Life After One-Size Diapers: Part 1

In my last post I mentioned that Cooper was outgrowing his One-Size diapers. They are advertised to fit from birth to potty training but really they fit from about 10 lbs to about 30 lbs. Cooper weighs 28 lbs and most of the diapers, depending on the diaper, are getting a little too tight around his legs. Tight enough that he is starting to complain about some of them. Mommy had to do something soon. After he turns 2 we are going to get serious about potty training. He already uses it at home occasionally and he acts like he's ready; we'll see how that goes. But potty-training soon or not, he needs diapers now. I did not relish the idea of paying $20 a diaper again for larges, and I refuse to buy disposables until he is wearing underwear so I decided to find a cheaper option.

When we first started cloth diapering, I bought a dozen prefolds from Cotton Babies to extend my stash a little. I like them for days at home, but not so much for out-and-about, plus the husband has trouble with folding & Snappi-ing. (Really I think he just doesn't want to do it & uses that as an excuse) He can trifold and put one in a cover, but that can get messy. So prefolds would not be our ideal solution for toddler diapers.
I had heard of turning prefolds into fitted diapers but most tutorials use a serger and I don't have one. Then I found this one. No serger required and I've had so much fun searching for fabric and making them over the weekend!

*Warning: From this point on this post gets a little picture heavy*

I started out using flannel but flannel pills up pretty bad after its washed a couple times so I wanted to try a cotton knit for the outer. I like that a lot better. It holds up better and its so soft.

This is what I have so far, all flannel. (By the time this posted there was another one not pictured, made from the cotton knit.)

This is one of my favorites.

Here is the inside, with the extra soaker and extended wings.

An owl print, another favorite. Its a bit girly but these will be passed on, hopefully to a girl *wink* and I change them & I wash them so only I see them. I don't think it matters.

A *REAL* denim diaper. I think it turned out great. This one has no extra soaker because denim can rub.

I used Gerber prefolds on these to practice, but I plan to buy some GMD prefolds soon, which are a little better quality. In case you are curious, this is how much it costs to make these. I can get 4 diapers out of one yard of fabric.

Prefolds: $36/ dozen

Flannel: $4/ yard

Cotton knit: $9.99/ yard

Elastic: $1.95/ 5 yards (it takes very little to make a diaper)

Thread: $3/ more than enough for a bazillion diapers

Diaper Pins: $1.00/ 4 pins

So how do they work? I'll let you know in Part 2!