This style of pocket is more of an intermediate project. This tutorial shows an All-In-One pocket being sewn. To make a fitted diaper pocket you will follow the same instructions except you will have absorbent fabric in place of the PUL.

I use the cloth diaper pattern available at Amber Perry Patterns on Etsy. It’s great!

	Sew the front waist loop tape & size tag on first.
	On the back waist, turn under 1/4″ of the PUL, sew elastic within the fold you’ve created. Use the illustration in the Sewing Instruction sheets for where to begin & end the elastic. You will of course, trim the elastic after sewing it in.
	Now do the same for the absorbent fabric. I used flannel – so I folded down both layers of flannel and attached the elastic within that fold.
	Now you will sew the PUL and absorbent layers together. Begin just before the elastic ends and sew all the way around the diaper, finishing just after the the anchor point of the back elastic. As you sew, you will make a fold in the PUL & absorbent fabrics (see following pictures). This gives a clean finish to the pocket opening.
	This is how the folded seam looks on the PUL side.
	This is how the folded seam looks on the absorbent side. Note that the area with elastic is not sewn together – this is your elasticized pocket opening. Continue by following the Sewing Instruction sheet for adding leg elastic and hook & loop on the wings.
	Now your absorbent, back opening pocket diaper is ready to stuff.

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This is a very easy way to make a great pocket diaper. This tutorial shows an All-In-One pocket being sewn. To make a fitted diaper pocket you will follow the same instructions except you will have absorbent fabric in place of the PUL.

I use the cloth diaper pattern available at Amber Perry Patterns on Etsy.

	Sew the front waist loop tape & size tag on first.Then follow sewing instruction sheets through adding the elastic to legs & back.
	After adding elastic, I like to either zigzag or serge the entire front edge. Do NOT sew the front and back together. This step is to keep the absorbent fabric from fraying with use.
	After finishing the edge (above), fold the hem allowance (about 1/2″) down.Using a straight or zigzag stitch go all the way around the diaper waist. If you are concerned about wicking, fold the absorbent hem 3/4″ (this will make is slightly shorter than the PUL edge, keeping the absorbent fabric away from clothing).
	Continue with the sewing instructions for placement of the wing hook & loop pieces.Now your front opening, absorbent pocket diaper is ready for stuffing.

I just finished sewing up a few new cloth diapers for my daughter. They are quick & easy to make when you use the following tips…

• I use the pattern from Amber Perry Patterns on Etsy.
• Add a cute cotton flannel print to give your diapers a little extra personality. 1 1/2 yards of flannel will give you enough to get 2 body cuts plus a tri-fold soaker and some wipes. Remember that you must wash & dry any fabric you purchase before you cut it. Otherwise it will shrink after the diaper is sewn.
• When sewing diapers it is most efficient to sew them assembly line style. To do this, sew each step on all of the diapers before moving on to the next step. Example: sew the soaker pads into all of the diapers before moving on to sewing the body layers together. This helps to streamline the process. Sewing with this method I can make 4 diapers in just over an hour.

More about the diapers above…

• The All-In-One on the upper right (white PUL with a rose print inner) features a sewn in tri-fold or butterfly soaker. These are fantastic if you have a heavy wetter! You can add extra layers for absorption and they still wash & dry quickly and thoroughly. I love these! You can find my tutorial on making them here.
• The diaper on the bottom left is a fitted diaper – that is why it has the cotton flannel with the rose print on the inside & the outside.
• The diaper on the bottom right is an All-In-One diaper with white PUL that I painted to give it a beautiful pink tie dyed/brushed look. I also love this diaper ~ can’t wait to get it washed and on her little bum. Here is a tutorial on how to paint PUL to get any look you desire!

We love hummus at our house! Unfortunately it’s a bit on the expensive side when you’re on a strict budget.  I’ve had a hard time finding a recipe that tasted “right” to everyone in our household who eats it.  Here is the recipe that I have finally come up with that makes us all smile

I have not tried this recipe with canned garbanzo beans, though I’m sure it would still be yummy! I have found that using my pressure cooker to cook the beans makes them nice and smooshy – perfect for creamy hummus.  Here’s how I prepared the beans…

1 bag dried garbanzo beans (1 lb/16 oz.)

Pre-cook the beans by rinsing them and removing any discolored or broken beans. Place in pot with enough water to cover plus 2″.  Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat, cover and let sit for about 1 hour. If you prefer, you can soak the beans over night instead.

To pressure cook them I used the guidelines on this page.  I cooked the entire batch of beans (the 1 lb pkg. as above) with enough water to cover plus 2″. I cooked them at pressure for 25 minutes and then used the slow release method to let out the pressure (remove from heat and allow pressure to decrease slowly over time). Once the pressure had released I drained the beans, covered them and put them in the refrigerator. This is enough beans to make a triple batch of the hummus recipe below.

Making the hummus…

Place the following in a food processor:

• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 C. water
• 1/4 C. lemon juice
• 1/3 C. tahini
• 2 C (14 oz.) garbanzo beans (cooked as above or canned)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 C. olive oil

Process until smooth & creamy. That’s it!

Did you try this recipe & like it? Scroll down and share it!

Here are two videos about how to sew elastic into cloth diapers. I use the pattern available at Amber Perry Patterns on Etsy.
The first video is me sewing an all-in-one cloth diaper. This same method is used for sewing all-in-ones and fitted diapers that are turned and topstitched.

In this video I am sewing elastic into a fitted diaper  that will later be serged.

I have been sewing fold over elastic onto diapers for several years and am sharing my sewing tips with you! Fold over elastic (FOE) is wonderful for binding cloth diaper covers, fitted diapers and all-in-ones. I use the diaper cover pattern available at Amber Perry Patterns on Etsy.

My daughter has been rapidly outgrowing her warm winter pajamas. She’s left with her sleeveless summer nightgowns. Which just won’t do in winter. As much as I’d like to sew up some new pajamas or flannel gowns for her, my time is pretty tight right now.

The answer came from knitting inspiration. I had been knitting a shrug for her to wear (I thought) with her short sleeve dresses to church on Sundays. As I reached the half way point of her knit shrug, she informed me that she did not like white and did not want it. Well! Though I’ll probably finish it and add some embroidery to add color, it took the wind out of my sails for that projects. Her arms still needed something warm though. So I whipped up this cute little shrug in about 15 minutes. Maybe only 10. It’s pretty darn quick!

Tutorial

Important Notes: I used polar fleece because of its stretch and because it does not fray. My daughter is quite slender and has a small frame. I tried a shrug for the baby using the same measurements and it was too tight for her super chubby arms. I am going to make her another one but taper the sleeves to be wider. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I measured from her wrist to the middle of her back, which is 18″. Multiply that x 2 = 36″. I then measured from the nape of her neck to just below her shoulder blades, 8″. I then cut a rectangle of fleece 36″ x 8″.  The stretch of the fleece must be going vertically.

Mark with pins how far the seam from wrist to armpit will go. I found it most comfortable for my daughter to stop the seam about 2″ from her actual armpit.

I used a serger to sew the seam but a standard machine will work just as well.

Turn the shrug right side out.

This is the third shrug I’ve made for her this way. If you have enough fabric it’s nice to add an inch or two on the sleeves to make the shrug last longer. It would also be super cute to add some embroidery or appliques. And of course fleece comes in lots of cute patterns and even pre-embroidered. Lots of fun! My daughter loves her warm sleeves and wears them during the day with short sleeved or sleeveless shirts as well.

If you make the shrug for another size/fit and want to share the measurements you used that would be great! Just leave the info. in the Comments.

Update: Throughout the day today I’ve had lots of nice comments on various forums. Lots of moms think this would work great for them too!  One of the more interesting comments came from a friend who has a small dog. She suggested this tutorial could be used to make a shrug for a dog as well. I think she’s right! Though I don’t have a dog, I think if you measure from one “ankle”, up over the shoulders and down the other leg and then measure from the nape of the neck down the back to just below the shoulders. If anyone makes a shrug using this tutorial; I’d love to see a pic! I’ll post it here to show it works.

*This post taken from my old blog. Original writing July 2008.

You know that really ugly tie you wish your main man didn’t have? Well here’s an excellent way to put it to good use while ensuring that he will not be wearing it ever again.

OK, seriously, you can use any tie. Even a nice one. You can go to the thrift store and find one that’s got some personality.

I was looking for a quick way to get my circular knitting needles organized and this tie in my husbands closet caught my eye (how could it not right?). I sewed straight across the the tie (the front and the back together) several times about 1″ apart. Viola! No hemming, no cutting, not even any pinning. You could get fancy and embroider the needle sizes on the front if you want to. One could even snip the tie at the top and make a button hole and add a button if you needed it to come apart. Or you could add hook & loop (Velcro).

Here’s the back

Handy?

*This post taken from my old blog. Original writing March 2009.

With our 4th baby I finally figured out some bibs I really like. There are two types. Today I’m covering the towel bibs. I love these. They’re soft, absorbent, and look great wash after wash.

I found some great towels on sale at Wal-Mart for $3.50 each. Using the layout shown below, I was able to get 8 bibs and 8 cloth wipes out of each of the two towels I used.

I serge around the edges of each bib or wipe, add a snap to the bibs and I’m all set! I will be adding applique to the bibs too. I haven’t found the right fabric to match this interesting coral/salmon color, but I will. Here is a pic of some of the bibs I made for my son (aka: baby #4).

*This post is taken from my old blog. Original writing, May 2009.

I much prefer the feel of 100% cotton flannel nursing pads to store bought pads. They’re softer and of course – washable! (Tip: washing them in a lingerie bag will keep them all together.)
I made myself a few additional nursing pads recently to bolster my stash. I chose to keep one side neutral (plain white or ivory) and the other side patterned. This way I have some cute prints, but they won’t show through my clothes.
I use 100% cotton flannel. Be sure to pre-wash and dry the fabric on hot before you begin. I then lay out my fabric two or three layers thick and use a Pyrex bowl as my template. You can make the circles any size you like (another perk to making your own), I just happen to like the size of my little Pyrex storage bowl. A large mouthed glass or other round item will work just as well. You can use water soluble fabric pens/pencils/markers, or just grab whatever is at hand – which in my case was a ball point pen. I would NOT use regular markers or gel pens – nothing that is going to bleed into the fabric.
I then cut out my circles with a rotary cutter. I like my nursing pads to be 3 -4 layers of flannel. This is a personal preference and you might like (or need) more or less. I would probably not make them thicker than maybe 5-ish layers unless you are using very thin flannel. You want them to be thin enough to wash and dry well.
Once they are cut out I use my serger and serge around the edges. If you don’t have a serger you can either zig zag or overlock them with your standard machine, or add 1/4″ to the diameter when cutting (ie: get a bigger bowl) and then sew them inside out with a 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving an opening to turn them (like that pillow you made in the 6th grade).