Friday, April 2, 2010

A Word on Cloth Wipes

I have been asked a few times recently, if I personally use cloth wipes. The answer is yes, absolutely! Well, I personally use them for a few things like washing my face before I go to bed at night. Mostly I use them on my 15 month old son.

Warning here- if you do not want to hear about poop in any way, shape or form please stop reading! I will be mentioning it in this post ;)

When I first started cloth diapering I had no idea that cloth wipes existed. This is back when I was using Bum Genius 2.0s and thought fitted diapers were pointless! How things have changed...

We used disposable wipes for quite a while. They are easy, quick and convenient. Then I thought of all the money we were still spending on wipes! Even though we bought them in big economy boxes, that is still an avoidable expense right? I decided to make some and give it a try. It only took one diaper change and I was immediately hooked. Now, my son has just turned 15 months old- he is not a newborn, no longer breastfed. As you can imagine this does not make for pleasant diaper changes! My three year old is also still in diapers overnight, and occasionally she will have a mess in the morning. Not so often anymore thank goodness!

What I hadn't realized before was how easy cloth wipes are, and most of all, how much better they work! You would be amazed, it usually takes me one wipe to clean up a poopy toddler diaper. Sometimes two, but never more than that. I love my wipes with flannel on one side and bamboo terry on the other- I recommend this to my customers and usually stock wipes like this in my store. Flannel/terry wipes are so nice because both sides are great at cleaning up messes! I do not really recommend the fancy schmancy velour wipes, in my opinion they just do not work quite as well. Get yourself an OBV blanket to enjoy instead ;)

So how does one go about using cloth wipes? Very very simple my friends.
First of all you should probably have a wipes warmer. Now, this is not necessary but very helpful! I highly recommend the Warmies Wipes Warmer by Prince Lionheart.

This is the first wipes warmer I have seen that is made specifically for cloth wipes- and it comes with a starter back of bamboo terry wipes! Kudos to Prince Lionheart!!
In case you were wondering their wipes are extremely soft and nice, just a little bigger than my personal preference. I still use them for sure though!

Anyways. All you have to do, is fill up your bathroom (or kitchen) sink with hot water, and squeeze a little bit of Johnson's baby shampoo in there. Or whatever baby shampoo you're partial to- but expensive wipes solution is definitely not necessary. Wring out a little bit of the excess water, fold each one in half and place them in the warmer- that's it, you're done!
I keep my warmer in the bathroom next to our changing pad and wetbag hanging on the door, that way I can throw the dirty ones right in the wetbag and do them with the diaper laundry.

Some wipes I just made the other day for Phineas


To see all the Flannel I have available go HERE
For coops I also allow knit print wipes but no specific prints, just boyish/girlish or gender neutral and I'll surprise you!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring Cleaning, more diapers and...a tornado?

As I sit here watching the Amazing Race (late, I DVRd it) I keep getting interrupted by emergency weather announcements. Apparently there is a bad storm coming through with the possibility of a tornado and some hail. LAST time a tornado was supposed to come through we lost power at about 10 PM, so we decided just to go to bed. The next morning on my way to work I found that the tornado had gone straight through the town and right past our house! The sign on the fire department was torn off, there were trees in the road and people were hauling junk to the curb.

Anyways, hopefully nothing like that happens tonight. I just finished uploading the pictures of the Pure Luxury OBV for this week, tomorrow I will upload the newborn Pure Luxury, as well as the Tickety Bu regular size Spartans.

I played around with a new stitch and I just LOVE how the rainbow turned out!

I was planning on having  some prints to stock on Monday as well but that just didn't end up happening. We did some major spring cleaning this weekend, and I'm in the midst of re-doing the kids room. My daughter's bed rails to convert her crib finally got here (three months!) and we got a great deal on a mattress from craigslist. I also had some customs I needed to get done and out the door before I start sewing for the next co-op, so with all that going on I was lucky to get any diapers finished for the stocking at all lol!

I will be stocking a few regular and newborn print diapers on Wednesday, the 31st at 7 PM EST. I have a few new prints, and some getting harder to find favorites. A few really cute boyish prints in the plans for this week!

As always, I would love to hear from you- feel free to comment, I love to hear feedback and ideas from customers :)

-Katie


Sunday, March 21, 2010

March 22 Stocking, a few words on fit, and some rambling

I plan on using this blog for stocking updates, pictures, and other news. I will be updating very often, so check back to see what's going on at TRT!


First thing, I am stocking tomorrow (Monday) at 7 PM EST (hyenacart time).
I am so excited because I have something brand new, the Pure Luxury OBV Spartan! I actually have a customer to thank for this idea- she wanted to spice up the Spartan, and who can blame her? Plain white works so well, but it can get boring. I also could not have done this without my new and super awesome sewing machine. It is SO NICE not having to fight tooth and nail to get a machine to do what I want it to do!


Here are some pictures- and don't worry, the previews of the wipes will be up tomorrow. Sock Monkey anyone?
                                                             Pharaoh



Majesty

                               


And of course we have this cutie: 

                                

I don't usually do auctions, but this fabric is VHTF, and it didn't come cheap! So you decide how much you want to pay ;)


Now, I wanted to say something about the fit of the diapers. I have had my store open for almost a year now, so naturally there have been improvements and adjustments along the way. When I got my new sewing machine in late January, I was finally able to perfect my pattern! If you tried my diapers before, especially more than a couple months ago, and didn't like the fit...you should give it another shot!

Some improvements that have been made:
Longer wings (this was one of the first things)
Trimmer crotch (now less than 5", a good way to tell if you have an "old style" or not!)
Contour soakers (and yes, all my soakers snap in)
STRETCH! 
    -I have developed a great system to ensure ultimate stretchiness. And don't worry, I'm still using the all natural and organic materials that you all know and love!

Here are some pictures that a wonderful customer all the way in Norway took for me, and has generously agreed to share! These are the new fit, you can see how trim they are!

















In other exciting news:

I am now stocking at Crunchy Congo on hyenacart! There are a few diapers in stock right now, both regular OS and newborn OS

I have a wonderful collaboration going on with one of my favorite fellow HC WAHMs, Tia from Julibeans. She just opened a new store for Waldorf dolls and natural toys!

You can also find my doll diapers at Bamboletta, which I am just so excited about :) We are Bamboletta doll lovers around here, and I made my first doll diaper at the request of my three year old daughter


Feel free to leave comments, I love to hear customer feedback!

See you at the stocking tomorrow :)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Co-op Information

Retail Pricing

Newborn OS- $18.00
Regular OS- $25.00
Toddler OS- $27.00
Spartan Overnight- add $3.00 to the price above
Pure Luxury- same price as spartan with snaps
Add Snaps single row/snap down rise- add $2.50/$3.50 to price above
Wipes- 5 for $10.00 or 10 for $17.00 (specify boy/girl/GN or choose flannel)
Doll Diapers 2 for $22
Doll Diaper Starter Stash $40 (specify boy/girl/GN for wetbags)



Co-op Pricing (up to $600)
Newborn OS- $16.50
Regular OS- $22.50
Toddler OS- $24.50
Spartan Overnight- add $2.75 to the price above
Pure Luxury- same price as spartan with snaps
Add Snaps single row/snap down rise- add $2.25/$3.25 to price above
Wipes- 5 for $8.50 or 10 for $15.00 (specify boy/girl/GN or choose flannel)
Doll Diapers 2 for $20
Doll Diaper Starter Stash $35 (specify boy/girl/GN for wetbags)


Co-op Pricing (over $601)
Newborn OS - $14.50
Regular OS- $20.50
Toddler OS- $22.50
Spartan Overnight- add $2.25 to price above
Pure Luxury- same price as spartan with snaps
Add Snaps single row/snap down rise- add $2.00/$3.00 to price above
Wipes- 5 for $7.00 or 10 for $13.50 (specify boy/girl/GN or choose flannel)
Doll Diapers 2 for $18.50
Doll Diaper Starter Stash $32.50 (specify boy/girl/GN for wetbags)

Pure Luxury Overnight stitching colors/style
PL diapers are OBV outer and inner with decorative stitching and multicolored snaps

                                  


Available Inner and Outer Fabrics
Bamboo Velour (natural color only)
Bamboo Fleece (natural color only)
Organic Cotton Fleece (natural color only)

Colored Cotton Velour (see gallery for colors)
http://picasaweb.google.com/thepinkleprechaun/CottonVelourColors#

Knit Prints (see gallery)
http://picasaweb.google.com/thepinkleprechaun/CoopFabric#

For Wipes
-choose boy/girl/GN and I will give you an assortment of knit prints
-choose fabric from my flannel gallery
    -Moda sock monkey fabric will give you an assortment of 5 different prints
http://picasaweb.google.com/thepinkleprechaun/FlannelAllSockMonkeyComesInSetsOf5DifferentPrint
-Also please specify what backing- I prefer bamboo terry, bamboo fleece (fleece side out) is available as well as flannel

Diaper Construction
OS-
Outer- your choice
Hidden- Bamboo fleece
Inner- your choice (bamboo fleece is most popular)

Spartan Overnight-
Outer- Bamboo terry is recommended, if you choose knit remember that you are losing one layer of absorbency
Hidden- Bamboo Fleece
Inner- Bamboo Fleece

Elastic-
I use professional grade diaper maker polybraid elastic that is guaranteed long lasting

Soaker Styles


Contour:
-Topped with OBV, sewn in quick dry style
-Snaps are underneath on the second layer so they don't touch baby's skin
-Available with or without Zorb. Non-Zorb soakers will be substituted with extra bamboo fleece

Trifold
-Two layers of bamboo fleece and hidden strip of Zorb in the middle
-Snaps in center for easy folding and stability
Spartan trifold
-includes snap in doubler for extra overnight absorbency. I can make a contour spartan soaker with two layers of Zorb instead of one if you prefer.


Snaps




One Row


Snap Down Rise


Triple Layer Wipes
Photos to come- may chose flannel from my gallery or specify boy/girl/gender neutral for knit prints.
I use bamboo terry as the other side of the outer, the inner is absorbent bamboo fleece.


Doll Diapers
Bamboo fleece inner, knit print outer, made to fit traditional style Waldorf dolls, Bamboletta 15" or 18" and 12" "baby" style waldorf dolls.






Doll Diaper Starter Stash
Includes:
-1 hanging pail wetbag (not waterproof, pretend only)
-1 wipes wetbag
-2 doll diapers (your choice outer)
-3 doll wipes (you choose knit or velour front, terry back)

Some examples of diapers and action shots