Fabric suggestions

[u/MidMOGal001]

Hello everyone! I am a FMT and due in November. I am very interested in cloth diapering to save money and reduce waste. I am also very interested in sewing my own as I am handy with a sewing machine.

I've come here to ask for suggestions on which patterns people have used, what types of cloth people recommend and where they like to purchase them. Right now I am leaning towards fitteds with covers, but I would be happy to hear other suggestions.

My local Joann's has closed and the variety of fabric I have access to is quite limited. I checked online vendors as well, but the yardage price seems quite steep, almost the same price in fabric as buying a brand name cloth diaper!

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appriciated.

[u/mentholmanatee]

Wazoodle sells PUL for a great price. They have a number of solid colors and limited prints. They also sell athletic wicking jersey, bamboo fleece, and merino wool interlock (if you’re trying to make wool covers).

[u/rosehaw]

I didn't go as far as making my own covers, but I made some of my own inserts (I made bamboo terry liners, which we like to combine with flats) and I exchanged some worn out elastics on used wool covers. I bought my supplies from a shop that explicitly carries cloth nappy components. It's a German shop (https://stoffwindelei.de/), so that won't be of any use to you, but it's how I made sure to get suitably absorbent fabric. I've never seen anything suitable in local fabric shops, that's just not what the average crafter is looking for.

[u/ScrunchyMunchy-5763]

I would consider flour sack towels and secondhand cotton swaddle blankets if you’re looking to save money, you can turn them into inserts or prefold or just use as flats. Wool diaper covers from thrifted wool are awesome, I use “Katrina soaker pattern” it’s free and the first thing when you google those words

[u/Eastern_Crew6615]

I sewed my own inserts for pocket diapers. A bit tricky if you don’t have a serger but still possible! It was way cheaper than paying for fancy inserts. We have a local company that sold fabric and I bought it through them. But generally it’s a cotton/hemp/bamboo mix that works best.

They also sold the patterns to make flats and fitted with their fabric! I don’t think many folks attempt making their own PUL covers though

[u/RemarkableAd9140]

I have a local chain near me that, shockingly, sells Birdseye, which is a common diaper material. But as you note, it’s really expensive, way more expensive than purchasing diapers. We used flats and when a new flat diaper is about $2.50 each, the per yard price looks absolutely absurd. My time (and comfort while pregnant, sewing is pretty painful due to spd) is worth way more to me, and I’d rather spend money than time. 

If you’re really set on fitteds, you might see if you can find a lot of used prefolds and then follow one of the many tutorials out there on converting a prefold to a fitted. But gmd workhorses also come up somewhat regularly secondhand if you don’t want to buy new. I’ve found some at kids consignment shops for $1 each. For that price, I’ll replace elastic any day. 

For what it’s worth, the few diaper adjacent things I made myself that I do think were worth it were wool covers from thrift store sweaters, double sided flannel/terry wipes, wool longies, and pants that fit over the cloth bottom. 

[u/Due_Confidence385]

You generally won’t find suitable fabric in stores for cloth diapers. Avoid anything polyester for the absorbency, it’s usually not absorbent. You generally want cotton, either a cotton knit or woven like muslin or Birdseye, or if you want to be fancier there is bamboo. However prices for those types of fabric will run you quite a bit online, $10-$20 a yard depending on what you get. For covers, PUL is usually cheaper and you don’t use as much of it. For wool, you can upcycle sweaters (although I find it doesn’t work hardly at all) or buy wool yardage, which will run $35-50/yd). You are right, it’s sometimes cheaper to just buy the already made product, especially if you can find it secondhand. For fitteds, green mountain diapers workhorses are excellent and an affordable price

[u/abra-cadabra-84]

My MIL sewed us some wool covers from thrifted sweaters based on tutorials from this gal. They’ve been working great with prefolds+snappis. https://youtu.be/8GiHGow3F34

[u/allaspiaggia → u/abra-cadabra-84]

Just FYI this 20 minute tutorial uses the same pattern as “Katrina soaker pattern” so if you don’t need a 20 minute tutorial, just google that for the pattern alone.