the great nappy adventure

man, i've been trying to write this post for about three days now but have been too busy trying to keep the wee one asleep, to stop crying or give me just one more hearty laugh. yes, folks, she's laughing and it absolutely makes my heart swell up like a big ol blimp. she had her first out loud laughs on sunday and i've been working for them over since. she really makes me work too, i think i've only gotten two or three out of her since then. anyway, that's not what this post is about. nappies, that's what this post is about (yes, diapers to the north americans out there. i'm in the aussie speak habit after living here for 4 years). the thought of throwing away copious amounts of diapers (and money with them) has always slightly horrified me (i read don delillio's "underworld" in my mid twenties and have never looked at waste management the same since...) so before mae was born i ordered cloth nappy starter packs from baby beehinds (organic cotton or bambo nappies that you put a wool or pul cover over) and green kids (pocket style where you fit the absorbent insert between the layers of the pul outer nappy). i also ordered a bunch of biodegradable diapers made by bambo from nordic nappies as i reasoned that the cloth ones would be too big to use when mae was first born and i'd also like to make things as easy for myself as possible at that point. well. on the nordic nappies website they sell a size called "mini" which it states is for 3-6kg. sweet, i thought, i'll get those. except when i got them, they're HUGE and actually say 5-10kg on the pack! damn them. so we ended up using huggies for the first 6 weeks or so and then have been alternating trying out the cloth options and the still-too-big bambo ones since.

now, i have to say that the green kids style is my favourite, much less bulky that the baby beehinds and, as we're heading into summer, i like the fact that you can get nice simple prints and a range of colours so mae can hang out in just her nappy and still look pretty darn stylish (see photo evidence above) : ) i ordered another 6 pack last week and then earlier this week i was reading this lovely lady's blog and noticed a link to tutorials for sewing cloth diapers*. i read through the tutorial for the pocket style diaper, looked at my green kid's one and thought, "man, i can do that!". i'd already decided to overlock my own inserts and boosters anyway as i have heaps of organic hemp/cotton fleece lying around from the oobee blankees. so i roughly traced one of my green kids nappies, altering the shape ever so slightly where i thought it could use it and then ordered some materials from here to get me started. the materials for 6-7 nappies (not including inserts) cost me about $40 delivered which is fantastic when you consider the diapers sell for about $22 - 25 dollars each. i just got some simple white pul for the outside and cream (although in reality it's more like a pale peach) microfleece for the inside. i probably won't get a chance to work on them until early next week but i'm super excited about getting started - wish me luck!

*jessica actually sells patterns and material to make all sorts of cloth diapers through her shop, verybaby.com. if i hadn't been in such a rush i would have ordered from her myself but i just couldn't wait for overseas shipping. check it out though, she has heaps of lovely pul colours at great prices!