converting prefolds

[marbles]

I have about two dozen prefolds that I rarely use. I stopped with Lucca when she was a couple months old because I just didn't really like them and they're so bulky, then started using them some a few months ago. They work better at this age but I still don't like how bulky they are (and Daniel won't use them if there are other options around). I have a few Flip diapers and BG 4.0s and I love those. So I'll be diapering an itty bitty again and am thinking about converting my prefolds to contours or fitteds. Has anyone done this? I have a friend who makes her own diapers so she could probably do it for me but I'm nervous about it. If it doesn't work out I don't want to ruin my diapers! The GMD fitteds look like what I want out of my prefolds. Money's tight so I'm trying to make use of what I have. Any experience with this? My prefolds are good quality, very quilty, thick and absorbent.

[Codi]

:bump

I have never done it but if you don't get any answers here, I know I have seen tutorials that a google search should be able to find! :)

[marbles]

thanks for the bump! I googled it but the tutorials I found were adding even more material to them and it seemed like it didn't do anything to change the bulkiness. I'm thinking it should work fine to turn them into fitteds or contours and only use a soaker for longer periods. If I don't get anything I may just try one and wait til I can actually use it to do or not do the rest.

[melliethepooh]

I unsuccessfully tried to convert a prefold into a fitted. The elastic was goofy. I imagine making them contoured would be easy enough, and take care of some of the bulkiness too.
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[Castle On A Cloud]

I made a bunch of them into fitteds, but i think you need a good serger. What I did was cut a half oval like shape out of each side, put in elastic, and then serged the edges. This (http://hyenacart.com/BuggaBuggaBoutique/mt/1140/56420/Bugga-Basics-Pre-Fitteds) is what they ended up looking like, except not so pretty. The big problem I would have is that once I got towards the middle area of the diaper, it was ALOT of layers for my pathetic little serger to deal with.
Oh look, this (http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360788)looks much easier. I prefer the look of serged, but with my sad, sad machine, that is not always possible.
You could also just tri-fold them and use them in covers (or is that what you are doing right now???)

[Peacemama]

I made mine into fitteds using fold over elastic, no need for a serger or trying to add elastic blindly between layers. I tried that first, didnt work so well. A bonus is, if you make them side snap, they also work as trainers :)

I love this tutorial, if you are ok with putting that much time into it :)
http://www.kamsnaps.com/How-to-Turn-a-Prefold-into-a-Fitted-Diaper-42.html

[LadybugSam]

I was able to make a fitted by cutting then adding one later of fabric then turning and topstitching. it was a lot less bulky because i got rid of the extra side parts which added a lot more bulk than i though. I am not nearly skilled enough to explain it to someone else.

But this tutorial looked really good and i was planning on doing this one once i stopped being so intimidated by my sewing machine :shifty
http://cloth-crazy.blogspot.com/2009/04/prefold-to-fitted.html

[marbles]

Thanks for sharing success stories! I'm gonna go for it.

[JessicaTX]

I didn't really convert mine, I just sewed elastic in along the leg lines and folded the extra material over it when puting the diaper on. They were way more absorbant that way, and still pretty easy to put on. I've seen people cut out the side bits and add it on the back panel for tabs, but I'm too lazy to go to that much work.