New AI2 Soakers

With the re-launch I'm announcing a few changes that will be taking place with the diapers. One of the main changes is the design of the AI2 snap in petal style soakers.

 

Re-launching Bohemian Baby Couture & Bobaco Bums!

If you follow Facebook you will see that I will be re-launching the company on June 1st, 2013! Following the birth of our baby girl, in January 2013, my husband's company relocated him (and our family) to Montreal, Quebec. With all the changes in our personal life, my business has suffered. Re-launching proved to be a challenge. Many of the companies I used for supplies would not ship to Quebec. After contacting multiple companies and searching locally, I have finally solved that supply issue. The next problem would be to make some changes to the business and to the products I sell.

Here is a breakdown of the changes that will be made in the business;

1. The increase in fabric costs will be causing a slight increase in pricing on all items

2. I will no longer be making the pocket diaper available for sale. I will only be selling the AI2 one size or the AI2 newborn diapers.

3. Customizing diapers is no longer available to customers in the U.S. Customers in the U.S. will still be able to purchase items from me, but it will have to be from items that are in stock in the ETSY store.

4. Diapers will no longer be available for purchase on Hyena Cart. I will be moving all products to ETSY. Instead of having the two storefronts, I have found that it will be easier having all the items in one place.

5. I have made changes to the fabrics available in the AI2 diaper and to the AI2 soakers. A post will be made tomorrow regarding the soaker change and on Monday regarding the AI2 fabric changes.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding while our family made such a HUGE transition!

The Ellis crew!

Newborn cloth diapering: A peek of our little squishy!

As most of you know our little miss was born on October 11th, 2012, after a few rough months at the end of the pregnancy. She made her debut a few days after being released from hospital bed rest. She arrived healthy and perfect and was born at 7lbs 4oz and 19 1/4" long.


Eliana left the hospital weighing 6lbs 11oz and we started cloth diapering as soon as we were home and the meconium poop was out of her system.

Here is a link to the post on how the newborn diapers are constructed

Above & Below pics: Eliana 1 week old -6lbs 11oz

A breakdown of what I made, prior to her birth, for her newborn stash:

12 newborn AI2/Covers (I had made a mix of snap and aplix closure)
1 newborn pocket with mf insert
12 snap-in bamboo inserts- I grossly underestimated the number of inserts I would need, I was doing laundry DAILY with only 12 inserts.  I have since made her more inserts and I do diaper laundry every 2-3 days. I get a nice rotation of the AI2 covers now and use, on average, 3 different covers each day.

Quick note:
**I have been cloth diapering since my son was born in 2010, however, I was only cloth diapering part time when he was a newborn. I was so overwhelmed, as it was my first time attempting to cloth diaper and I hadn't taken care of a newborn in nearly 10 years. I started to full time cloth diaper my son when he was around 5 or 6 months old.**

  Above & below pics: Eliana 12 days old -7lbs 4oz  

My recommendation on your starting newborn stash 

(if you are exclusively using AI2's):

Aplix closure for most of your stash- Nice for quick night time changes and if you are cloth diapering for the first time. Last thing you want to do is fully wake up your newborn because you were fighting with the snaps. A little more than half of Eliana's newborn covers are aplix.  

10-12 diapers(24+ if you don't re-use the cover)- I was told that I only needed a few covers, however my little miss is a big pooper. Since Miss E is exclusively breastfed, her poop seems to get every where when I change her.

24 bamboo inserts**- I currently have 24 inserts to switch out during the day.

6-10 bamboo doublers- Eliana is a heavy wetter and I found that I have to add a doubler at night or during a longer car ride.

**These covers will fit over an infant prefold, I had to dig out some of my son's old prefolds and used them with Eliana when I didn't have all the additional inserts made.


  Above & below pics: Eliana 4 weeks old- 9lbs    

When to transition to "One Size" diapers. 

We started trying out the one size diapers on Eliana around 8lbs 8oz. She was 3 weeks old at the time.

We had the rise snapped down to the lowest setting of the one size diaper and she was able to use it with no issues. Since we have plenty of newborn diapers that fit a little trimmer we are waiting to transition her until she is bigger. However, if you don't mind a bit more bulk in the bum you can rest easy knowing that our one size diapers will fit your little one well before the 10-12lb mark.


  Above & below pics: Eliana 4 weeks old-9lbs

New fabrics available!

It's been a little bit since I have added some new fabrics choices. I've been waiting for something to really catch my eye. I have to say that I absolutely love all of these new prints available!
 

Boy line: 




Girl line:



Enjoy!

Finished Customs

Here are some of my favorites from the past couple of months.



In the right hand column there is now a link to our Flickr album which will show more of the customs that have been completed since Bohemian Baby Couture launched in March of 2011.

Custom ordering: Fabric "Cut" options

When ordering a custom diaper from us, we give you A LOT of options. This post will help explain one of the options you get when ordering a custom diaper, which is fabric cut for the outer portion of your diaper. 


 1. All cotton outer






 
2. All minky outer 







 
3. Two-tone outer (half and half) 

Pictures below show the different options for the two-tone cut.



3a. minky back/cotton front 


3b. cotton back/minky front 




3c. minky back/minky front 



3d. cotton back/cotton front 


4. Border cut outer



Options for the border cut are similar to the different options in the two-tone cut. Most popular option for the border cut is a border cut of cotton and the remaining of the diaper in a coordinating minky.


5. multi color outer
There is an $5 additional charge for the multi-color outer

Finished Customs

Here are some of my favorites from this past week. Check out my facebook fan page for more examples of my custom work.

Love the new look of the photos? Check out this tutorial for making a cardboard lightbox.











Thank you for visiting!

Introducing the "Combo" Pocket/AI2 Diaper!!

If you are anything like me you have struggled with what type of diaper you like the best, pockets or AI2's. Some days I LOVE pockets and other days I LOVE AI2's. I have been trying to figure out a way to combine both. After a customer requested something like this I realized that I was way over thinking what I initially was going to do. All I need to do is add a snap to the pocket diaper. Needless to say I did this and the combo diaper was born( I have since added the hidden back snap to all of Parker's pocket diapers.)

**A quick note: I will still be offering the standard pocket or AI2 for sale. This will be an additional product to our diaper line.**



I'm big on providing quality products at affordable prices, so I had to figure out way to keep costs down. The microfiber can't be used next to baby and making a customer buy two different types of inserts so they could use this made it costly. I decided to top the standard microfiber insert with cotton velour. Now the insert can be used both stuffed in the pocket or laid in the diaper.

I will also offer the option of using our standard bamboo insert or the "New" super soaker insert(I will be showing more details of the new insert in the next blog post.)




Shown above is the New "super soaker." It is made from top layer of cotton velour, 3 layers of bamboo fleece and 2 layers of french terry for a total of 6 layers. When folded over you will have 10 total soaker layers(not including the velour.)There is also a double snap on the back to add on additional soaker layers.



To use as a pocket diaper, just fold the insert to the length you are wanting and stuff in the diaper. You can keep the insert loose or take advantage of the snap when using the diaper as a pocket diaper.



Price list

Combo/AI2 diaper:
only adding snap to pocket: $16
microfiber insert topped with cotton velour: $18
standard bamboo insert topped with cotton velour: $18
new bamboo/terry insert topped with cotton velour: $20

Featuring the pocket diaper

One question that customers ask me all the time is, "Does my little one use the diapers I make?" Absolutely! I love using the diapers I make. They honestly are my favorite. Maybe I'm a bit biased, but we have many different brands of diapers and I always pick my own first before any others.

We offer 2 different types of cloth diapers the AI2 and the pocket diaper. Today I wanted to give you a little information about our pocket diaper. This style diaper was first diaper I ever sold.


Features of a OS pocket diaper:
-Standard OS: approx 8-36 lbs








The pocket also features a hidden layer of PUL and generally has a woven cotton or minky/minkee outer.

How to use a diaper with a fold down rise

When I first started cloth diapering, I found it amazing that there were so many different types of cloth diapers. My goal in these types of posts is to at least help you to be able to use the diapers that you purchase from me.

I traditionally make my diapers with the snap down rise. I find that it's easier to use, but it comes down to preference. They are both functional ways to have a one-size diaper. I will use the fold down rise when an embroidery design is requested on the front of the diaper or if a customer specifically requests the fold down rise**. 

**I no longer can add a fold down rise to pocket diapers. The inner gussets make it difficult to add the snaps. I will still embroider on the front of a pocket diaper, but it will have to either have no rise snaps at all or small enough embroidery design so I can accommodate the snap down rise.**

From what I've seen there are two main ways that a company can make a one-size diaper. I'm sure there are a couple others, but these are the two ways I see the most.

1. The snap down rise: This is the rise that I've seen in most manufactured diapers. This is where the diaper will snap down the front of the diaper so you can adjust the rise in the diaper. Usually there are two to three different rise adjustments on these diapers.

2. The fold down rise: This is the rise I've seen in many, "WAHM" or "work at home mom" diapers. I also see this type of rise on most fitted diapers that don't have snaps or Velcro closures. The fold down rise is where you fold down the top-front of the diaper to adjust the rise.

This post is to help you become more familiar with how to use the second type of rise, the fold down rise.

Here is a picture showing the top front of the diaper. This is typically what a fold down rise with snaps looks like. There might be more or less snaps across the front depending on the maker








To use the fold down rise, you basically just fold down the top of the diaper to reveal the inner snaps. This row of snaps is what you will now use to close the diaper.


Close the diaper as you normally would except you will now use the snaps that were revealed when you folded down the diaper.


You are finished! This is how small the diaper can get when using the fold down rise.