Woollies! — Victoria Martinez

I am usually pretty good at packing. Usually I can pack for a week in a carry on and maybe I forget a toothbrush, but I’m not bad.

I was very bad at packing for a trip to my parents’ this week, though, so we had no wool cover for the baby’s nighttime diaper. (Wool is great for stopping leaks!) (and boy do leaks suck in your bed!) Thankfully my mother mom is way too kind so she donated a cashmere sweater that she swears she never wears and wouldn’t miss for the cause of becoming a diaper.

This went straight in the hot wash and hot drier for a quick shrink and felt. Meanwhile, I had pattern prepping to do.

I’m in a wool diaper making group on Facebook and had awhile back decided that I wanted to make the Abigail soaker from that group’s files, so this was the time. I went with the large long for room to grow, although the Abigail also offers a resize it to your measurements option if one had more time on their hands than I did.

I did not know my face would be in this picture of my speed race sewing success.

I was very excited about all of this because my mom got a new sewing machine for Christmas and I was looking forward to trying it out. That said, it was actually using her iron that wowed me. I knew my iron sucked, but damn hers has weight! and the steam button works (mine is truly not a great tool) and it heats up quickly and you can see the settings clearly. Heart eyes emoji.

I think I got the sweater out of the wash at 7 and with the help of my lovely assistant (husband) cutting stray threads and ironing bits, got the diaper done by 8:15 ish so right on time for bedtime.

The design is nice, with generous height for the waistband, a wet zone doubler rather than full lining to reduce bulk, and nicely placed legs. I think the look is quite good as well! And it works - I obviously didn’t have time to lanolize the diaper before testing the diaper but it certainly caught all the little leaks (and there were a couple). Plus, the baby bug now gets to wear dang ol CASHMERE to bed.

Inside out. The double could easily be made from smaller scraps, which I love.

After a few wears I’ve decided that the long size I went with is probably more generous in the rise than we need. This is mostly only a “problem” because I didn’t use a stable knit, or one with great recovery, so there’s some butt-sagging happening. Despite the pattern’s personalize-the-height-and-width option, I think switching to the regular rise would solve it nicely, and be much easier for printing.

Pattern: Abigail soaker (link goes to within the Wool Diaper Makers group)
Size: Large-long
Fabric: 100% cashmere sweater
If there is a next time: Regular rise. Consider recovery for sizing. Easy and functional though!