the shop and name a favorite item, I thought that people's comments would give me an idea of what people liked best--and what I should make more of. Well, I've read them, and what I am finding is that everybody likes something different. I'm pretty sure that every single diaper in my shop has been mentioned at least once. My one-of-a-kind designer diapers do seem to get more mentions than the others, and interestingly enough my biohazard diaper has gotten several mentions (I consider this interesting because I actually made it over a year ago, and have had it as a featured item in my shop for much of that time, but in spite of over 400 views it has not sold.)



In any case, the designer fitted diapers seem popular, so I will get busy and finish up the two I have in progress. ☺

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?!

Trading Frenzy

I have four (yes FOUR!) trades going on right now.

1) Giving diapers and wetbags ---> from SweethavenArts getting several pairs of knitted socks (she has a sock knitting machine, which may be about the coolest thing I've ever seen!)


2) Giving nursing pads ---> from SevenAcreWoods getting handmade soap and alpaca fiber (from an appaloosa alpaca named Houdini!)


3) Giving a diaper ---> from BananaBottoms getting this diaper (because in a houseful of boys, obviously, I need all things camo!) --------->


4) Giving diapers, covers, and wetbags --->from Silverstarflower getting earrings and silver hair barrette (my earrings are this style but in silver and with a green stone)

Tuesday Tips: Trading on Etsy

A lot of etsians--including myself--like trading. It's fun to swap goods rather than money, and in my view both etsians get a better deal out of a trade than they do from a sale, because there is nothing lost to paypal fees and no 'income' to report, yet you've each gained something you wanted or needed.
When I see an item that I like, I often approach the seller about whether they would be interested in trading. I simply send them a convo and ask. Sometimes they say no, and sometimes they say yes, but no one has ever been rude about it. Sometimes people approach me--and I go and look at their shop and if there's something I like then I trade, and if they don't have anything I want then I say no thanks. Sometimes when I don't trade, a purchase is made (by me or from me), and sometimes it isn't. There is no pressure either way.

Once you have decided to trade, and decided what to trade, there are several ways to carry out the transaction:

A
After agreeing to trade, each person looks through the other shop and selects the item(s) that they want, and then 'buys' them, but does not send any money. (Equal values or specific items are determined via convos.)
Pros: no paypal fees, leave feedback for each item 'bought' and 'sold,' no editing of listings/making new listings, easy to see if your purchases from each other are equal, and if for some reason the other person falls through you can warn others via negative feedback.
Cons: you still pay full 'sale price' etsy fees in spite of not making any money

B
Agree on the items via convo, exchange mailing addresses via convo, then unlist the items and trade "off the books."
Pros: no fees at all (paypal or etsy).
Cons: no feedback (good or bad) for either of you, no official record of the transaction, may require more convos than method A.

C
Agree on the items via convo, then each edit your listings to create reserved listings for each other (it could be one listing per shop or several). Change the price of the listing(s) to be $0.20, which is etsy's minimum price (it covers the listing price, but will not charge any seller fees). Mark the title of each listing as "reserved for trade with ___" so that no one else swipes it. Then each person buys the appropriate listing(s) but does not send any money.
Pros: have official transaction record including addresses, able to leave feedback (good or bad), no paypal fees, only the listing fee on etsy (no sale price fees)--I figure this is fair because etsy helped us find each other, but we didn't make any money, so I'll pay the listing fee but not a sale fee.
Cons: time and effort to edit listings or make special listings


Personally, my preferred method is C, because I want to have the official transaction and the ability to leave feedback, just in case I get burned I feel that this "covers my tail" so to speak. Also, editing a listing only takes a minute or two, and I like saving the fees. ☺


Have you traded on etsy? Do you use one of these methods or do something else? What do you prefer? (Are there other pros or cons that I missed?)