My wool diaper wrap how-to

[Iarwain]

OK, here goes. I hope you can see the pictures.

Materials:

one 100% wool sweater - the larger the sweater and the thinner the better

1/4 or 3/8 inch elastic

about 9-10 inches of 2 inch hook and loop fastener (velcro) fuzzy side only (I don't recommend Velcro brand as it is poorer quality. I prefer Touchtape. Aplix is also good.)

4 inches of 1 inch wide scratchy side hook and loop

2 inches of 1 inch fuzzy side hook and loop

-Alternatively you could just use all 2 inch wide and just get a total of one foot but you'll either have wider tabs or else have to cut it down to width.-

100% polyester thread - Coats and Clarks is not 100% poly, but the cheap-o generic thread at Wal-Mart is.

Instructions:

1) "Felt" your sweater by washing in hot, rinsing in cold, drying on hot until it stops shrinking. I find it usually takes about 4 washer cycles for this to happen. Washing with a hot load of your regular laundry is fine and actually advantageous as the friction from the other laundry aids in the felting process.

2) Take your now-felted sweater and cut it apart at all the seams. Cut right along the seam allowance on both sides. When you are done you'll have four pieces - front, back, and two sleeves - and a pile of stringy stuff that used to be the seams. If your sweater has cuffs at the wrists cut those off now too. Cut right where the ribbed cuff part ends and the smooth sweater part begins. Save the cuffs. You'll use them for leg gussets later. If you have a sweater that comes out too thick for making a cover you can usually "harvest" the cuffs and waistband for later use as gussets as these parts generally don't come out too thick even after felting. Don't cut the waistband off your good sweater, though. You'll want it still attached to form the waist of your diaper cover.

3) Take the front or back piece of the sweater and lay it out. Line up the back waist of your pattern with the waist of the sweater. Your pattern will probably be way too long to fit just on this one piece of the sweater, so here's where my little trick comes in. Take one of the arm pieces of the sweater and overlap it with the neck edge of the front or back piece aligning it so that all of the pattern fits onto both of the pieces together. It's OK to put the arm sideways. Your seamstress instincts may scream in frustration at not matching up the grain on two pieces of "knit" fabric, but it doesn't make that much difference in the finished product (honest!) and it allows you to get two diaper covers out of one sweater by using the back and one sleeve for one and the front and the other sleeve for the other.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0087.jpg

Pattern lined up over back and arm

4) Now that you have arranged the two pieces so that the whole pattern will fit onto them carefully remove the pattern piece and pin the arm piece flat to the other piece where it overlaps.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0089.jpg

Pattern removed and pieces pinned

5) Take your pinned together pieces to your sewing machine and zigzag over the cut edge of the arm piece. Use the widest stitch and a shortish stitch length. You're aiming for close but not quite a satin stitch. On my machine where the stitch length selector goes from 0-4 I use a 2-2.5 for regular sewing and about a 1 for this. Here's what it looks like from the "back" side:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0091.jpg

6) Trim the extra flap off close to your zigzag stitching. Now zigzag over the edge you just cut. You'll have two rows of zigzagging close together or overlapping one from each side. You now should have one piece of fabric large enough to fit your pattern.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0094.jpg

I'll finish the rest in another post...

[Iarwain]

Part two...

7) Line up your pattern piece with the waistband again and cut it out. Take the cuffs you saved and you are going to cut them into a half-moon shape for the gussets. Sometimes I can get two gussets out of one cuff if it's large enough and the diaper cover isn't too big, but for an extra large cover using one cuff for each gusset works better. The total length of the gusset for an XL cover should be 5-6 inches. Now take one of the cuffs and either cut it in half or else cut it to length. Fold this piece in half. On the cut edge start at the fold and cut an arc from the fold to the edge. Make sure you are cutting on the cut edge and not the finished edge. When unfolded you should have your half-moon. Repeat with the other gusset piece.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0095.jpg

*note that the gussets shown in these pictures were actually a little too short for the cover. It still works but they should be longer*

8) Here is where I zigzag around the whole outside edge of the diaper cover piece except the waist edge which is already finished. You can skip this step if you plan to hand wash or otherwise baby your covers. If you plan on throwing it in the diaper pail or otherwise abusing it as I do then I highly recommend zigzagging the edge for durability. Don't zigzag the gusset piece. it won't stretch right if you do and you'll be zigzagging the cut edge anyway when you sew it to the cover.

9) You are now going to attach the gussets. Find the center point of the leghole edge that will be covered by the gusset. I do this by folding the diaper cover in half with the front waist edge about an inch below the back waist edge. The fold line is the center of where the gusset will go. Mark this point with a pin. Fold your gusset in half and line the center of the gusset up with the pin you just placed and pin it to the inside of the cover with the edges even. Starting from this center pin you will stretch the gusset as much as you can and pin it to the edge of the cover. Use lots of pins. Repeat on the other side.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0099.jpg


10) Now zigzag over the edge of both the gusset and the main cover piece. Make sure you backstitch the ends to hold it securely. I like to go over it a second time overlapping about half the stitch width in for extra strength.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0101.jpg

11) To make the tabs: Cut a 1 1/4 inch wide strip from one of the scraps of wool. The strip should be about 7 inches long. Zigzag the edges all around. Cut 2 two inch pieces of scratchy side 1" hook and loop. Line the pieces of hook and loop up at either end of your strip and stitch them down (I use a zigzag stitch). Now take 2 one inch pieces of fuzzy side and butt them up against the scratchy pieces and stitch them down. You now have a strip of wool with four pieces of hook and loop sewn to it - scratchy pieces on the ends and fuzzy pieces toward the middle. Cut this strip in the gap between the two fuzzy pieces. You now have your tabs complete with laundry tabs so that you can fold the fasteners closed in the wash. Sorry I don't have a picture of this part. I used a darker fabric and it didn't show up well in the pictures.

12) Now you will attach your fasteners. Take the long piece of fuzzy side and center it on the front about 1/2-3/4 inch down from the edge. Stitch it down. Take your tabs and sew them to the back waist edges about 1/2 inch down and so that they stick out 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Try to make them somewhat even. I sew them down by zigzagging around the edge of the tab.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0102.jpg

13) Last step! Now you will add elastic at the back waist. Measure in about three or four inches on either side of the back. The exact distance will depend on the size of the cover. Use pins to mark these spots. This is where you will stop and start your elastic. Position the elastic about halfway down the width of the waistband ribbing. Start the elastic at one pin, backstitch the end to hold it securely and stretch it as you sew it down. If your machine has a multi-step zigzag that's the best stitch to use, otherwise a regular zigzag will work. When you get to the other pin stop, backstitch, and cut your elastic.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0103.jpg

Congratulations! You have now made a wool diaper cover for next to nothing! These covers are quite suitable for my lazy mom's washing method (meaning they get dumped in the pail and washed with the regular diapers and rarely if ever lanolized).

And here is the finished product in use:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/mommasasquatch/aaaa0105.jpg