I have recently been inundated with pregnant people, it seems. And because I’m me, I’ve started adapting to this by taking on more projects than one woman could possibly need to add to her to-do list. Nevertheless, I am VERY excited about one of my projects – a changing pad. I made one several years ago as a kind of test-project. When I first had my sewing machine and was trying to see what odd things I could sell, I made a super simple one (that frankly I’m not that proud of). So, as is the way one does, I found a cute little tute on Pinterest. Lucky for me, I’d already bought about 5 yards of coordinating prints upon finding out my “workstie” (that’s work-bestie in Carissa-speak) was expecting.
This project was a complete beast. I didn’t take pictures throughout (I know, I know, poor form), but honestly it wasn’t pretty. You think I’d know better when tackling a new project…
Anywho, I started from this tutorial and followed the tutorial pretty much to the letter. I did learn along the way that I need to practice with fold over elastic (FOE) more, as it didn’t really seem to work well by the time I attached the top side.
What you don’t see a picture of is the pocket panel I did the first time. I didn’t catch all the fabric in the elastic, spent an hour trying to take it off, gave up and started over. You wouldn’t believe how much mesh I went through with this – especially since I accidentally cut my pleat when squaring the sides and had to cover up the slice with extra mesh. Pro tip – use a mesh laundry bag from Wal-Mart. I think I spent a dollar or two on over a yard of fabric.
Bonus tip – buy the disposable wipes container as your lid fitting piece. I knew the mom I was making this for would just be using those rather than refilling one, so I bought a big one to make sure it would fit. I also picked up some small packages of diapers from the dollar store to check my diaper pocket.
While I’m not perfectly happy with this, I think it’s a good first effort and I know it’ll get plenty of use.
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