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Traveling with Cloth Diapers and a CD Gift Pack

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Blog Transfer #18: Traveling with Cloth Diapers and a Cloth Diaper Gift Pack
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We have a trip across country coming up and I wanted to make a few more diapers for Baby G’s stash, as well as a cover to go over the disposables we’ll use on the trip. I hate using disposables, but I can’t really see any better option as we’ll be staying at a hotel. I usually will haul the cloth diapers with us if we’re staying at our families’ homes if they don’t mind.

I know some people despise using cloth for overnights, outings, and for vacation, but I started out using predominately cloth diapers so it’s all I know. I also find cloth diapers to be easier to change on the go because I don’t have to find a garbage can- I always have my small wetbag with me to throw the dirty wipes/diaper in, and cloth diapers seem to contain poop much better so I don’t find myself having to change Baby G’s outfit on a plane in the middle of a flight… those bathrooms are NO JOKE. Last trip to see my dad, we used the cloth diapers and I changed a pee diaper on the seat in about 2 minutes while people were boarding. Needless to say, I’m dreading taking a much longer flight with disposable diapers. The one time I used disposables and Baby G pooped, it ended up all out the back of the diaper, up inside his clothes, and just EW. Of course I was out in public at the time and had to get him cleaned up in the small bathroom on those rather questionable changing tables that always seem like they’re going to collapse from out under your baby. Fortunately, I had my handy-dandy cloth wipes with me, I wet them at the faucet, and 3-4 of those later he had a mini bath, a new outfit, and the disposable was in the garbage, the clothes and dirty wipes were zipped into the small wetbag, new clean cloth diaper on, and we had a happy baby. Catastrophe averted. And I fixed it all in under 5 minutes! Go super mom. Since then I’ve been avoiding disposable diapers like the plague and applauding my cloth diapers whenever they contain a particularly “exciting” #2 “explosion” (are they still called explosions if they are contained?). If you’re wondering, I do actually talk to inanimate objects at times to let them know they’re doing a good job- so my conversation goes a little like this, “Wow! Excellent work diaper! Rock star! Thanks for doing such an awesome job!” Cloth diapers rarely leak poop and when they do, it’s not much (unless you had a serious design flaw). Occasionally I have a pee leak if I don’t stuff them well enough (or alternative- too much), especially overnight, or if I screw up my laundry routine, but for the most part I always forget to pack an extra pair of clothes on outings because I don’t really need it.
Where I was going with all of this rambling is that I decided that I needed a solution for my trip that wouldn’t involve washing cloth diapers OR clothes. I can’t imagine having a poop explosion on the plane- my worst nightmare. What I decided was that I can bring some of my Pul diaper covers that are completely Pul (inside and out) because they can be easily laundered (or wiped down) in the hotel bathroom and will dry quickly. I’m going to put those over the disposables and of course, throw the disposables out. Hopefully that will contain any disasters that the sposie can’t handle. I started doing the covers before I learned to make the REALLY cute diapers though so I needed a new cover to “show off” on my trip. I made another scrappy using yellow and brown Pul squares, and the inside is brown Pul. It’s a one size pattern (BBB superfit again) so I can adjust as needed. I anticipate that I’ll need to make the settings smaller, seeing disposables are so much more compact than cloth diapers are. Here’s my final product:
The second thing that I’ve been working on it a gift pack for Daddy B’s coworker, whose wife is pregnant. I got a little over ambitious and made them what may be an awkwardly extravagant gift pack. Oh well, I enjoy sewing right? This gift pack includes 3 newborn diapers- the pattern is the newborn pattern from my friend over at The Fairy Fluffmother. She’s wicked talented and is always very helpful for everyone still learning so please check out her cloth diaper sewing blog. I did alter the pattern to do a welt pocket (it’s a pocket diaper) like with the BBB pattern, just because that’s the only way I know how to do a pocket diaper and I didn’t have the time/energy to figure out the other way. Other than the diapers, I also made a pacifier clip, a door silencer, a taggy blanket, and some large and small cloth wipes. I added a small trial packet of Rockin’ Green detergent. I would have just made them a jar of DIY detergent, but I just don’t know them well enough to justify confusing them that much. By the time I finished all of this, I was all out of creative juices so alas, it’s all being gifted in a regular recycled gift bag. I’ve got to figure out something cute for future projects though…. I did try, I just wasn’t able to successful come up with anything that wouldn’t have required a trip to the store. This pack was also a trial to see how I feel about possibly sewing for profit someday… at my rate, I probably wouldn’t actually make a profit (or much of one), but it really doesn’t get old for me… unless my machine breaks, at which point I curse and lose my mind. We’ll see if I maintain my enthusiasm for sewing, and then maybe I can take a class on how to use this machine so that I can be civil with it. After all, if the cloth diapers get some verbal encouragement from time to time, shouldn’t my sewing machine too? I’m afraid my sewing machine has taken almost a year’s worth of verbal abuse (and probably neglect)- that’s a lot of therapy.

Are you considering switching to cloth products? Do you love cloth diapering? Curious about cloth products such as cloth menstrual pads, wet bags, and unpaper towels? I just released a fantastic book that is ALL about using, laundering, and sewing reusable cloth products. It even includes instructions on this project! Pick up “The Complete Guide to Using, Laundering, and Sewing Reusable Cloth” today and get started saving money and the environment!

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