tutorial: refreshing the elastic in best bottom diapers

it’s been awhile since i’ve done a tutorial and this one is fairly specific, but i didn’t find any other tutorials quite like this online, so i thought i’d share my solution to saggy elastic on cloth diaper covers.  although we use best bottom diapers, this tutorial would work on any similar diaper covers.  so… if your diapers look like the brown one below:

then your diapers could use some fresh elastic.

you’ll need these supplies:

the ball point bodkin is optional–you could use safety pins–but it’s a really handy tool that makes this job soooooo much easier.

step one:

make a tiny perpendicular incision in each end of the bindings on the legs and the back center of the diaper cover.

step two:

thread a 3-4″ piece of elastic through the end of the bodkin, then insert the ball-end into one of the incisions and pull it through.

step three:

when you get the elastic to the end, sew it with a compact zig-zag stitch both perpendicularly across and then parallel to the elastic.

step four:

pull the bodkin all the way out and adjust the elastic to the tightness you desire, then zig-zag both directions again and trim any remaining elastic away.

that’s a little perkier!  just to be clear, in the brown diaper cover above, the inner gussets had 4″ elastics and the outer gussets had 5″ lengths.  when i compared the finished diaper to the brand new diaper (the green one above), i decided to change the lengths to 3″ and 4″ for subsequent diaper repairs.

that’s it!  i’d love to hear if this tutorial is helpful to you.  i’ve also replaced the velcro on these covers in the past, so if you’d like instructions on how to do that, let me know and i can try to put together a tutorial.