Repairing Elastics in Baby Beehinds Fitted Nappies

This winter has been pretty miserable for sickness. I've been sick at least twice (there were a few bouts of feeling like I'm coming down with something in addition to the obvious being sick) and most people I know have been ill at least once, some with similar and some with very different symptoms. Bub fortunately escaped relatively unscathed, the rest of us weren't so lucky, and I've been left with this persistent feeling of being behind and constantly catching up. No good. But hopefully getting back on track again.

Meanwhile, I managed to snaffle some well used Baby Beehinds Fitteds with shot elastic for the cost of postage. I'm not big on fitteds because I like having an integrated PUL cover for day use, but I don't mind them for naps because bub soaks through regular day nappies when she sleeps and would need a cover anyway.

Step 1. Prep the Nappies

They were in various states of mending, some partially unpicked, some fully unpicked, and one half mended. So I started off by cleaning up the unpicking and removing the dead elastics. Given the state they were in, I completely unpicked the nappies other than the half mended one to make it easier to overlock. Had they not been partially worked on, I'd have just unpicked where the elastic was. I then gave them a strip and sanitise. These are secondhand nappies after all. Didn't take pictures, but the gathers were spotless after.

Step 2. Sew in New Elastic

The elastics used in these were wider than the cased elastic in my other nappies, so I used 12mm / 0.5" ones instead. Using the old elastic positioning, I measured half that length of the back and sides and cut my elastic. Pinning the ends down, I sewed a straight stitch perpendicular to the elastic to lock the ends down.

Using a triple step zig zag stitch, I then stretched out the nappy so that it was flat, and sewed the elastic down over the old positioning.

Step 3. Overlock to Finish Edges

Switching to my overlocker with the cutter stowed, I then overlocked all around the edge.

And the finished product ready to go. Pardon the colour change. I did the step photos using the pink nappy with purple thread, but this is clearly not that nappy. When I was doing the overlock step, I found my threads kept snapping. In fairness, I just grabbed any old purple thread I had which happened to be cheap embroidery thread and this angered my overlocker. So I continued with the rest until I could buy new purple thread.