How-to: Old T-shirts Into Prefold Diapers

Before I start the tutorial, I'd like to announce to the blog readers that I am 27 weeks pregnant! It's a healthy, active little boy and he's due April 17. Yay!! Now on to the diapers I made for him...

Ashley is the one who originally introduced me to the cloth diaper revolution. (I wasn't even aware I had a choice) I've done a lot of research on the subject and decided to try out several different kinds before making an investment. One of the most cost-efficient types are prefolds. These are cloth diapers that can be folded and placed inside a diaper cover or even used as a doubler or insert for pocket diapers. I found a great tutorial from fernandfaerie.com on upcycling old t-shirts into diapers. Since my husband's time with the Marine Corps has come to an end, I found us left with piles upon piles (I'm not exaggerating) of olive drab undershirts.

Supplies you'll need for one diaper:

-2 t-shirts

-scissors

-sewing machine

-"snappi-able" fabric (optional)

I started by cutting off the bottom hem and a straight line across from armpit to armpit to create a square.

Seperate the square into 2 separate squares of fabric and repeat with the second shirt so you have 4 squares. Put your squares into stacks of two and fold each in half.

With folded edges toward each other, overlap the two sides so that it creates 3 equal columns of fabric that are 4x8x4 layers thick.

Sew along each center folded edge. If you want to add the snappi fabric, now is the time to do so. I chose to conserve the fabric I got and placed mine as follows.

The final step is to either serge around the edges or you could trim them all to make sure they are even and carefully zigzag stitch. Here is the final product.

For me, this project was virtually free. We already had the shirts available and I spent 3.50 on a remnant fabric for use with the snappis. There's still a LOT left so the amount I used on one diaper was a minute amount of change.

There are many ways to fold and use these diapers and I've found YouTube to be a great source of instruction.

In February, I am taking a class at my local Joann's on making a waterproof cloth diaper cover which is one option to use in conjunction with the prefolds. Stay tuned for a tutorial after I learn how!