I am not the best seamstress. Like my daughter, I tend to craft free-form, without a pattern and without measuring or pinning a lot of the time. However, occasionally I require help. Since I like to turn to the good old Internet for help when I am seeking crafty inspiration, that’s where I turn for simple sewing patterns.
If you are thinking about sewing your own diapers, there are sources of free patterns online. Here are a few places that you can look for all-in-one, pocket diaper, or prefold patterns. If you’re just getting started in the world of sewing, you may want to begin by sewing up a few prefolds. These rectangles of cloth are a little more straightforward than an all-in-one diaper, which generally resembles a disposable diaper.
Fern and Faerie offers a great and simple prefold pattern to make diapers from old t-shirts. Everyone has a few old t-shirts lying around. If not, a trip to the thrift store or a call out to friends can fix that.
In the same recycling vein, here’s a tutorial with lots of photos that describes how to make a pocket diaper out of a polar fleece. Pocket diapers have handy little pockets in the middle so that you can fit as much or as little padding as you need inside.
If you’d like to make a pattern for custom diapers that fit your baby perfectly, The Peaceful Peacock has step-by-step instructions for doing just that.
The Very Baby Blog has a good selection of tutorials on diaper covers. These include a tutorial on snap covers, wool covers, and how to make diaper covers with wings.
Whether you’re creating diapers from cotton terry, wool, fleece, bamboo or hemp, there’s a pattern to suit all sizes and fabrics. You can find a free diaper pattern and even create diapers for free using repurposed fleeces or t-shirts. When you create diapers yourself, cloth diapering can have amazingly low start-up costs!
Have you found any wonderful places to get cloth diaper patterns for free?