How to Make a Cloth Diaper With Gussets

More and more parents today are choosing to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. Using cloth diapers has many benefits, from reduced environmental waste to fewer diaper rashes and an earlier average age of potty training. For many parents, the lower cost of cloth diapers is a strong motivation to switch. If you have basic sewing skills, you can easily save even more money by making your own cloth diapers.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure Paper bag or butcher paper Material for diaper's inner material (microfleece, flannel, hemp or cotton) Material for diaper's waterproof layer (PUL, fleece, wool or nylon) Pins Material for diaper's soaker layer (cotton, hemp or anything absorbent) Elastic Velcro Paperclips Bias tape

Instructions

Design Your Pattern

1. Measure your baby's waist, then measure from his bellybutton down through his legs and up to his waist in the back. This second number is his rise measurement. Take these measurements when your baby is not wearing a diaper.

2. Draw a vertical line on the paper bag or butcher paper that is the same length as your baby's rise measurement. Draw a horizontal line across the top of the vertical line that is the same length as your baby's waist measurement. The vertical line should meet the horizontal line in its center to form a capital "T." Draw a second horizontal line across the bottom of the vertical line that is half the length of the waist measurement, as if you were underlining the capital "T." This is your tummy panel. Finally, draw a horizontal line through the center of the vertical line that is about 60 or 70 percent of the length of your tummy panel line. This is your crotch line. So if your tummy panel line is 9 inches, your crotch line should be between 5 and 7 inches long, depending on how trim you want the finished diaper to be.

3. Draw a line that curves from the waist line in toward the crotch line and back out to the tummy panel line. This will form the leg of your diaper. The place where this line meets the waist line and the tummy panel line will be your diaper tabs, so curve it down before you curve it in to form a tab shape. If you prefer, you can also make square tabs.

4. Trace a line around the outside of your pattern that is 1/4 inch bigger than the outside line. This will allow room for a seam. Draw two straight vertical lines on either side of the diaper, about 2 inches from the ends of the crotch line. This will create two semicircle shapes on either side of your diaper. These will be the patterns for the gussets.

5. Cut out your pattern. Cut along the outside line, the one that is 1/4 inch outside the original line. Cut the gusset semicircles into separate pieces from the main pattern. Fold your main pattern in half to make sure the curves match perfectly; trim one side to make them match if they do not. Keep the gusset pattern that corresponds to the side you did not trim, and discard the other gusset.

Sew Your Diaper

1. Lay the main pattern on top of a layer of your diaper's inner material and your waterproof outer material. Pin them together, being careful to keep the pinholes between the seam lines so they will not create holes that wick moisture through the diaper. Cut out the diaper's inner and outer pieces.

2. Cut the soaker material into a rectangle that is as wide as your crotch line and as long as your rise line. Use several layers to provide enough absorbency. Depending on the material, most diapers use between six and eight layers of soaker material.

3. Cut two matching gusset pieces from your diaper's outer material. Use the same gusset pattern piece for both. Sew a piece of elastic onto the straight edge of each of the gussets. Do not stretch the elastic as you sew. Fold the elastic over the edge of the gusset so it creates a binding.

4. Sew the rectangle of soaker material onto the diaper's inner material.

5. Sew the elastic onto the inner layer of the diaper. Sew it all the way across the back of the diaper and on most of the leg openings. Stretch the elastic as you sew so it gathers the material. Use a zigzag stitch.

6. Sew a strip of the loop side of Velcro onto the outside front of the waterproof layer, across the tummy panel.

7. Lay your diaper's inner layer on top of your diaper's outer layer, wrong side to wrong side. Attach them together using paperclips so you do not create any holes in the waterproof layer. Lay the gussets in the leg holes, with the curved edges matching the curved edges of the diaper, and paperclip all three layers together. Sew the 1/4-inch seam around the edge of the diaper, using a straight stitch or a serger.

8. Wrap the bias tape around the seam all around the diaper so it covers the seam. Sew it on using a straight stitch.

9. Sew a square of hook Velcro onto the inside of each of the back tabs, close to the edge of the diaper. If you like, you can also sew a square of loop Velcro next to each hook square, about 1/2 inch away from the hook Velcro. This creates laundry tabs so you can fold the Velcro down when washing the diaper.

References

• All-in-One Diaper
• Adding Gussets to a Cloth Diaper or Diaper Cover
• How to Draft a Cloth Diaper Pattern