Turned and Top stitched Diaper

This tutorial will walk you through making a turned and top stitched diaper, with the soaker attached to a ‘hidden’ body layer and tacked on elastic in a casing.

Supply List:

Diaper Fabric (this is a matter of
preference, I used birdseye for the two body layers, cotton jersey print for the
outer layer and super flannel and birdseye for the soaker (2 layers flannel, 4
birdseye)

Sewing Machine Thread

1/4 Elastic (or the size you prefer)

Snaps or Hook-N-Loop (Aplix, Velcro, Touch
Tape, etc.) if you’d like closures on your diaper

Step One:

First, cut out all the pieces of your diaperand soaker.

For this diaper, you will need one innerbody layer, one hidden body layer, and one outer layer. The number of layers inyour soaker will depend on your personal preference. The diaper I am making will
be for a newborn, so the soaker is pretty light.

Here is a picture using a ‘half’ patternplaced on the fold of the fabric to create a symmetrical diaper when cut out,and a second picture showing all the body pieces of the diaper (2 of birdseye,and one of jersey knit print):

Step Two:

Stack up your soaker layers, and finish the edges either by serging (as shown in ‘How to sew a serged side snap diaper’), or sewing with a zig-zag stitch around all four edges.

Center your finished soaker on your ‘hidden’ inner diaper body layer. Pin through all layers to secure the soaker, and straight stitch around all four edges (as shown in ‘How to sew a serged side snap diaper‘).

Step Three:

This is the trickiest step because it’s important you get your layering right!

Place your inner and outer diaper layers
RIGHT sides together (these are the layers that will be on the very outside of
the diaper, and the inside against your baby). Lay them down with the inner
layer on top.

Now, place your hidden diaper layer, with
attached soaker facing ‘up’ on top of the inner diaper layer.

You should now have a ’sandwich’ of layers,
that goes… outer layer (with wrong side facing out), inner layer, hidden layer
with attached soaker facing out).

Once you have your layering correct, pin in
several locations to keep the layers from shifting.

Starting at the front of the diaper, about 2
inches from the center begin straight stitching about 1/4 inch from the
unfinished edges of the diaper. Continue all the way around the diaper, until
you reach the front, again stopping about 2 inches from the center. This will
leave you with a 4 inch opening at the front of the diaper to turn it right
sides out.

The pictures below are of both sides of the
‘diaper layer stack’.

Wrong side of the outer jersey print:

Hidden inner layer, with attached soaker
facing out. The inner layer of the diaper that will be against baby is
sandwiched between these two layers!

Picture showing stitching around the outer
edges of the diaper:

Step Four:

Next, cut your elastic for the legs and back
of the diaper. The length of the elastic will depend on the diaper pattern you
are using, and how tight you’d like the elastic to be. For my pattern, I use the
following guidelines:

Large: legs – 6 inches :: back- 6.5 inches

Medium: legs- 5 inches :: back 5.5 inches

Small: legs-4 inches :: back 4.5 inches

Securely tack the elastic on OUTSIDE the
seam allowance using a zig-zag stitch at both the starting and stopping elastic
guide marks at the legs and back of the diaper.

This picture shows the elastic firmly tacked
on, OUTSIDE the seam allowance at the starting elastic mark.

Step Five:

Trim your seam allowances, especially around
curves and in between your elastic marks. This will make your curves ‘cleaner’
and your elastic stretch more evenly.

Turn your diaper right sides out. Push all
curves fully out, using a long object like the ends of your closed scissors
helps.

Step Six:

Topstitch, with a straight stitch around
your entire diaper starting with the opening you left for turning. Turn the raw
edges of the opening under, and stitch closed as shown:

You can stitch close to the edges of the
diaper around the front and wings where there’s no elastic, and then ease out to
compensate for the elastic, or just do a wide topstitch around the entire
diaper.

Make sure you DO NOT catch the elastic in
your stitching. If you do, you will have to pull the seam out and start over
because it will prevent the elastic from sliding in the casing and stretching
evenly.

The top stitching around the elastic creates
the ‘casing’ that will hold it neatly in place.

Here is a picture of a narrow stitch around
the wings, widening to make the casing for the elastic:

The finished diaper (which will have snaps
added when I get to it):

Here is the diaper open, as you can see the
inside is smooth and pretty.. this is the benefit of a ‘hidden’ layer. Your
soaker is invisible, and it makes for a very nice finished look. It also adds a
little bit more absorbency, but it also adds another full layer to the bulk of
the diaper.