Diaper Changing Kits

Peach's birthday is coming up and I thought she might like some additional accessories for her baby, with whom she is semi-obsessed.  However, it's always naked because she can take the clothes off, but can't put them back on, so I knew a new outfit would go unused for quite some time.

She often pretends to change its diaper with my diaper caddy so I decided to try and find a little diaper changing kit!  However, everything on Amazon was soooo extreme.  Too much stuff that would never get used, or included things we already have, which have to be put somewhere, etc. etc. and other scroogey things that show my true colors...

Then it hit me, why couldn't I just make one?  I found this little baby diaper making tutorial and whipped up 4 diapers in no time AND all out of scrap flannel I had lying around.  (see?  there are uses for scraps after all!)  Plus, I got to try out some fun decorative stitches on my new (to me) embroidery machine, so generously given to me by my mother-in-law.  (well, I traded her for my old sewing machine, but I hardly call that a fair trade...)

Now I just needed a mat.  I really winged it and had to trim things and resew a couple of times, and then wished I had trimmed something slightly less in the end... Honestly, it didn't turn out as well as I had envisioned, but I learned a lot and used more scrap fabric AND got to try out my embroidery machine again.

Sadly, it didn't turn out centered.  Still learning...

Once I finished that, I wondered why I didn't own something like this!  Certainly someone with one in diapers and one soon-to-be could use a travel diaper-changing kit-- especially since I lost my travel changing pad years ago on an airplane :(

So, what the heck!  I made one for myself too. :)  Although, I learned my lesson and decided to follow a pattern. :)  I found several different ones and combined a few things, but mostly I followed this.

I had hoped to go to Ross Dress for Less and find a super cute vinyl table cloth for $2 I could cut up, but they didn't have anything I remotely liked and I didn't have time to go check anywhere else.  (Another blog I found got one from Target, for those of you interested...).  So instead, I bought a clear, heavy shower-curtain liner ($4) to use as my vinyl covering for the inside.  (but it would have been really really nice to use a vinyl table cloth-- would have saved time and bulk.)

Other than the shower curtain, I used fabric, button and elastic I had lying around:

I liked this one because the diaper and wipes hang off the side of the changing table and you don't have to take them out to use the mat, like some other travel mats I saw.  Things I learned- perhaps I shouldn't have used home decor fabric because it was just soo bulky with the batting (I used fleece scraps) to turn inside out and then sew.  Next time, I think I would rather treat it like a quilt and sew a binding around the outside- less bulk and more finished looking.

It's hard to tell from my pictures, but I did some "quilting" to hold the layers together- just some diagonal lines between every-other row of polka-dots.  I would do this before the binding, were I to make it the other way.

I also added a little wrist strap- and idea inspired from a different pad.  Hers was cuter because she used a d-ring and clip, but I wanted to use only things I had on hand, so I just sewed it right in the seam.

I haven't had a chance to use it yet, because Jay changed Peach's diaper at church last Sunday, but he said it worked awesome.   Yay!

Total cost for both?  $4 + time (and I have loads of extra vinyl to make others. and I gained valuable experience)  not bad, eh?