Welcome to diaperedcatboy.com
This isn't a guide or tutorial or any kind of step by step but just some helpful info I guess to start with.
So uhhh idk what I have bought to make these includes uhhh
-Sewing machine ~90USD, I have a Brother LX3817
-Serger ~220USD if a cheaper one, mines ~250USD, I have a Singer HD0450S
-Fabric scissors ~6USD
-Rotary cutting blade ~6USD
-Some hand needles ~1USD
-Seam ripper ~1USD
-A shit ton of sewing pins ~5USD(with the ball tip)
-Fabric cutting mat ~32USD, mine is about 24x36", bigger is always better
-Clothes steam iron ~12USD
Aluminum yardstick ~3USD
You can use a variety of fabrics I guess, what ive stuck to mostly is just normal cotton fabric ~3-6USD/yard, for the outisde face of the diaper/backsheet, the inside of the diaper before interface material, tape covers, and pillow.
Some other fabric types can be useful though
-Cotton flannel gives a nice soft feel worn as the interface or backsheet but I think it degrades too fast, it is used often to make baby clothes or blankets so it comes in a lot of baby themed prints and patterns where you can buy it.
-Diaper cloth/birdseye cotton is the interface material I used on my first sewn diaper project, it gives a nicer feel than plain cotton I think but also isnt as pretty over time
-Alova suede ~6USD/yard is some fucking material probably made of 10000% polyester, but it holds up nicely I feel as interface material, and feels pretty nice to wear too.
Where the fuck do I get them? Walmart, and Hobby Lobby mostly.
My Walmart sells some basic cloths, mostly 2 yard precuts of solid colors, and also by the yard rolls of some basic patterns.
The hobby lobby near me and I assume most? has a bigger selection of fabrics by the yard, with some more detailed cotton patterns, flannels and stuff.
The alova suede fabric ive been getting is from Sy Fabrics.
But what about the custom print?
Spoonflower, ~20USD/yard
Youll need some other stuff too.
-Polyfil ~15USD, The most you will want to fit inside this size of diaper is a 50 oz bag, and even that is way too fuckikng much to me, diaper gets too thick lol (???? gay cat baby doesn't like thick pampers???)
Well the reason for that is that it gets too heavy, its too dense, and too hard to use a vibrator in lol, use about like 25-30 oz, and itll still be pretty bulky, cause you to waddle, and feel better, just trust. If you want more make the diaper pillow wider and the diaper all together longer.
-Invisible zipper ~2USD, any zipper can work but invisible looks and feels the best, I get 20 inche wide zippers.
Hook and loop ~10USD, I use rolls that are 4 inches wide.
-1/2 inch (((KNIT)) elastic ~5USD, knit elastic bands do not squash when stretched so they are far better for elastic in a diaper with the way I sew it in. If youre not sure which to get, stretch the elastic and make sure the 1/2 inch width stays a 1/2 inch
To start, make a pattern, you could use any sufficietnly big paper, im too stupid to figure out whats best, so Ive used 2 pieces of floppy poster board taped together to create one half of my pattern.
For the base pattern I used an ABU diaper for reference on general dimmensions, tracing the wings on them but improvising the middle of the diaper. My pattern is 32 inches wide by 50 inches long, with a 20 inch inner area. When using a serger add 1/4 inch of allowance to eache edge of the pattern.
For the interface/pillow core, idfk I just made it up, you can be very simple making a 16inch wide 50 inch long rectnagle, or what ive done recently is make it 16inches wide, but take away 5 inches from the front half of the diaper and 4 inches from the back with the ends of the interface getting about 2 inches wider at their sides... its complicated but I will insert a picture down below.
I then take all fabrics and run them in the washing machine with the temperature and soap and shit I intend to always wash them with, excluding hook and loop , Polyfil, and zipper. I run my machine with cold water. You shouldnt need to sew up the edges of the fabrics unless youre afarid the fraying might get too intense, ive not had that problem yet personally since I dont get too close to the edges of my fabric cuts
Once the fabrics are washed, I get the first layer of fabric, backsheet or inner layer, and iron it out on a large surface, just trying to get rid of as many wrinkles as I can. I then add the next layer, print upside down, and iron that out. For a generic repeating design I used the half pattern, and for that I took the 2 layers of fabric, carefully flipped them over halfways and tried my absolute best to flatten out and iron down the fabrics, so the half pattern could line up with the edge of that flip. I then pinned the pattern down to the fabric with some heavy objects, such as random cinderblock rubble in my garage, then cutting them out with the rotary blade. My cutting surface is a plastic folding table from walmart, terible idea please just get a bigger sewing mat, the blade dulls after 2 diapers on the plastic lol.
For a custom printed design, the pattern is the print, so its braindead simple what to do there, just pin the designs corners and cut carefully after ironing out the layers :3.
For the interface material, I use 2 Layers, one cotton, one alova suede, ironing out the suede first CAREFULLY, polyester melts at high temps on an iron, so a lower setting or just pressing lightly and not for long at all on the normal setting for cotton is fine to my knowledge. I add the layer of cotton on after iron that out carefully too, and do the same process as the pattern for the non custom diaper backsheet.
Now with the fabrics cut, I take the interface layer, and serge all of it but the edge on the backside of the diaper, flip it inside out, and then sew in the invisible zipper, for this I measure the width of the unserged area, cut off the excess using flush cutters or a pair of scisors you dont mind dulling and fucking up, I then unzip the zipper, moving the metal bit somewhere for now. I take one half and sew that into the the bottom of the interface material, against the cotton layer. Make sure the invisible zipper will close the correct way before you sew it on this may take some brain power to think of what youre gonna do. For the second half, I sew the bottom side of the zipper down onto the cotton of the inside face. Lined up with the interface zipper. With the zipper sewn on, take the metal bit, and fuck around for an hour until you figure out how to get it back on, once its on, take a hand needle with thread and close off the open end of the zipper, look up how to close off a zipper on youtube lol.
Now for the backsheet/printed half, its pretty simple, I just take the 4 inch wide loop tape/soft side and sew that on to the front of the diaper 2 inches from the top/in the middle of the wings.
with both sides finished, face both sides inwards, and pin them together, now when serging, start from the back side of the diaper, or front, or a wing idc, pick one to leave open for later to flip inside out, and start serging, with the pritned layer facing up to you (inside out of course though). When you get to just about an inch above where the wings begin to curve out from the middle of the diaper, get ready for pain. Stick the elastic under the needles above both layers of fabric, and serge a bit to get it locked in. now pull as tight as you can on the elastic, and same on the other end of the fabric coming out of the serger, youll need to fight the elastic, pulling it taught the whole time as you serge to the other wing. Practice this before hand on scraps or find a better way because it fucking sucks and I feel like im doing it super wrong :3. After both sides have elastic and youve reached the other end of the diaper, stop serging and leave open one bit to slip it all inside out, with the open ends just tuck them in about a quarter inch and sew it shut.
now for the tapes finally, cut out 8x4 inches of 2 layers of fabric, or any other size youd like, as long as the diaper is gonna fit your waist (im fat :3). do the whole serging process again for the cosmetic part of the diaper tapes, now cut out 2 4x4 inch squares of both hook and loop. I like to use a zigszg stich to hold these two halfs together, you can also just only use the hook tape and no loop if youd like. with the now 4x8 inch hook and loop, pin the hook side to the tape, leave the loop side unpinned, and fit the tape onto the diaper with the cosmetic cloth side on top of the backsheet and hook below that, then pin them together, feel them with your fingers to get a decent pin. with everything pinned, just start sewing the hook and loop and cloth of the tape all together to the diaper. I like to stitch around the whole cosmetic area once, then over those stitches again, then I sew over the middle where the zigzag stiches from earlier were added, sewing that into the backsheet to increase the strength since the zigzag will fail by itself. repeat this all for the second tape
That should be the diaper lol, stuff it with poly fil and wear it :3
All tools ~376USD
Fabrics assuming printed and cotton at like 3USD/yard ~49USD
Non fabric bits like zipper and polyfil ~32USD
Total before taxes ~457USD
I may be missing a few bits in that total but its roughly that :3, tools only need to purchased once, well youll want replacement blades sometimes, or a refil of pins, thread and such. if you wanted to make more of these pamps for friends or yourself or fun that can help you justify cost, or if you already have machines and stuff thats even better.
Here is my backsheet design, and a blank backsheet, and a .psd of both.
If you utilize my own backsheet design or template in some way just dont go crazy with it and give credit, dont claim it as our own and pass on the knowledge :3
Here is the .psd file :3 :33
Here is that, but with no text :3 :33
The backsheet images are scaled and at a resolution ready to be printed by Spoonflower, as a continuous 2 yard design, at 150dpi. When you make your own backsheet keep this resolution in mind when finishing up.
I used all free and open source programs when doing this.
-Inkscape for vector image creation, to make the backsheet design.
-Krita for raster image creation, to get the backsheet in a printable state.
-Arch Linux hhey hey hey guys did you know I use Arch btw?????>?>?/1/1/ :333333333????!!!/!?!?
If youre gay you can substitute Inkscape and Krita for the Adobe counterparts, though both are free, work on windows, and just as good smh smh.
Ferix Dog, for answering some early questions I had about their own process and materials, and the general brain rotting idea of irl poofy diapers
God, for cursing me with this love of diapers
