My little girl is turning 5 on Tuesday and she has been begging me for Baby Alive diapers. Have you looked at the price of these tiny diapers that are a once and done item? Wow! They are as expensive as human diapers! No way was I going to pay that if I could figure out how to make them myself.
I went on Pinterest to search for them. I found a few great patterns but I really liked one from One Little Project. I printed the pattern and read her explanation on how to make them. I decided to change a few things up from her pattern and make it my own.
She used fleece and flannel. I decided I would use a patterned and minky fleece for mine. Instead of flannel for the design panel, I used cotton and an athletic dance wear fabric. The dance wear fabric was remnants from my daughters mermaid costume that a friend of mine made for her. She LOVES the costume and I’m hoping she will LOVE her baby doll wearing a matching diaper.
Here is the material I used:
*Absorbent material for diaper inside (I used minky or patterned fleece).
*Designed outer fabric of your choice.
*Iron on velcro or sew in velcro (I used both)
*Serger or sewing machine (I used both)
*Pins, Scissors and Thread
Step 1: Cut out the pattern, trace on the desired fabric and cut. You do want to use a fabric that is absorbent for Baby Alive because she really pees and poops. For any other baby, it doesn’t really matter. You can see my minky for the inside and the mermaid dance wear fabric for the outside.
Step 2: I pulled out my lovely Serger. Now, the original pattern called for stitching fronts together then top stitching…I didn’t want to. Why do that extra work when I can just serge it in one simple step?
Step 3: I decided to make lucky 7 diapers for her this time around for her birthday (I will make more later). I paired fronts and backs for all 7 of them and pinned the ends so they would stay together. (If you are using iron on velcro, see Alternate Step 3 below.)
Alternate Step 3: If you are using sew in velcro, you would need to do that before you proceed to further steps. You would pin the hook velcro to the inside back tabs of the diaper and the loop velcro to the front of the diaper. Sew them in place then proceed with Step 4.
Step 4: Serge all the way around the diapers. If you did Alternate Step 3, your diaper is now done. Otherwise, continue to Step 5.
Step 5: Grab your iron on velcro and cut to size. This is the velcro I had on hand to do four of them. The other three I had to use sew in velcro. Once it is cut to size, stick it onto the diaper. The loop side on the front of the diaper and the hook side on the back inside tabs and iron. If it is a delicate fabric, you will want to iron with a towel or an ironing cloth between the iron and the fabric.
Step 6: Look over your final product and soak in how stinking cute they are! You may even try it on a baby doll. My daughter’s Baby Alive doll is in her sister’s room so I had to grab a different doll to try them on and they were so cute!
As for washing these little treasures, I would put them in a delicate laundry bag, inside out with the velcro together so it doesn’t stick to anything else. Wash it on delicate if you have other delicates or it should be ok in the regular load cycle if its in the little laundry bag.
So what do you think of my project? Did you like the original diapers better or my simple, serged style? Comment with your questions or thoughts below!