I want to cloth diaper my twins from the very beginning. I’ve scoured all the web boards and one thing I’ve been concerned about is the early days and months — the newborn stage. With two little guys who may need a diaper change 8-12 times a day, I would need 24 diapers a day. So, that’s fifty diapers i need to have on hand so that I only have to do a wash every other day. That’s a lot of diapers! and it could get pretty expensive. So, with nesting urges kicking in, I figured this was a great time to break out the sewing machine.

I found Katrina’s patterns on the web and tried out her soaker shorts. I love them! I hope they contain blowouts and fit my little guys.

Here is what it will look like using two contrasting fabrics:

finished soakers

step 1. first, print out and then cut out the soaker pattern for the desired size. show here is the newborn size.

soaker pattern for newborn

step 2. place the pattern on the fold of the fabric. make sure the fold is going with the stretch of your fabric (from left to right as shown here). You want the cuffs and waistband to stretch and the body of the soaker to stretch width-wise.

place pattern on fold of fabri

fabric is now read to sew. see below.  please note, you will need one more cuff — not pictured here.

fabric now ready to sew

step 3. if you want to add an appliqué, now is the time to do it.  Here is the stars pattern I created on my computer but you can do it yourself and make anything you want.

adding applique

place the star on the right side of the fabric and sew along the edge of the star with your zig zag stitch. when you get to corners, keep your needle in the down position, turn your fabric and keep going. it looks best when you stay on the inside of the color of fabric that is the same as your thread

star embellishment

step 4. next put the wrong sides of the soaker together and sew along each side with your straight stitch.

sewing the soaker sides

step 5. take the cuff that you cut out and fold in half lengthwise. the right side of the fabric should be out so that when you flip the soaker out, you have the right side of the fabric showing on the leg cuffs.

insert cuff in soaker

Then, place on the inside of the hole for the legs on the soaker. (see above).

stretch soaker as you sew

the cuff will be smaller in diameter than the cut out on the soaker for the leg. this is so you can have the cuff act as elastic around the legs. when you sew, simply pull and stretch the cuff so you can make it to the end with enough fabric on the inside.

sewing the cuff

finish the cuff.

step 6. do the same thing with the waistband.  make sure it’s stretched out (i used pins on both my cuff and the waistband to make sure it would fit all the way around).  also, make sure it’s wrong side out (see below)

sewing waistband

stretch waistband while sewing

step 7.  admire your work.

finished soaker