DIY Bamboo Doubler

As of two weeks ago my night time diaper routine was just a Rump-A-Rooz diaper with both of the 6R soakers.  The problem is that now the girls are going longer at night and I started noticing the diaper was wicking on the backside.  Personally, not my favorite thing; picking my girls up in the morning and noticing their back is damp.  So... I decided it was time to add a doubler to their nighttime diapers.  Researching commenced.  The result?  FIVE DOLLARS for ONE insert to soak up pee (and those were the cheap ones).  Seriously!?!?

I started doing research into making my own (I am not sewing savvy enough to attempt the entire diaper, but a rectangle of fabric to soak up pee? I can do that).  There are tons of blogs and discussion forums about making diapers, it's kind of overwhelming.  On top of that, most of the women who attempt to make diapers and diaper accessories are real mavens when it comes to sewing.  They have fancy techniques and expensive machines and sergers... all this stuff I don't have.  Then they get into talking about fabrics, which types to use with which foot, what stitch is the right one, top stitch and push out the seams... A whole lot of jargon I really didn't understand.  I did come across some stuff that made sense and stuck with me:

Microfiber: Very common in the cloth diapering world, most AIO's use MF somewhere.  MF cannot be put next to baby's skin, it's too irritating, so it required to be stuffed inside the diaper or some kind of layer over the top.  I've been reading that MF tends to hold on to stink and requires "stripping" to really get the odor out of the fabric.  From my own experience I have learned that I hate stuffing diapers, and MF tends to dry out my hands when I do have to stuff.  I knew right off the bat I didn't want to work with MF...

Hemp:  A lot of the more expensive doublers and inserts are made with hemp fabrics because they're really absorbent, more so than cotton.  It can get pretty pricey, too.  On the Rump-A-Rooz website a 6R soaker made of hemp is $10 each!  I've also read that hemp tends to hold on to smell a little bit, and has a rougher texture (not great to put next to baby's skin).  A better option to me than MF, but I still wasn't sold.  Then I did my research on bamboo...

Bamboo:  Seemed to me to be the best option: doesn't hold on to stink, softer and still more absorbent than cotton.  Based on the research I did there really didn't seem to be any downside to bamboo.

I was pretty disappointed that most bamboo inserts were only two layers of bamboo and had MF sandwiched in between.  I mean, didn't that negate one of the reasons for using bamboo?  I found some options that were just bamboo, but those started around $8 each!!  So I decided to make my own, Kevin and I had just bought a sewing machine as our Christmas gift to each other.  I found some bamboo fleece on Amazon and I was ready to sew...

Now... I will start out by saying that I am a beginner on the sewing machine.  I'm not even considering this a tutorial, it's just proof that I did it.  It's super simple, super basic, but it works and saved me money.

First thing I did, WASH THE FABRIC!!  I'm using this as a diaper material, so it's extremely important to wash it like everything else relating to my diapers.  I did a hot wash, no detergent and dried on the high heat setting.  It was only one wash, but I washed again after sewing and before use, so they were prepped enough to use.

Ok, once washed I did a light iron, just to get some of the big wrinkles out.  I folded it so that I had 4 layers that were as long as I wanted the inserts (about 12 inches long).

 Then I cut the width to the size I wanted, these are approximately 5 inches wide.  It's not perfect, I didn't use a straight edge.  My kids are going to pee in them... they don't need to be pretty.

 I opened up the fabric so it was only two layers

 I did a zig-zag stitch around the entire perimeter of the insert

 Once I was done with the zig-zag I folded it in half.  The edges tend to wrinkle a bit, as the fleece does have some stretch to it... but again, it doesn't need to be perfect, it's going to get peed on.

I did another zig-zag stitch across the fold in the middle.  Now it's a 4-layer bamboo fleece insert that butterflies in the middle.  I chose to do a few inserts this way after I made a few inserts that were regular old 4-layers.   

These are my 4-layer inserts... I just did a zig-zag stitch while it was folded in fourths.  They've been used about a week now and have been washed 4-5 times.  They're holding up great!

I like the idea of butterflying the insert so that it reduces drying time, but requires no extra work on my part once it's out of the dryer.

So that's it... DIY Bamboo doubler.  I add one of these to a BumGenius Freetime diaper at night and haven't had a single drop of liquid outside the diaper come morning (and that's after a full 12-hour night!).  I've already made 10 inserts and still have enough fabric to make some more if I want to.  I spent a total of $30 on 2 yards of fabric, and I consider it a great deal!