Transforming a wool sweater into a diaper cover: A guide to making and caring for your "longies" and "shorties"

I have a fairly new fascination... wool! This renewable resource can be used for many things, but for now we're going to talk about diaper covers. I have done a lot of research on this and have stumbled on some great information on about 20+ different sites. I'm hoping to take what I've learned and pass it onto you in one looong post.

Wool is an amazing gift from God. It is super absorbent, absorbing up to 35 % of it's own dry weight and still remaining dry to the touch, but also contains lanolin which makes it water-resistant. It is a breathable material which makes it perfect for a diaper cover. Good air circulation is a very important factor in reducing diaper rash. It's cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and because it has antibacterial properties, it does not need to be washed after every use. I only wash mine about once a month unless there has been some poo-leakage onto the cover. However, I do rotate and let the covers air out between uses.

Many people think of wool as an itchy, high-maintenance, uncomfortable piece of clothing, and sometimes it is. It's all in the type of wool you choose.



Hittin' up the Goodwill!

I have spent countless hours at thrift stores sorting through racks of sweaters to find some nice wool to transform into something useful. Keep in mind when shopping for sweaters to aim for the biggest you can find. After you felt it, it will shrink dramatically.

I have read that some wool/acrylic blends can still be felted, but I have never had luck in this area. So I stick with 100% wool.

And, obviously, I keep my baby's comfort in mind and try to find the softest wool I can.



Time to felt:

Once you have a sweater or few, you will need to start the felting process. Felting basically means you ruin your sweater on purpose. When you add hot water, a little soap, and some agitation to wool, the fibers melt and fuse together, forming felt... just like the stuff you buy in the craft section only better! Now, I have made covers without felting and they still work, but felting just gives you some extra security. It tightens up those little fibers and adds so much more water-resistance to the covers.

So, toss your sweater into the washer, start the HOT water, and add your normal amount of detergent. I like to put my washer on the longest cycle possible so I get a tighter felt. It's a good idea to throw in some other heavy clothes to help aid in the agitation, like jeans. But watch out! When wool felts, it also sheds, so I suggest not using towels because the wool can really get stuck in all the fibers of the towels.

Now, when your cycle is done, go and check your sweater... it's alright, you can run! I always do, this is exciting stuff! Is it felted? If not, toss it back in and give it another go. When you pull on your sweater it should have very little to no give. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times before a sweater will felt. If you had success and your sweater now looks like it could fit a four year old, you can either wash it again to give it an even tighter felt, or if you can wait no longer, take it out and lay it flat to dry, but don't forget to check your washer! Do you see little pieces of wool all over the place? If you do, pick them up, let them dry, and store them in a little bag to use as a natural alternative for stuffing toys later on!



Let the sewing begin!

After my sweater is felted and dry, I cut it apart at all the seams. It stores easier for me this way. Keep the front and back of the sweater and the arms. Anything else you may have (pockets, hoods, etc.) can be stored away and used for something else later.

Now, this is where you have to take over and do your own thing. I've made several pair of longies and shorties and I've never followed the same directions because there are so many variables. Your project will greatly depend on how big your sweater is and how big your baby is. I'll briefly walk you through a few ways to get it done.

The quickest way to get a pair of longies is to measure your baby from front waistline, through the legs, and up to the back waistline. Divide this number in half. Now cut the sleeves off your sweater. Cut them however long you want your longies to be plus an inch or so for hemming the waist and/or adding elastic, if you choose to do so. Cut down the inside seam of the both sleeves whatever your first measurement was. Now stitch them together and Voila! Longies!

OR you can trace a pair of your little one's pants for longies, or shorts or diaper cover for shorties, onto the sweater, cut along the lines through the front and back of the sweater, and stitch them together. For longies, line up the bottom of the pants legs with the waist of the sweater. For shorties, cut off the wrist bands of the sweater and stitch them onto the legs holes.

Finally, cut 1 large triangle out of your sweater. The waistline of the sweater will be used as the waistline for your cover. You will sew this together as if you were putting a diaper on your baby. The tip will come up through the baby's legs and the sides will wrap around to meet it. You'll stitch this together where they meet, but be sure to leave leg holes! After this you can either cut the arms off (for longies) or cut the wristbands off (for shorties) and stitch them to the leg holes.

Whew! What do you think? Are they the cutest ever? Good deal!

Washing your cover

As I stated before, your cover doesn't need to be washed after every use, only on an as needed basis. When it comes time to wash, you'll need a good wool detergent. Add a small amount of this detergent to a sink full of luke-warm water, gently swoosh your covers around a few times, then let them sit for a few minutes. Then I always give mine a nice, gentle rinse, and squeeze out the water. At this point you can lay on a towel to dry, or go ahead and lanolize. Remember not to use hot water and do not vigorously rub. This will cause your covers to felt some more and may make them misshapen or too small for your babe.

Lanolizing

Lanolizing needs to be done whenever moisture is leaking through your cover or your cover has an unpleasant odor. The first thing you need is lanolin. You can buy this at health food stores or on-line in solid form or spray-on. Personally, I don't like to go out of my way to buy something and I'm just not a huge fan of purchasing on-line. So I use the lanolin cream for breastfeeding. Works great and it's easy to find. You need to be sure your covers are thoroughly wet, so it's convenient to lanolize after you wash. Put a squirt of baby shampoo and an inch of lanolin in a bowl and cover with a bit of boiling water. The water will dissolve the lanolin and the shampoo will work as a carrier so you don't just have melted lanolin lingering on the surface of your sink full of water. So once your lanolin is melted, fill your sink about half full of warm water, then add the lanolin mixture. Turn your covers inside out and submerge them in the sink. Give them a few gentle swishes, then let them soak for at least 30 minutes, or until you remember they're there! When you get your covers out, gently squeeze them to get rid of access water, them set them aside on a towel and let them dry.

Bread Making

We bake our own bread. We have not bought bread in about a year, now. I won't buy bread for many reasons: Price, ingredients, things of that nature. But there's one other reason I won't ever buy bread... because of Ava. She takes such pride in her Mama baking our bread, I would never want to disappoint her. You can see the admiration in her eyes as she takes a bite of warm, fresh bread with butter and says, "I'm so glad you're my Mommy and you make our bread." Corny? Yes! But it's very true. There is just one problem- I dread making bread! I'm not sure why. I doesn't take long, although I always convince myself it will take all day. And the hardest part is finding something that will hold Serenity's attention long enough for me to get elbow-deep in dough, no big deal, right? But I start dragging my feet sometimes as early as Sunday night, knowing that Monday morning, after I clean my Dad's shop (PLUG: Tom How Welding Services Incorporated gives the best service around!!), I have to make bread. Sometimes I even put it off until Tuesday, as I did this week, and that just throws our whole menu out of whack! So when I finally get it going, mix it up, knead it, and set it aside to rise, I think, "Huh! That wasn't so bad after all!" Then, it's time to punch it down, which the kids think is the greatest thing ever, divide it into 3 loaves, let it rise a second time, then bake it. At this point, my house is smelling lovely, I'm feeling very accomplished, and I think, "I love baking our own bread! What was I so worried about?" But, it's that how most things go?

And we're off...

I've decided to start blogging for 2 reasons:

1. To share with family and friends how adorable my children are without having to sit on the phone all day retelling cute stories.
2. To share with everyone else what fun things we discover on our journey to "Hippie-ville".

A few weeks ago I was cleaning our bathroom and I was trying out my new vinegar and baking soda cleaning regimen (I"m addicted. More to follow, I'm sure.) and when the two mixed, they foamed! And then, they cleaned! We said, "Woooowwww...". Then I said, "Gee! I wish I could share this with someone who might care!" The light bulb went off! So then I tossed around the idea of blogging, wondering who on earth would ever read it. I'm not too terribly funny OR original. But we're pretty busy around here and we do everything we can to stay that way. So maybe someone will stumble on here some day and find something useful! Wish me luck!