rostitchery

i feel brilliant

for a long time, i've been pondering the problem of pocket diapers.  specifically, how to make stay-dry pocket diapers out of some non-pocket covers that i have.  it finally occurred to me overnight, and i am hereby officially declaring myself the inventor of this idea.  :)

basically, i made loose pockets.  i made bags out of some powerdry, and stuffed them with microfiber towels.  they lay in the diaper like a doubler.

these work GREAT!!!  they keep the wetness away from ella's skin, they come apart completely for quick and thorough washing and drying, and they don't take any time at all to make.  i made a complete set of 24 in about 20 minutes on the serger!

they also solve a problem i've heard other mamas mention:  they can't find white microfiber towels.  i couldn't find them either, but now i don't have to worry about it, because the blue towels don't show thru from inside the diaper.  and talk about trim--these are almost as thin as a paper diaper! 

the one caveat--for me, at least--is that the cover needs to be soft inside if you use loose pockets on their own, because a lot of the cover will be touching the skin.  i have some covers that i made from procare, they are soft on both sides, so no icky-sticky PUL rubbing on ella's skin.  i think i could even be persuaded to make some fleece covers now--when it isn't 100+ degrees here.  :)

i'm going to make another set for overnighters, so that i can use two towels in the pocket.  but for now, i'm basking in the glow of success.

the pockets took about 2 yards of powerdry, so for the SRC i'll count that as 2 points, and the microfiber towels are now in circulation--as opposed to a simply decorative use  :)  --so that is 24 points, and then there are the covers i couldn't use before because they weren't pockets--let's just make it an even 30 points.  not bad for 20 minutes of work.  :D

kick starting a new SRC

on one of my favorite forums, someone posted a declutter challenge for this week, and as soon as i read her post i knew what to do:  time for another stash reduction contest!

i'm going by the same point system i used last year:  name your own points.  anything in the stash counts--fabric, notions, patterns, trims--if it is in the stash, it counts.  you award points for whatever you do that gets the stuff out of stash and into circulation--it can be based on the number of yards you use, the size of the item, the age, etc.  as long as it is something countable, it is pointable.  :)

so--newly energized, i attacked my sewing room, and i donated to a local non-profit: 40+ yards of fabric, 50+ patterns, a big box of sewing notions (thread, ribbon, buttons, etc), and a swing-needle machine with all the accessories. i'll give myself a point per yard of fabric (40 points)--a point per pattern (50 points)--let's say 25 points for all the notions--and i'll take 100 points for giving away a perfectly-good machine that i actually rather liked but never used.  that's 215 points--a very respectable start!

you will notice i even managed to make room for a quilt inspector station.  :D  QI's are stash at my house, but there aren't enough points in all the world to make me reduce THAT stash.