Homemade diaper covers

The aforementioned is my latest endeavor. See, the boy outgrew his covers again. It's always in length, never in width, so it's not like you can have the indication of "Oh no, I'm running out of space on the velcro strip to fasten it. Better order some in a size up." No, it's more like you put it on him one day, and realize that the dipe doesn't fit under it without a lot of tucking and maneuvering, and that he's got basically a hip-hugger dipe when you're done. That is what it's like to have a beanpole for a son.

The only pain in the ass thing about cloth diapering is that there are NO in person cloth diapering retailers in any city I've ever lived in, even in El Paso, a city of 2 million people. Nationwide, there are only maybe 20 cloth diapering stores (or regular baby stores that sell cloth diapering products) and most of them are in California. The nearest one to us is in Albuquerque, which is 5 hours away, so there is no going to the store, picking up 4 new Thirsties covers in the size up from what we've got currently, and coming home with them that day. Uh-uh. We have to order the things. (This irks me. More parents would cloth diaper their babies if the REAL, GOOD QUALITY, products were readily available and visible in stores.)

Anyhow, we decided to take a step back from our Thirsties covers, despite them being the best value of the well known brands, and the coolest colors, and buy three covers from a work-at-home mom right here in El Paso, whom my friend Robin told me about while she was shopping for cloth diapering stuff for a friend. I checked out the girl's website, and her stuff looks awesome, and it's cheaper than Thirsties, so we're giving it a shot. We can't wait to get our new covers! They should be made up and ready to go within the next week or so.

Then something occurred to me. If that girl can sew cloth diapers and covers, what the hell is keeping me from doing it, too? I don't want to make them to sell, but I do want to make them for Orren. We need a few more in the size he's into now, and he's going to be one of those rare babies who goes through 4 or 5 sizes before he's potty trained (again, it's because he's so tall. The rise lengths aren't enough for him in the sizes that fit him fine in width.) so we've got probably a dozen more covers to somehow obtain within the next few years. Why NOT make them myself? I'm going to find some PUL online (PUL is the waterproof fabric that they're made of.) and go from there. I've already got a tutorial for how to make the pattern and stuff, so I'm thinking we're going to be DIY cloth diaperers from here forward. It just makes practical sense.