Diaper Rite Large Unbleached Flats (Flat Cloth Diapers)

Apr 5,2012 / By Maria / 9 Comments

Although I enjoy pocket diapers and other modern diapers, I love knowing that I can cloth diaper really affordably, and even with things I have around the house. We have well water so a power outage means no well pump, no water and not even hand washing is possible. Things like receiving blankets and kitchen towels can be used as diapers in a pinch, and when you’re doing it by choice (rather than out of necessity) there can be something a little fun and relaxing about folding flats!

Diaper Rite is sold by Diaper Junction, and offers quality, affordable cloth diapering products. (You can see my Diaper Rite pocket diaper review.)

I picked up a dozen Diaper Rite unbleached Birdseye cotton flats in the large size (about 32″ x 32″ pre-washing) for $22. They are also available in a small size (27″ x 27″ pre-washing) which would be fine for pad folding or for smaller babies, priced at $17.50/dozen. Both sizes are also available in white.

Naturally, cotton shrinks quite a bit in the wash.

Pre-washing:

Post-washing/drying:

Even after shrinking, the large was large enough to snappi on my 2 yr 10 month old son, who is around 29ish pounds.

When you look at these next pictures, you will probably say “but Maria, you didn’t…and it isn’t…and it wasn’t…” You’re probably right. I didn’t and it isn’t and it wasn’t. But that’s the beauty of flats. You can fold them any way you want, totally customizing where you put the most layers, and they are very forgiving. I know some people have amazing flat folding demos where all the folds are crisp and the corners are sharp. Mine were done with an audience and were done very quickly, as they are in “real life!”

This is my sloppy version of the Diaper Bag Fold:

Fold each side to the middle

Fold the bottom up (this is a great time to adjust the “rise” of the completed diaper, and put the absorbency where you want it. Then you’ll trifold and fan the back out, then fold the “waist” down.

Then fold the front up and wrap around baby!

When I was doing this one, my husband said “what’s this wacky diaper origami?” I said “yeah, it’s pretty much diaper origami!”

Again, flats are very forgiving! Nothing terrible will happen if it’s not exactly square or even. Fold in half, then in half again, so the flat is folded into quarters.

Grab the bottom corner and pull it up to the top to form a triangle.

Then flip the whole thing over

And fold the rectangular portion to the middle.

Tuck the legs in and pull up over baby.

Wrap the wings around baby and cover. You can secure with pins or a snappi first!

Flats are just a single layer of fabric, but you can get 8-12 layers in the wet zone depending on how you fold. You can pad fold (basically just quartering and trifolding) another flat to use under for extra absorbency, fold two up together, or combine with an insert or whatever you like!

The large size fits just fine even on my not-quite-4-month-old.

Have you used flats? I know many of you participated in the flats challenge last year. What was your favorite fold? What brand did you like best?

FTC compliance: Although I paid normal retail prices for the pictured items, this post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Dritz Diaper Pins – Are All Pins Created Equal?

Apr 3,2012 / By Maria / 1 Comment

Even with “modern cloth diapers” like pocket diapers, Velcro closures and snappis, there’s still something to be said for the simplicity, portability and affordability of diaper pins. I bought a 6-pack at Babies r Us for $2.99 ($1.00 a pair) long ago, but I wondered if the pins sold by cloth diaper stores were any different or any better. So, I bought a pair from Cottonbabies which are made by All Together Diaper (makers of OsoCozy) for $1.00, and a 4-pack (2 pair) of Dritz Diaper Pins from Diaper Junction for $1.29. The Cottonbabies pins look exactly like the Babies R Us pins, except that the Babies R Us pins have “China” stamped on the reverse of the head, and the head doesn’t have the angle the Cottonbabies pins have.

The Dritz pins are a little different:

The Dritz pins are curved, and have “locking heads,” which I figured was the same as all diaper pins (like the ones from Cottonbabies on the right) where you have to push it in and past an obstacle to open it. When I got them, the first one opened just fine, but I struggled like heck with the second one, until I realized what “locking head” actually meant!!

Rather than a plastic head attached to the pin, the Dritz is all metal (like a regular safety pin) with an additional plastic head attached that slides up and down.

To use the pin, you have to slide the plastic head up, open or close the pin, then slide the plastic head back down to lock it in place. The slight curve of the pin makes it even easier to use, and they seem to be sharper as well. I didn’t have much trouble at all getting them to glide through multiple layers of a hemp prefold, while the other pins had to be poked through soap first!

It will not open with the plastic head slid down. I don’t know if long term the metal vs. plastic will make it more durable, or if the additional moving parts/sliding plastic head will make it less so. At $1.29 for 2 pair they are very affordable! Prefolds, flats (a dozen Diaper Rite flats are $17.50) or even flour sack towels, plus a couple diaper covers can even be used with or without pins or snappis, and you can start putting aside the money you save on disposables to spend on “fancier” diapers!

FTC compliance: Although I paid normal retail prices for the pictured items, this post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 4/2/12 – Hand Washing Cloth Diapers

Apr 2,2012 / By Maria / 3 Comments

Need cloth diaper advice? Every week, I answer a question asked by a reader, and give other readers the chance to weigh in.

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Aislinn says::

My little girl is due in a week and a half, and I can’t wait to start cloth diapering her! I’m from Florida but live in Asia right now. I have no washing machine or dryer, but I do have a house helper who does our laundry by hand. Our CD stash is mostly prefolds & covers with a couple of pocket diapers plus some additional inserts (microfiber and hemp).

I am looking for any and all advice you might have on hand-washing diapers! What’s the best process? What detergent should I use? How often should I wash?

I need to make sure I understand this well enough to try it myself and then teach it to someone else in another language I’ve only been learning for 6 months! Thanks so much for your help.

Hand washing won’t be as easy as using a washing machine, but it can be done! The key to successful hand washing will be similar to machine washing: using enough water, hot enough water, enough detergent (but not too much), agitation and thorough rinsing.

Several moms I know have to pay to wash their diapers, so they partially hand wash them (pre-rinsing and such) to save money. Last year, Alyssa wrote a guest post on cloth diapering without a washing machine, and she details her wash routine there. Hannah used flats while traveling to Italy, and while she had access to a washing machine, flats do well with hand washing since they are a single layer (they will dry quickly too.)

The prefolds and covers will likely be much easier to keep clean that microfiber (the shape of the fibers tend to grab oily material more than natural fibers) but they’re not impossible to hand wash; they will just require more agitation and rinsing.

I don’t know what detergents you have available in Asia, but stay away from anything with bleach, fabric softeners or optical brighteners if at all possible. Often, less expensive store brands have fewer additives than premium brands.

Have you hand washed cloth diapers? What was your wash routine!

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Convert My Diapers Cloth Diaper Snap Conversion Service

Mar 28,2012 / By Maria / 13 Comments

You may have seen on my Facebook page that I sent some worn out hook & loop diapers off to be converted to snaps. I received them back and wanted to share my experience! As I’ve already said, I really would have preferred to just have the Velcro replaced, but I don’t have a sewing machine, and I was having a hard time finding someone to do it for me. Plus, I knew that Velcro would just need to be replaced again in the future, while snaps would last nearly indefinitely.

I sent a total of 9 diapers to Convert My Diapers: 7 Bumgenius, one Thirsties and one Blueberry. She has a price list for different diapers; some that require additional work are more, but most are around $3.75. She also offers elastic replacement if your diapers need it. The shipping was a pretty large expense, around $10 each way, putting my total close to $55. She does accept Paypal, but you have to cover the fees.

It took less than 3 weeks to receive the diapers, and the only issue I had was a little confusion about the status of my diapers. She has a “status” page, but because she works pretty quickly and the page is updated once per week or less, it’s not very helpful. The Paypal payment was also a bit confusing since payment is sent to a different address and name. Here’s a quick timeline to show what I mean:

2/29 I went on her site & selected my ship date as 3/2.
3/1 I had the package ready to ship, printed the label online, selected the check box to notify the recipient via email w/tracking, and paid via Paypal
3/2 The package was picked up by my mail carrier
3/5 Tracking said the package was delivered
3/8 I realized my Paypal payment was showing unclaimed. I contacted Convert My Diapers and she said that the Paypal payments go to a different address, and that they will send invoice when the package is opened
3/15 I’ve been checking the status page regularly and I’m getting worried. The status page hasn’t been updated since 3/4 and at that point, it didn’t even show that she had been notified of the shipment. I still haven’t gotten an invoice, so I was assuming that meant they hadn’t even opened my package yet after 10 days. I was starting to wonder if the package had been mis-delivered and she hadn’t received it at all. I hesitated to send an email because I don’t want to be “that customer” who drives her crazy. I ended up sending an email on 3/15 asking about the status of my order. I didn’t initially receive a reply, but I received an invoice from a different name & email address saying that they were done & ready to ship when paid. I paid right away, then about an hour later, received a reply to my email saying they were done & ready to ship when paid. Later, the status page was updated as of 3/15 saying that my diapers were completed 3/14 and ready to ship when paid.
3/22 I received the diapers in the mail

I think 3 weeks is pretty awesome for shipping them, completing 9 diapers and shipping them back, so I’d almost rather just see an estimated turn around time rather than the updates, since all they did was make me worry! I had to pay $1.61 in Paypal fees, which I didn’t initially realize when I decided to pay by Paypal rather than mail money with the diapers. I also didn’t know that I was supposed to wait for an invoice, or that it would be a different address. I just assumed I needed to pay when I mailed the diapers, since non-Paypal payments are supposed to be included with the diapers.

The diapers look fantastic. Naturally, you can see where the closures and strip were removed.

Above is a converted 3.0, a converted 4.0 and a 4.0 that was purchased with snap closures applied by the manufacturer. Not much difference!

I went ahead and washed the diapers before using them again, since they were out of my home of course & smelled a little musty after all the shipping. I think I found a couple of animal hairs on the diapers, but I could be mistaken. I don’t see any indication on her site that they have pets. I also put the diapers in the dryer for a bit, since I know the heat can help seal up sewing holes. After that the holes from where the Velcro was removed were much less noticeable.

I would LOVE if Cottonbabies would start offering a Velcro replacement service (I wasn’t the only one who mentioned it during the Jennifer Labit Twitter party!) but otherwise, I would definitely send diapers to CMD again. I do think it’s a little bit pricey after the shipping costs, and it would be really expensive if you also needed all 3 elastic pieces replaced. However, you end up with totally refurbished diapers for the same as or less than a used diaper in similar condition, and you know the diaper’s history (which sounds weird, but I think you KWIM!)

Have you had any diapers converted to snaps? Have you done any yourself?

FTC compliance: I paid normal retail price for this service. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Changing Diapers Book Review

Mar 27,2012 / By Maria / 10 Comments

Kelly Wels is the former owner of Kelly’s Closet turned cloth diaper advocate, and author of the award winning book Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom’s Guide To Modern Cloth Diapering

The book touches on everything a hip mom needs to know about cloth, but the information isn’t overwhelming.

From why choose cloth (I definitely giggled about the “secret club” and being “addicted to cloth!”)…

to cloth 101, including types of diapers and how to wash them. Each chapter is illustrated with beautiful photos and easy to understand diagrams. I think every cloth diapering Mom should have one of these books handy to lend to people who ask about cloth. The information is concise, easy and fun to read, and I don’t think it would be overwhelming even for someone who was totally new to cloth!

The book retails for $17.95, but it’s available for $11.98 right now, and a limited number of “seconds” are available for $7.98.

Shop the Kelly Wels store or find a retailer including my affiliates: Kelly’s Closet, Diaper Junction, Clothdiaper.com and Cloth Diaper Outlet. “Like” Kelly Wels on Facebook, Changing Diapers on Facebook follow Kelly Wels on Twitter, Changing Diapers on Twitter and follow the Kelly Wels blog.