Designs by Cace Pocket Diaper Tester Review

Feb 10,2011 / By Maria / 1 Comment

I reviewed a Designs by Cace all-in-one diaper last year, during my “year of fluff” event. One thing I had mentioned was that a “heavy wetter” style diaper would be a nice option. Sara at Designs by Cace decided to test a brand new pocket diaper pattern, to make absorbency customizable for heavier wetters.

Keep in mind that this is a tester diaper, and changes and improvements will be made based on tester feedback!

The diaper looks very much like the AIO, with aplix closures and laundry tabs.

Except of course, it has a pocket opening rather than a sewn in soaker.

The medium is estimated to fit 10-22 pounds. My son is about 21 pounds and he’s definitely getting close to outgrowing the diaper, but he still has some room.

It took me a while to get my feedback to Sara. I generally get a diaper, wash it once, then use and wash it at least 3-4 times before providing feedback. Well… The first three times I put the diaper on my son, he pooped in it almost immediately! I joke about him and pretty new white diapers, since he always seems to do that. Never three times though! Maybe the super soft inner relaxed him, I don’t know, ha ha!

In any case, I was finally able to give it some really good use, and it has been washed 7+ times. Sara included a microfiber towel to use in the pocket; she is planning on making inserts for the diapers, but wanted to focus on the diapers for now. The last time I used the diaper, the towel was pretty soaked, and I had a little bit of wicking at one of the legs. I think this could be corrected by using an insert in the pocket, and I’m going to try stuffing it with one of my spare inserts next! I’m looking forward to seeing photos of round two testers or the final product!

DBC sells her AIOs from $9 (smalls) to $15 (large prints) and I’d expect the pockets to be fairly similarly priced. Designs by Cace diapers are a great value and are work-at-home-mom made!

FTC compliance: I was not compensated for this post and all opinions are my own.

Cloth Diapers Inserts Made in the USA Natural Fiber One Size Diapers Pocket Diapers Review Snap Closure WAHM made

Heartland Dreams One Size Pocket Diaper (Tester) Review!

Jan 27,2011 / By Maria / 5 Comments

I’ve had my Heartland Dreams Fitted for about 10 months. Fitteds aren’t my favorite, but Heartland Dreams (HD from here on out for lazy me) were recommended to me as an very absorbent fitted, and I turned to fitteds and wool when my son was a night time super soaker!

As it turns out, HD aren’t just absorbent, they are incredibly well made as well. I love a lot of work at home mom (WAHM) made diapers, but HD are amazing.

I found out that Heartland Dreams was working on a one-size pocket diaper (my favorite!), and I got a little excited. I put myself in the running to be a tester, and crossed my fingers and toes. For those who aren’t familiar with “testers,” usually a diaper maker will try their diapers on their own children, and babies that belong to their friends and family, then make tweaks to their pattern. Prior to selling for the first time, trying a new pattern, style or making tweaks to an existing one, they usually want them tested on lots of different age, size and shape babies.

If someone is brand new to making diapers, they may offer the tester diapers free for the cost of shipping, or the cost of shipping + materials. Prices vary based on where they are in the testing phase, and typically when a known diaper maker is just tweaking a product they’ve been selling, testers may just receive a small discount, or coupon for their next order, in exchange for their feedback.

I was excited when I found out I was one of 6 randomly chosen testers! We didn’t get to choose our colors, but I actually received the diaper that I liked best out of the pre-made tester diapers.

Heartland Dreams is great to test for because she is truly looking for feedback, including constructive criticism. She’s not just looking for pats on the back about how great her diapers are (even though they are.)

The pocket diapers are one-size via a snap down rise, and have a 4th setting to fit extra-small babies. I do not know the estimated weight range for these diapers. Rather than just arbitrarily say they fit 8-35 lbs (or whatever) Tina will probably compile tester feedback to set the estimated weight range.

1 row snap closures, 2 ea wing w/overlap

The diaper has snap closures, one row of snaps with 2 snaps on each wing, and two snap overlaps.

The stay dry inner is buttery soft, and has stayed soft after several washes.

The pocket opening is in the front of the diaper, and there is a flap to completely cover the insert, and prevent wicking.

I received both an organic insert and a microfiber insert (which are both made by HD). The organic insert is super soft, and is pre-washed three times, so you can use it right away (it will continue to gain absorbency as you wash it.)

The microfiber insert has snaps to adjust the size and keep it secure. I love this! Not many diapers have this feature, which makes it much easier to stuff the diaper.

When I was taking pictures of this diaper, my husband said “someone MADE that?!” OK, I’m quoting, but paraphrasing a little. He might have said “THAT’s homeMADE?” In any case, it was said in an incredulous tone!

I’m pretty sure Tina isn’t a robot or a machine (LOL) but her stitching is so even and neat, it puts most commercially made diapers to shame. The first two pictures are of stitching along elastic, so any unevenness is because the elastic is gathered. I couldn’t keep it stretched and take a picture at the same time. A third hand would come in very handy at times like these. Har har.

Here’s the diaper on the smallest (extra-small) setting both folded and stretched:

Small:

Medium:

Large:

My son is around 21 pounds, and wears the medium setting of most one-size diapers, so that’s what I put on him. I tried it with the microfiber insert first.

The diaper is cut with an intentionally narrow crotch, so it’s very trim. This is of course one reason Tina was testing the diaper, to make sure it still provided enough coverage for larger babies.

Even with the organic insert, it was still very trim, and also very absorbent. Some people say they don’t have to unstuff their pocket diapers before washing. For me, they just end up bunched up at the bottom of the diaper, unless they have openings on both ends. So, when Tina asked testers to indicate if the insert would agitate out in the wash, either as is, or with the flap flipped up, I tried it just to humor her. To my surprise, both inserts agitated out completely without unstuffing!

Prices haven’t been set for the diapers and inserts yet, that’s another reason for diaper testing, so the testers can give feedback on what they think a fair price would be.

FTC compliance: I paid the normal tester price for this diaper, I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

Cloth Diapers Fitted Diapers Made in the USA One Size Diapers Review Snap Closure WAHM made

Two Little Piggies Tester Diaper

May 13,2010 / By Maria / 1 Comment

I got to test a one size fitted for Two Little Piggies Diapers.

The fabric is super soft.

The snaps were evenly applied.

It has the same fold down rise with extra snaps that many one size fitteds have.

What made it unique was the snaps on the front that allowed you to snap the rise in place after folding.

This would eliminate one step in diapering a smaller baby (folding the rise and then holding it in place while you snap.) There are also plenty of overlap snaps for itty babies!

The soaker is petal style for more thorough washing and faster drying.

If you needed to, you could stuff more material inside the petals for extra absorbency.

In this picture, you get a good view of the extra snaps where you could secure the fold down rise if needed. I got a good fit on the larger setting.

It was a bit smaller than some other one-size fitteds I have. It fit about the same as some larger ones do on the smaller setting.

Normally, I wouldn’t put a brand new diaper to the test for something like sleeping, car rides and so forth until it had gotten several daytime uses.

I topped the diaper with a wool cover and shortly after that, the child who does not nap, took a nap. A long one. I was getting nervous! I was expecting soaked clothes and soaked sheets but nope! Not a single leak! The diaper was saturated but his clothes and his sheets were dry! Not too shabby! It’s been in our regular rotation since we got it, and it even contained a very messy poop yesterday, without getting any on the cover!

Cloth Diapers Fitted Diapers Made in the USA One Size Diapers Review WAHM made

Licorice Lane Fitted Tester Diaper

Apr 16,2010 / By Maria / 9 Comments

I recently got to test a sized, fitted diaper for Licorice Lane.

The owner makes baby leggings, blankets, hats, booties and lounge pants, but has just recently gotten into diaper making. She used them on her own child, as well as friend’s children, but needed feedback from more mamas with different age babies, different sizes, wetting habits and so forth.

What made testing for Licorice Lane especially fun was that she was truly looking for honest feedback to make a better product that would work for more families. She wasn’t just looking for pats on the back!

I paid a small sum (as did all testers) to cover shipping, and a portion of the materials. The diaper came quickly.

This is a sized, medium diaper, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it also had a fold down rise with an extra set of snaps.

The mediums are supposed to fit 15-25 pounds, but I imagine they could fit a much smaller baby with the fold down rise.

The diaper is made with a cotton flannel outer, a hidden layer of French terry, and a cotton velour inner.

She is working on a few soaker styles, so testers received different ones. Mine was 2 layers of French terry and 2 layers of cotton velour.

Overall, the quality of construction and stitching were good.

I had to really scrutinize it to find a couple places where the stitching could potentially be a smidge straighter. Still much better than many WAHM products I’ve seen.

My personal preference would be to have the overall diaper be a bit larger. Slightly longer wings, slightly wider crotch and slightly larger diaper overall. However, I realize that I’m just trying to turn it into a one size fitted, LOL. She did say that she may work on a one size in the future.

Here is the Licorice Lane medium in comparison to my favorite one size fitted.

I felt the soaker was a tiny bit wide for the diaper, but she was trying several soaker styles in her testers.

My son really could still wear the diaper on the smaller rise setting. (16.5 lbs, 27.5 inches)

I prefer it hit him a bit higher on the belly. Just what I’m used to I suppose.

If you notice the gap at his right thigh, I had a bit of trouble fitting the diaper. It’s as if I needed snaps where there weren’t any. Pulling the diaper to the overlap snap was too tight.

If I got the outer snaps where they needed to be to make the diaper snug, there was one snap just hanging out.

I ended up just leaving the middle snap of that wing undone, and it worked just fine.

One reason I really enjoyed testing for Licorice Lane is that Brooke looked at the pictures, thought it over and tried to come up with ways to solve this. I think I just needed a snap where there wasn’t one. Or, it could just be operator error. Wouldn’t be the first time!

It fit nicely.

Babyish prints aren’t really my favorite, but this was very cute.

This is a fitted diaper, so the whole diaper is absorbent, and it needs a cover to be waterproof. I know from experience that this soaker style (especially a single with no doubler) doesn’t work well for us coverless. Still, I wanted to test it out.

As I expected, when he wet it, it was soaked right though. When I tried it again with our Flip Cover over it, it worked wonderfully, The diaper was able to absorb more throughout, instead of just soaking through the wetzone.

I do still prefer a 2 petal style soaker with an added doubler. I realize that I am comparing/trying to turn this into my favorite fitted, but really, if I am buying/shopping for a fitted, that’s what I am going to be using as my benchmark!

Licorice Lane was just wonderful to test for. She was receptive to my suggestions and preferences, summarized to make sure she understood all of my input, and sincerely thanked me.

As a tester, I know that other Mamas may have other ideas and preferences, and she can’t please everyone. Therefore, her fitteds might not end up being what works for me. However, the feeling I got from testing for her makes me very willing to try another diaper after tweaks, or any other products from Licorice Lane!

Right now, the Licorice Lane store is set to open on May 1st, though that may change!

Edit August 2010: Since fitted diapers aren’t my favorite, I passed this along to someone who could better use it.

All In Two Diapers Cloth Diapers Made in the USA Sized Diapers WAHM made

Testing, testing 1 2 3…

Jan 23,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

A lot of diaper makers get started because there is some need that is not being met by other diapers. If she decides to sell to others, she needs to see how her diapers fit on babies of other sizes and shapes, how they hold up to wigglers and heavy wetters, and what other moms think of her design.

Other times, an experienced diaper seller is trying a new design, or even branching out to new products, and she needs feedback.

Enter…the tester.

What a seller usually does is offer her product for the cost of shipping and materials, in exchange for brutally honest feedback, and typically also photos of the product in use.

This can be a great chance to try a new design for a great price, though most sellers would prefer a mom who has been cloth diapering for a little while vs someone brand new to cloth. Of course, that means that you may get a product with a few flaws or bugs that need to be worked out, or something that just doesn’t work for your child.

I had the opportunity to test an E.F.F.-n-Stuffs (Enjoy Fabulous Fluff -n- stuffs) diaper. The diapers will be sold in the Home 2 Home congo on Hyenacart.

She is also working on a nighttime diaper and also plans to offer custom diaper bags and combo sets!

Her regular prices will vary between $10 and $25 depending on style. She charged her testers for materials and shipping (I paid the same as all other testers and my review was not influenced in any way!)

I got a size Medium (10-22 lbs) all in two for my 15.5 lb boy. She also offers Small (NB/6 lb-12 lb) and Large (20-34 lb).

She uses cottons, cotton knit, jersey knit, interlocks, wool interlocks and more.

She ran out of the fabric I requested (you don’t get to be too picky when you’re a tester and that’s OK!) so she used some purple polyester on mine.

The inside is lined with fleece or cotton velour.

The soaker is thick, soft and squishy. Her standard soaker has microfiber sandwiched between fleece x2 and suedecloth next to babies skin. Her special soaker is the same, but has a hidden layer of PUL in the soaker.

Prior to this round of testing she made the AI2s without PUL and used fleece only but wanted to test and see if PUL makes any difference. She, herself, never used covers with her diapers, even to go out. The fleece of the cover is considered pretty water proof.

She will also offer a custom soaker with 5 layers of OBF sandwiched between fleece x2 and suedecloth next to babies skin, or hidden PUL.

I’ve actually only ever seen diapers with PUL through the whole diaper. Her method makes a lot of sense since the PUL would only be where needed, and the rest of the diaper area could breathe more.

I was a little concerned because it seemed a bit narrow as well as bulky, but it was just fine on.

I did not seem to add too much bulk between his legs and it was just the right width.

The wings are quite wide (“extended tabs”), but she plans to also offer “minimal tabs” as an option. Her diapers are purposely cut with more of a “boy short” shape for more booty coverage, making pants optional!

I did have a little trouble selecting the right snap settings to get a good fit around his waist and rolly thighs, but I usually have a learning curve getting used to any new diaper! There is tons of adjustability, and the tabs even have the ability to overlap.

So far, so good! He wore the diaper for about 2 hours and we had no leaks. The soaker didn’t even feel wet (though I know it was!) The only thing was that his hiney & the area around his leg were very red, which is rare for him since switching to cloth. I’m not sure what to make of that.

I wondered how he’d do with the polyester, but it wasn’t touching his skin, and he doesn’t have trouble with diapers lined with PUL. I’ll have to see if it does the same thing next time we use it. It was probably just a coincidence!

Edit August 2010: I did not care for the cut of this diaper/how it fit on my son, so I ended up passing it along.

Tag Archives: tester

Designs by Cace Pocket Diaper Tester Review

Heartland Dreams One Size Pocket Diaper (Tester) Review!

Two Little Piggies Tester Diaper

Licorice Lane Fitted Tester Diaper

Testing, testing 1 2 3…

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