Tag Archives: cloth nappies

More dolly things I have made!

By

This is following on from my last post, Making things for Shovel.

I made an extra nappy for Shovel with some more spare material. This was just as well because Izzie decided she liked the nappy so much that her bear, who is luckily the same ‘unusual’ shape as Shovel, also apparently needs to wear a nappy.

Crocheted dolls' blanketIzzie has this little fold up dolls’ pushchair and she likes to put Shovel in there and then pile lots of other stuffed toys in on top of her.

I thought I’d make a little crocheted pram blanket for Shovel. The pram is in pink (I tried and tried to persuade her to choose the blue pram, damn it) so I crocheted it in some scraps of pink wool.

Now that she has all these things for Shovel and the pram I thought I’d have a go at making a bag for the pram. I’ve not attempted a lined tote bag before so this was a first. It worked out OK so I might have a go at making some more for my next handmade fair.

Above shows the little bag on the pram – I used some pink bias binding to make some little straps to match the binding on the pram. The material is just a fat quarter of fabric and the lining is just some plain cotton. I made the bag and a nappy from the fat quarter and still have a little bit left.

Dolls' cloth nappies and bagSo, Shovel now has a nice little selection of things to go in her changing bag, which fits nicely on her pram.

Izzie loves taking things in and out of the bag. She can even take it on and off the pram.

Next is a hat and bib for Shovel. I think I have enough of that fat quarter to do the bib…

Incidentally, I can make any of these to order 🙂

Advertisement

Making things for Shovel

By

Anyone who has met my little girl has also met Shovel.

She takes Shovel everywhere with her. Apparently Shovel loves to go shopping. She shares her food with Shovel and luckily it appears Shovel will eat things that Izzie isn’t too keen on. Shovel will also check out new territory by being thrown in that direction.

The famous ShovelThis is a rare picture of Shovel, on her own.

Most pictures of her are with Izzie. In fact any of our holidays photos with Izzie in front of various scenes, have been photo-bombed by Shovel.

She’s everywhere!

So, Izzie is now liking to do things with Shovel that I do with her. She likes to brush her teeth, comb her hair and feed her. Recently she has decided that she likes trying to put shoes and bibs on Shovel.

This gave me an idea. Izzie loves Sing and Sign and currently one of her favourites is about Jessie cat needing the potty. Izzie wears cloth nappies so I decided to make a cloth nappy for Shovel.

Now this ended up not being quite as easy as thought it might be. I know people come in all shapes and sizes, and so it seems do dollies!

I used paper to fit around Shovel to get the basic sizing and then cut out a pattern. I used some scraps of patterned material and just used some plain cotton for the lining. I top-stitched the whole things and then added a couple of poppers. Below are some photos I took of the process – as you can see, Shovel is an ‘unusual’ shape 🙂

My little girl loved the nappy so much I made another one and a little bag to keep them in – which I’ll post another day!

What a waste – wet wipe litter up 50% on UK beaches!

By
babywipe

BBC News

As you know, I don’t really like to throw things away and this headline today reminded me why I chose to use reusable nappies and wipes.

Here’s the full article from the BBC.

It’s awful to think what we are doing to our environment just for the sake of what appears to be convenience. If people understood the alternatives out there a little better than it might not seem more convenient…

When I first started using reusable nappies I was still using baby wipes. I found that I was popping my nappies in the nappy bin for washing and then throwing away the baby wipes into the dust bin. It seemed a bit odd. So, I did a bit more research and found out about reusable wipes.

I bought a set of bamboo Cheeky Wipes and have never looked back. They aren’t the only solution out there as there are plenty of other brands and some people make their own, or buy cheap flannels from the Pound shops. You don’t even need a special box to store them in – you can improvise. I use a commercial baby wipes box that was given to us as a baby gift.

They are SOOOOOOO much better than a disposable baby wipe. If I do use baby wipes (like if we go away – yeah I’m not perfect!) I find I need to use a lot of them to clean a mucky bum. Is it just me or do they seem to smear everything? With the bamboo reusable wipes, you tend to just need one or two. Then they just get wrapped up in the dirty nappy and popped in the nappy bin for the next wash.

girl hero fabricI use reusable wipes for hands and faces too. Again I just tend to use one wipe for each meal rather than a handful of baby wipes. I have a couple of little double zipper wet bags for them – clean wipes in one side, dirty in the other. They are from My Little Patch, who make to order in all sorts of fabrics. I have one in a sort of ‘biff, bang, pow’ material and another in ‘girl hero’. The ‘girl hero’ one has Wonder Woman on it so I was smitten!

Actually, one thing I did find when I was still using baby wipes. If they go through the washing machine by accident, they come out as lovely clean wipes. I actually used to reuse them as wipes (dampened) or as liners in the cloth nappies. They would actually go through the washer several times before they started to break up…

Real nappy stories, or “Really, and she poos in that?”

By

Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know that I like to reuse and recycle and don’t really like to throw things away.

When I was pregnant I came across a couple of mentions of reusable nappies so I looked into it a bit more. The more I looked the more I realised that I didn’t like the idea of having a bin full of dirty nappies clogging up my rubbish and going off to refill. Not to mention the plastic and chemicals.

Did you know that if Henry VIII had worn disposable nappies, that they still wouldn’t have broken down in he landfill yet?

Anyway, times have really moved on from when I was a baby and nappies were a terry square, a pin and some crackly waterproof cover. It can be quite bewildering looking at all the different types. As I was a novice to all this I originally went for AIO (all in ones) as I thought they’d be easier. I later tried some pockets (PUL outer with inserts) and found they were as easy to use and dried a bit more quickly. I use 2 parters (PUL shell and fitted bamboo nappy) at night as they are more absorbent and last her the full 12 hour (plus).

I struggled a bit for the first 2 months as the BTP (birth to potty) nappies I had really didn’t fit my long skinny baby very well. I wish there’d been more information around to help me as I should have been able to cloth bum from newborn. I later found out lots of suggestions for cheap newborn solutions. I eventually managed to find some cheapie velcro nappies that I could adjust a bit more for a snug fit and we moved properly away from disposables.

Real nappiesBut, it’s now been a year of using them!

We use the odd disposable now and the – like if we go away and visit family – but I really like the idea of how I’ve saved all that rubbish going off to the tip. And the nappies are really cute. And, my little girl looks really cute in them 🙂

I’ve had some interesting comments along the way including “does she poo in that?”, “you’re brave”, “how cool are they!” and “wow, Batman nappies?”…

I’ll try and post more on this and other greener things I do like my reusable wipes!