Diaper clutches + tutorials

I'm still here! I'm alive! This cold has been rough, though. It's day 7 and my sinuses won't clear and every morning I feel like I'm going to die, and then I feel better as the day goes on. I have made some progress on the house, so that's good. Still have to finish painting, but hopefully that will get done on Saturday.

So here's the deal with this post...I started on these projects and pictures over 13 MONTHS AGO. Yes. The earliest pictures were from October, 2011. And then I uploaded all these pics to do this post almost two months ago in September (before my life turned into a 3-ring circus). I am very glad to finally be finishing this.

This diaper clutch is by Diapees and Wipees, which are sold for $15 online.

A few years ago, I got a couple of these free in some boxes of Pampers. Isn't the fabric just SO CUTE?? Ha!! (I need a sarcasm font.) The inside is bright yellow. I wouldn't be caught dead! But I thought I could easily hack the pattern and make some myself. Why does a mom need one of these?

Behold, a picture of the actual contents of two of my purses and my church bag, taken in January this year:

 

 I can hear you judging me... Once the holidays over, you should dump out all your bags and see if you fare any better!

 This is how Luke's diapers always looked. Full of crumbs, too, no doubt!

 So I set out to make my own, and my [titanium, no less] scissors broke clean in half!!!! (It was the plastic part that broke, but they couldn't be fixed.) It was not a good omen. It was as if to say, "Your ambitions to make a bunch of these quickly is going to fail and you will still be dithering around a year later." 

Which really happened!

 

 This is the first one I made, and I actually took pictures for a tutorial during it, but the scrap of fabric I had wasn't quite long enough. 

 It still works, but a larger flap allows more to fit inside. I keep this one in my church bag.

I came up with two ways to make these. Method #1:

Cut out front and back pieces for the inside and outside. These can be made out of fat quarters--which are $1 to $2 a piece. You know how much I love fat quarter projects.

Put right sides together and stitch around the "U", leaving the tops open.

 Turn cover right side out and press. Place Velcro piece 1 1/2 inches from lip and sew. Sew opposing Velcro piece about 1/2 inch from top flap.

Leave the inner pouch as is and tuck it into the outer one.

Turn raw edges in towards each other about 1/4 inch and pin.

Stitch very close to the edge all around.

Voilà.  Here it is with a travel wipes case and a few diapers.

 I think I made two of the green leaf ones, which went to my sisters-in-law Monica and Lori, and the yellow one went to my sister Maria.

 

 A diaper clutch with a few diapers and some wipes make a great gift. Those little cases can be hard to come by, but I buy mine at Lin's (Associated Foods).

 For my nephew Cove. :)

 

Sometimes there's enough fabric to make matching burp cloths. Adorable! This was for my great-niece Sara. I'm a great aunt. In more ways than one! Haha..

  I paired this one with a flannel blanket I made (just serged around the edge) and also a pearl and garnet baby bracelet I made.

Eventually, I figured out a simpler way to construct them. You have to add a little bit of extra width to the seam allowance. The pattern I will give you is made for this method.

Method #2:

Cut out front and back pieces for the inside and outside.

 

Place Velcro piece 1 1/2 inches from lip on the outer bottom piece and sew. Sew opposing Velcro piece about 1/2 inch from top flap of the top interior piece. I figured out that putting on the Velcro before anything else is sewn is definitely the easiest way to do it.

 

Place right sides together of the front and back pieces, pin and sew, leaving tops open.

Turn inside out and press. Turn raw edges under about 1/4 inch and pin. Top stitch closed.

Now you have two finished pieces. Pin right sides together, sew around the "U", turn inside out and press.

 

Done! Everything magically turns out! 

 Tuck some diapers and wipes inside to give to a friend, or to yourself. 

PS. The elephant fabric is a corduroy I got from Walmart!

 

I paired this clutch with a pink elephant blanket (fabric also from Walmart) and gave it to my friend Jamie.

 I gave this set to my friend Rachelle.

 I kept a couple of these for myself. I need all the organization help I can get!!

 These are wonderful, affordable gifts, and if you're anything like me, you always have a ton of pregnant friends and family members. If this is their 2nd (or 3rd or 4th or 5th...) baby, they probably don't need much, but a diaper clutch like this can be toted around in a purse, kept in the car for diaper emergencies, or be used to store any number of things.

One of these days, I'm going to have oodles of time on my hands and I'm going to make a ton and sell them. But until then, make your own! Here's the template:

 

Back piece. Copy these to your computer and print them, then overlap these two pieces so the lines meet up and tape together (sorry, they scanned in crooked).

 (Upside down) Front piece

 And the best part? My reformed purse!!! I now have a zipper pouch for coupons, my wallet. a diaper clutch (with Pull-Ups and wipes now), and a reusable lunch snack for snacks, because my kids think I'm a walking pantry. This has made it so much easier to keep track of what I have and find what I need. Yay for being organized!