DIY Cloth Diaper Inserts

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When I first started cloth diapering Cakey, I realized it would be pretty easy to make my own inserts for her diapers. This would give me more diapers but would save me from having to shell out more money for them. Making your own DIY Cloth Diaper Inserts is pretty simple. All you need is a few layers of absorbent material.

I did some research and discovered you can use just about any kind of material like wool or cotton to make the inserts. I decided to use old 100% cotton T-shirts, 100% cotton receiving blankets, 100% cotton old towels, and tri-fold cloth diapers that I found way too bulky to use when folded in a diaper.

DIY Cloth Diaper Inserts

The bulky tri-fold diapers I cut into thirds. For my cloth diaper inserts, I used 1/3 of the tri-fold diaper for the middle and a piece of recieving blanket for the top and bottom. When I ran out of receiving blankets for the outer layers, I used a double layer of t-shirts for the top and bottom. When I finally ran out of the tri-fold diaper pieces, I used a double layer of towels for the middle.

If you are only using only t-shirts you’ll need a minimum of 6-8 layers to make a single cloth diaper insert. The same would be true for the receiving blankets. If using towels or terry cloth only you would need a minimum of 3 layers for a single cloth diaper insert.

Supplies:

• T-shirts, receiving blankets, old towels, etc
• Newspaper
• Scissors
• Tape measure
• Pen/pencil
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine and thread

Directions:

1. If you have a current insert you can trace it on newspaper. My pattern measured 6 inches wide by 13 inches long in a rectangular oval shape.
2. Lay the pattern on a piece of cloth and cut out the insert.
3. Repeat on the remaining materials.
4. Layer the pieces of the inserts together and pin them to hold them together.
5. Sew all around the insert edges to seal them.
6. Sew a line or two down the middle of the insert to make sure everything stays in place.
7. Repeat on remaining inserts.

Making DIY  cloth diaper inserts was so easy-peasy. I love how simple and pretty they turned out to be. So functional and a great way to reuse old T-shirts and towels. I ended up with about 4 dozen inserts for an afternoon of work.