Hello there everyone!

I've been working on this for a while, and was thinking some of you guys with a bit of sewing talent could make some use of it!



This tutorial is based off of Dianna's cloth diaper tutorial, but modified to fit some of you bigger babies~



So, to get started making your super cute padding, you will need these things

-Outer layer fabric: I used flannel for mine, but you can use almost any sort of cotton fabric. However, if you want your diap to be an AIO, you'll need to find a waterproof exterior fabric ( Here's a good recourse). You'll need approximately a yard, maybe more, depending on your measurements.

-Inner layer fabric: Can again be any sort of cotton fabric. No one's gonna see this, so don't bother spending a bunch of money on this. Again, you'll need approximately one yard

-Larger hand towels, for the soaker pads. I used two, you can use more if you like poof. You can also combine them with ZORB fabric for extra absorbancy

-3/8'' elastic

-Sew on Velcro

-Thread

-Measuring tape

Also you should probably have a sewing machine, as it makes things easier, but you could hand stitch the entire thing. It just may take a long time.

A note before you begin. If you are using PUL fabric, you CANNOT use pins to hold it together, as it will poke holes in the waterproof barrier and then you'll leak everywhere! Use hair clips or binder clips instead!

So the first thing you'll need to do is make your pattern. It does help to have another diap available to look off of, but it's not a necessity

My friend Negalukas has generously given me this diagram to help with measurements







The red line will be the back of your diaper. Where it stops will be where the velcro is sewn in later for the tabs

The Purple line is the front of the diaper.

The blue line is for the length of your diaper. Add in a couple extra inches to accommodate for poof (I added about 5)

The green line is the middle of your diaper. Also add inches for poof here as well (I added 4)

With these measurements taken, you can draw out your pattern! It's not too hard to get the general shape of it, and if you make a mistake, you can shorten or lengthen it accordingly. To make it symmetrical, draw out half of the pattern, then fold it over and trace it again on the other side. You can add seam allowance to your pattern by adding a border of about 1/4 of an inch

Here's mine:





Once you have your pattern, you can trace it onto your fabric. You will need to cut out two pieces of the inner fabric, and two pieces of the outer fabric. Your outer fabric should be your nice, cute fabric, and your inner fabric should be the stuff you don't want anyone else to see once you're finished. If you are using PUL fabric for an AIO diaper, you only want ONE layer of the PUL for the outer layer, and then a wicking fabric for the inner layer





My outer fabric is cute kitties

If you did not add seam allowance into your pattern, trace about 1/4 of an inch away from the pattern

Anyways, once you have your main fabric pieces cut, you'll also need to cut out a longer rectangle. It doesn't matter which kind of fabric you use, but nobody's gonna see it when we're done. This rectangle will hold your soaker pads in place.





Take one of your inside pieces and sew the rectangle to it. Only sew the long sides, leaving the short sides open, like a pocket.

Now, take your hand towels and fold them so that they will fit into this little pocket you just created, and pull them through. It's totally fine if the towels overlap somewhat, but make sure you have some sitting in the back and some in the front. Trust me, it'll be poofy





Now, I hand wash my diaps, and if you intend to do the same, this won't be as important. But if you plan to throw your diap through the washing machine, you need to sew your soaker pads in place. I sewed my towels all along the edges, along the tops, and then hand sewed where the two towels met in the middle. This ensures that the soaker pads won't come loose in the washer or the dryer.

Now that you've got your soaker pad situated, it's time to sew the diaper together~

You want the outer fabric in the center, with right sides facing together, with the inside fabric at the top and bottom.

I, for example, had brown fabric on the bottom, kitty fabric facing up, then kitty fabric facing down, then brown fabric with my soaker pad facing up on the top.

Pin the fabric together, then sew a straight stitch around the edge of the diaper, leaving the front part open. (That's the shorter end, which we will use later to flip the diap the right side out). Make sure you get through all four layers of fabric. When you're done, clip any excess fabric around the curves

Time for the elastic~

Fold the diaper in half lengthwise and use a pen or a marker or something to mark where you want the elastic to go. I usually put it about 3-4 inches away from the end of the back part of the diaper. Do the same with the leg elastic, marking near the tab and ending near the front.

As long as you get these two areas and they're even, it doesn't matter too terribly how long it is.

Now, sewing the elastic is a bit tricky, be prepared to go slow.



Take the elastic and pin it where your first mark is. You want to sew it along the seam you make earlier. Using the sewing machine, you make a very small straight stitch in order to tack the elastic down, going forwards and backwards over it a few times. Then, without cutting the thread or taking the diaper off the machine, switch your machine to a large zig zag stitch

While stretching the elastic with one hand, pull the diaper through the machine with your other hand and zig zag the elastic down to were the second mark is. Then switch your machine back to a straight stitch and tack the elastic down again before cutting it off.

Do this for both legs and the back of your diaper. When you're done, it'll look something like this:

(Also this is about the point where my camera went weird, so I apologize for the blurriness of some of these shots)





Turn the diaper right side out. Now you can see the pretty prints!





Fold the front flap inwards and pin it closed, like this





Then sew it closed, keeping very close to the edge





We're just about done now~

Take an iron and iron your seams to make then flatter. Then, while taking care to pull out the parts of the diaper that have elastic in them, straight stitch around the edge of the diaper to form a 'cuff'. This will help keep everything in place a lot better





And lastly, the velcro.

Pin a length of the scratchy part of the velcro to each side of the front exterior of the diaper. Sew a zigzag stitch all the way around it to hold it in place

Pin a piece of the softy part of the velcro to the tabs and zigzag stitch all the way around them. This is what it will look like





And then you're done! How easy was that?





I am just going to throw out there that I have never used these for their intended purpose, but just choose to wear them for comfort. However, if you do intend to use them, you are gonna need a pair of plastic pants.

But I hope you enjoy them! They're much poofier than even bambinos, and are very very soft c: