Babymooning!

Our daughter was born Tuesday March 3rd! We had a long and uncertain labour that resulted in a wonderful birth experience. Born naturally and delivered by our wonderful team of midwives. Here she is! Weighing in at 7lbs 7oz and 20" long.







I'll be taking some time off from custom orders but I hope to start adding some more stock to my shops towards the end of March. Thanks for all your kind wishes and support!

Ready to diaper....

I think we're ready to diaper our new baby! I knew I wanted to cloth diaper my son but he arrived early and he was 3 months old before I got him out-fitted with a cloth diaper stash. This baby is ready to go from the start!!

I decided to keep it pretty simple for the newborn and size small stash since they grow out of these sizes so quickly. Here's most of what we have for the early sizes.

A new set of washable cloth wipes, each with one side in velour the other side in flannel.

Fitted newborn diapers. I made the first two in the top row from some pretty bamboo, I did the rest of them using flannel since I had it on hand.

Newborn PUL covers xs Thirsties, 2x Proraps, 2 x Bummis Super Whisper Wraps

A few all in one diapers. All in one diapers aren't my favorite type of diaper but I thought it would handy to have a few. I used Zorb in the cores of these so hopefully they'll dry fast.

More newborn diapers that were made by other work at home moms....I hope I have the names right! Top row: 2 x Lullaby Diapers, BV pocket fitted by Mandie's Menagerie (love this diaper!!) 2 x Primm n' Proper size 1 fitteds, 1 x Kissaluvs NB

Wool covers! The little pink bloomers from Luxe Baby and they are so soft & pretty! The other wool cover is a size small and will be nice to have for the warmer months.

I knit these little wool longies before finding out that we're expecting a girl. I figure they're still perfect for her though. I also knit the little sleep sack, I debated how much use we would get out of one but now I'm almost wishing I'd knit 2 of them.

I love prefolds when I diapered my son, they're so simple (and cheap!!) I was able to find these locally for $1.50 each (cdn) they're the unbleached infant size. I dyed six of them (wish I'd had some more colour variations) and the other six I did some appliques on. The best thing about these prefolds is once the baby out grows them we can still use them as inserts for pocket diapers. There's also one preemie size embelleshed prefold that I bought from Snowflakes on Hyenacart.

Do-It-Yourself Postpartum Pad Tutorial

The cost of investing in postpartum cloth can be overwhelming especially with all the other expenses of maternity clothes and baby gear.

I created this tutorial with a few things in mind....I wanted it to be possible to create super affordable pads (even if you don't have a sewing machine) and wanted to create a pattern that could incorporate recycled fabrics. You can also buy the fabric and notions you'll need at a fabric shop.

This pad uses microfleece as the backing with a core and top layer of flannel. The flannel edges are finished using a simple scissor snipping technique just like a rag quilt.


This is the first tutorial I've done so please feel free to leave questions and comments, I'll try to respond to them quickly but I'm expecting a baby myself so I may be hmmm delayed!!

What you'll need

Paper

to draw the pattern out on

Flannel

re-use some old sheets or receiving blankets; just be sure the flannel isn't thread bare....you want it to be absorbent. New flannel is pretty inexpensive and there's lots of fun prints to choose from

Micro fleece

re-use a blanket, pj pants, or purchase some at a fabric shop

Notions

Scissors, thread, pins, Velcro or snaps

First off is the pattern, I don't know how to make a pdf pattern so I've included some pictures with the measurements for you to trace out, I used a piece of legal size paper to draw my pattern on but newsprint or tissue paper also works well.




You can see the measurements on these drawings. The first picture is of the piece you'll use to cut the micro fleece bottom. If your paper is folded in half the wing measurement will be 4.25" out from the centre. The second picture is the pattern you'll use to cut the core from using flannel.

To sketch these measurements out try folding your paper in half so that the sides are symmetrical.







Once you have your pattern pieces cut and ready you can start cutting your fabrics. For each pad you'll need to cut 1 micro fleece bottom piece and 7 layers of flannel cut for the core.

Set your microfleece bottom aside, you'll be working on the core next. Pin your layers of flannel together and get ready to sew them. You can sew them by hand, or with a sewing machine, leave a 1/4" edge with the right side of the fabric facing out. Just a simple straight stitch.

The nice part about this pattern is that there's no turning & top stitiching so it saves you some sewing work....especially nice if you're sewing them by hand or if your sewing machine is a clunker that hates too many layers!! I used the same technique to diaper doublers for my sons diapers, I had an old singer that was great but didn't like many layers.

I've used my sewing machine to stitch the core together. (sorry for the dark picture)

Once you have your core layers sewn together you're ready to do some snipping. A sharp pair of sewing scissors will make this job easier. Snip into the outer edge of the pad (just be careful not to snip through your stitches!) snip at about 1/4" intervals all the way around the pad.

This is the same technique used to make the popular rag quilts. Once you've washed your pads a few times the raw flannel edges will fluff up.

Now you'll need the microfleece base. Centre your core on the microfleece and pin it securely. Next, attach the core to the microfleece by sewing a straight stitch about 1/4" from your first row of stitching.

Once the core layers area attached to the microfleece base you're almost finished. You'll just need to attach fastener to the wings. I've used poly-resin snaps and a snap press. If you don't have access to a snap press velcro would work well or some snaps that you can sew on (available at a fabric shop). If you're stuck a plain old safety pin would work too :)

Semi-Custom Sale Ending...

I'll be finishing up the semi-custom sale on January 22, it was lots of fun and I hope those who ordered enjoyed their pads. I enjoy working on a semi-custom order basis so I'll certainly be offering something similar in the future. Here's some pictures of orders that went out during the promotion. There's still a couple more days to get your order in before I remove the listings from my hyena cart shop.

www.hyenacart.com/countyclothcreations

Semi Custom Sale

I really need to downsize and update my stash of fabrics so I've been running a semi-custom sale at my shop on Hyena Cart. This allows you to choose your own size (from panty liner up to the 12.5" overnight size) and you can also add PUL if you like...this means I don't have to guess what I should make and you get some choice!

http://hyenacart.com/CountyClothCreations/

I'll be running this promo for a bit longer, when you check out use the discount code 'save10' to save 10% off you order.

Wait time is reasonable too, I've been sewing orders up as they come in and putting them in the mail within one week. Here's some pictures of a few semi custom orders that I shipped out

today...

I promised forever ago that I'd be adding a do-it-yourself postpartum pad tutorial and it's on it's way! I have all the pictures taken, I just need the time to sit down and type out the instructions....and time has been very short over the holidays with both the kids home from school. It's back to school next week though PHEW! So I'll have some un-interrupted computer time :)

Suedecloth is here!

I ordered some suedecloth to make some diapers for the new baby and also for my nephew... and maybe some postpartum pads for myself :) Suedecloth is a popular fabric for diaper making since it's soft and has great moisture wicking abilities, it's also great at resisting stains (always a bonus!!). I've added a couple of suedecloth pads to my Etsy shop, I really like this fabric for pads since it soft like Minky but a bit trimmer. It's a tricky fabric to photograph since it has a bit of a sheen to it, the colour on the left looks black but it's a deep purple, the other is a really nice cranberry red.

getting back to custom orders

I've just re-opened for custom orders, this was a fun order to do. Four pads topped with hand dyed bamboo velour (12.5" & 11") and one pad topped with cotton (11").