Elastic Story

Seperti yang sudah saya rencanakan, bahan2 yg sudah dipotong untuk trainer Trimsies dibawa ke mertua. Mesin jahit saya, Selecline, masih suka ngambeg. Jadi saya memanfaatkan liburan di mertua dgn meminjam mesin Singer bu-mer.

Awalnya pingin jahit yang bahan outernya katun ijo itu. Tapi akhirnya berubah, ke bahan fleece, karena pingin duluan bikin Quick Trainer (itu istilah di panduan pattern Trimsies). Ternyata, dengan keterbatasan kemampuan saya menggunakan mesin jahit, plus beberapa faktor lain, si bahan Quick Trainer ngga jadi2 walaupun saya sudah menjahitnya lebih dari dua jam.

Macetnya di bagian penjahitan elastik. Jenis elastik yang saya beli itu latex. Dibeli di satu toko online keperluan seputar popok kain. Kayaknya di Perancis, jenis elastik ini cukup banyak beredar utk membuat popok kain. Tapi kenapa jarum mesin jahitnya ngga mau ya... Tiap saya coba, selalu benangnya ngga ngiket. Alhasil, elastik bolong2 kecil kena jarum. Saya tes berulang utk menjahit ke bahan lain, bisa. Kenapa ya...

Ribet dengan urusan sahur dan berbuka di rumah mertua, kemudian urusan2 lain, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk tidak melanjutkan project tsb. Tapi tetap saya ingin cari tahu kenapa oh kenapa si elastik seperti itu. Di situs ini dan ini, kelihatan baik2 saja, terjahit dgn sukses. Di link sini juga idem (ih, warna pink-nya cakep).

Akhirnya, tekad kuat utk segera membeli mesin jahit baru yg bagusan ber-merk. Bobol tabungan! *ntar kl dapet bonus, gantiin duitnya ya, Pa...* Maksudnya, supaya saya bisa terus coba dan praktek, ngga usah nunggu moment ke mertua. Kesian jg nanti kl mesin bu-mer rusak gara2 saya. Tul ngga... Lagian saya mepet nih, planning toilet training kan summer ini. Summer dah mau kelar euyy...! *red alert*

Hari ini, mesin jahit, belum terwujud. Tekad belinya baru dua hari lalu. Kami blm sempat ke tokonya yg kebetulan beda kota. Sejam aja sih dari sini ke Montargis. Mungkin wiken ini.

Sambil menunggu wiken, ternyata ada another elastic story yang menyebalkan.

Kemarin kutak katik box isi bahan2 menjahit dan saya menemukan FuzziBunz ijo yang PUL-nya udah tewas. Saya ingat bhw elastik-nya FB ini sangat istimewa dan mudah dicopot. Segera saya cabut kedua elastik tsb dari casing-nya. Gembira... Saya ingin menerapkan teknik yg sama. Using that buttonhole elastic with, of course, buttons on my Trimsies trainer.

Habis subuh, saya jahit kancing2 & casing utk trainer menggunakan tangan (handsew). Semangat 45, mumpung hari Kemerdekaan RI. Satu elastik bisa masuk dgn mantap. Keliatan keren. Kancingnya warna-warni, ngga apa lah, ketutupan toh, posisinya di dalam trainer. Saat siap utk memasukkan elastik kedua, saya ngga nemu barangnya. Eh, kemana... Saya bongkar ruangan tempat saya menjahit semi ngantuk itu. Ngga ada. Dicari ke ruangan lain, ngga ada juga. Ajaib. Harusnya kan ngga jauh2 dari elastik pertama. Apa saya pindahin ya?

Mubeng2 seluruh rumah, ngga nemu. Nyoba cari elastik sejenis (ukuran 3/8 inch) di internet, mimpi lo... Di satu forum emak2 US ada yg bilang ngga bakal dapet ukuran elastik itu utk jenis buttonhole. Cuma FuzziBunz kayaknya yang punya.

Ahhh... Memang ngga jodoh sama elastik *mangkel jambak rambut*

Note. It's finally done. See here.

Elastic Story

After 2 years... Trimsies

We've been cloth diapering for more than 2 years. We started when our baby was 10 days old. And she will be 2 years and 4 months old in 4 days. Therefore, I can say that we have been through a lot. At the beginning, I expected that my baby, now my toddler, Estelle would be like her older sister who was free from diaper before 2 years old. Unfortunately, no. Different circumstances, different characters, different me :D

So here we are, still having a close relationship with diapers, especially the cloth ones. And I haven't updated this blog for months since we were occupied with many things, including the moving to a new apartment.

My little girl started to understand about the use of potty and toilet after we made the first trial (see this blog). But she just sat on the potty without having result. There was one morning potty time that gave a pee result and I was so happy. It was when we were still at the old apartment. And then, couple weeks ago, she made a pee in a mini toilet during daycare time. The daycare assistant told me about this. Wow... Surprising... She made it at the daycare. A big thing, right?

We plan to put her into school next year. At that time, she's supposed to be free from diapers. I know we still have time. But me, personally, I am exhausted with this diapering thing. I am tired trying to catch her just only to put on the diaper. I am tired of being patient. I am tired of arguing the same thing every day. I am just... thinking that it's supposed to be finished. Two years of diapering is too much for me. So, we plan another potty training this summer, after our moving and after our holidays.

The problem is, our new apartment is covered with carpet, except the bathroom, the toilet, the master bedroom and the kitchen. So if we stick to the Gina Ford method, I can say, it will be difficult. Considering some accidents that usually happen at the beginning, how am I supposed to clean all of those? We do not have to tool for steaming and cleaning the carpet yet. Only usual vacuum cleaner. Not enough for pee or poop.

I thought, I would need more trainers. Yes, more. So if accident happens, it can be absorbed or protected by the trainer layer. The price for one trainer is quite expensive. Another option, how about secondhand trainers? I checked in eBay and Leboncoin, hm, still expensive. I might need minimum 8 extra trainers. It costs at least 48 EUR for the 8 secondhands. Hm...

Then I remembered that I had some fabrics for making diapers. I never used them because I did not know exactly how to sew with a machine (and my new machine, cheap one, was out of order!). Et voilà! I searched some information at one mailing list of 'sew your own diaper' and I found one recommended trainer pattern. Trimsies.

Cutting the fabrics with my little one around me was difficult. So many distractions (for an amateur like me, that's too much :). Finally I finished cutting for one trainer this morning. It will have layers like this:

• Outer in print cotton
• Inner in fleece
• Soaker in bamboo
• PUL will be put under the soaker

No snap or H/L for the first trial.

* I forgot about the details because I bought all those fabrics in 2009 except the PUL fabric which I cut from one unused diaper (homemade, bought in eBay, bad performance).

One thing that I like from Trimsies pattern: it provides variations. I planned to make the basic one but then because of my limitation, I switched a bit into one variation that is mentioned in the pattern.

I don't know the end result yet. I will try to sew it this weekend at my in-law's house (I'll borrow their sewing machine).

Any comment or suggestion? Allez-y... Silakan...

After 2 years... Trimsies