Survey part 1

So some of the basic results from the survey:

Most respondents have all sorts of nappies, then pockets are the most popular.

Again most have all sorts of closure, then front snaps. I'm surprised that side snaps are least popular on their own, possibly people try the others before their baby's shape changes, or it may be that most of the workhorse brands (baby beehinds, bumGenius etc) are velcro or front snaps. Even terry flats are snappi-able, so people are obviously spending a lot of money with these sorts of nappies.

For outers, respondents preferred plain for their workhorse nappies, special fabrics for going out, and embellishment for parties, although some wanted invitations!

The things that influenced people when buying are:

1. Reliability,
2. price,
3. longevity,
4. cut,
5. fabric,
6. looks,
7. closure,
8. manufacture,
9. availability,
10. sizing and
11. resale.

Not surprisingly, minkee is the most popular outer (and my US co-op just got a great deal on it!), then velour, prints, and dying. The Aboriginal prints were interesting, you either love 'em or hate 'em. Although it could be more of a case of 'they're lovely but I can't imagine them on my baby's bum' as one person said.

There is absolutely definitely a side snap version coming! Although looking at the above results a front snap/velcro version would be more popular, but this is where the individuality comes in. I'm definitely not going to compete with Baby Beehinds or Itti Bitti, and as I said I think that's what's causing the results. And front snap won't fit my girls and velcro is just plain dangerous, so how could I design a nappy with no models?

I'll discuss some of the comments and do more analysis next time.

The fruits of creativity.

I wrote an earlier post about the creative process, here's the doll I talked about for Widget. I was originally going to put a gathered bag underneath the skirt, but she decided she just wanted a doll.

The advantages of a big fabric stash, that's raspberry slush minkee at the front.

It has to have wings, and the hat is because handsewing hair is painful.
Getting a hug (and it can't be lost!).

Being used!

Minkee!

So I've done a lot of the rearranging and getting things up, I think there are still some descriptions to write and things like the maxi-wraps to put up. I have also got the minkee organised, as well as just straight minkee I have a

Raspberry Cream

Raspberry Slush on the body of the nappy with Cream minkee for the wings.

Grapes and Lavender

Grape variegated minkee on the top and wings with lavender knit fabric for the body.

Red and Apricot

Red minkee on the top and wings with apricot knit fabric for the body.

2nd Collection

Australiana

There's a lovely fabric shop about 5 hours down the road that specialises in Aboriginal prints. They are all done by Aboriginal artists who have the choice of an up front payment or they can take royalties as well, then turned into fabric designs. These are just a few I got when I was there last time.

My time is worth more than bamboo (even velour)

So the thing you have to understand is that I'm mean. Not nasty, and I contribute to various charities, but scrape the last smidgen out of the Homebrand margarine type of mean.

It's one reason I make OSFM nappies - I can't handle the thought of them growing out of them, and my poor little baby is in her sister's hand me downs. (Although the fact that they're going strong after 2 years is good.) She is getting some new ones now, and not only because she's a guinea pig for side snaps.

So making the most use of my fabric is important to me and I keep just about all the scraps, even the tiny ones. That's been good, because several times I've thought of something to use them for later. Unfortunately it can be a false economy too. When I make inserts I've been cutting them all to the same size and trying to overlock around them. It doesn't work, not only are there different thicknesses at different places, some of the fabrics are stretch and some are woven. I always end up with bits that overlapped wrong or bits that didn't get caught, then spend way too much time trying to fix them because I don't want to waste them. I know there is a simple solution, I just haven't brought myself to do it before.

So this time I cut the microfibre layer slightly smaller. Rather than trying to line everything up I just put that one in the middle so there was hemp and bamboo sticking out all around it. Then all I had to do was overlock around the microfibre and all the rest is trimmed. Voila! Everything is caught properly, no fiddly trying to line it all up, no having to redo bits, only one set of threads to weave back in.

Of course next time I'll cut the microfibre bigger (because it's cheaper :)) but this time it was already cut so I couldn't. But saving so much time and hassle was definitely worth a bit of double sided bamboo terry.