Homemade gDiaper Insert Tutorial

This post was a little longer in coming than I wanted. The past couple of nights, we've been transitioning Baby D from sleeping with us in the big(ish) bed to slumbering in the co-sleeper. He is literally ONE FOOT away from where he used to be, but the move has transformed him from a baby happily sleeping three- or four-hour stretches into a little guy who is waking up every hour and a half. UGH. So I've been feeling a little zombie-like, and not inclined to blog. But here I am, so let's get started!


Because of my apartment situation, I need two qualities in a soaker: the ability to be cleaned with one wash cycle, and the ability to air-dry well. I also wanted as little bulk as possible. Picky, picky! Most of the tutorials I found involved several layers of an absorbent fabric encased in an outer layer of fleece, which made me a little nervous about both the cleaning and the drying aspects.

So here's the design that I came up with.

Materials needed:

• Fleece
• Microfiber (I used those cleaning cloths found in the auto section at Wal-Mart)
• Scissors
• Thread
• Sewing machine (you could do it by hand; it will just fall apart sooner)

Step 1: Cut the fabric. You will need one 15x7 piece of fleece and four 13x5 pieces of microfiber. I apologize in advance for any eye injuries caused by looking at my fleece. That's just what I had in the closet!

Step 2: Stack all four microfiber pieces on top of each other, then center that on top of the fleece. Pin in place.

Step 3: Mark a line in the middle the top layer of microfiber, lengthwise (2.5 inches from the long edges).

Step 4: Stitch along the line.

Well, that was easy, wasn't it? You now have a new soaker! The microfiber should have a lot of free flaps, for easier washing and drying, like this:

Be sure that the fleece is the part touching baby's bottom. Microfiber will wreak havoc with baby skin!

And, of course, we need a practical demonstration! :-D :-D :-D

The 8-pack of microfiber cloths cost me five dollars, and it yielded four inserts' worth. The fleece, which I dug out of the closet, was free! Final cost: $1.25 --compared to $5 for one gDiaper-brand insert!

P.S. My cousin Rachel suggested also using prefolds as inserts. I tried this out using my small prefolds, and it worked just great! I am jazzed to be able to keep using the prefolds after Baby D outgrows their conventional use; plus, he will continue to have natural cotton against his skin-- that was my one misgiving about using fleece. But I still plan on using these liners for nighttime diapering, because the microfiber is super-absorbent, and the fleece wicks away that moisture from the skin!