Piddle Pads

This was the first piddle pad. It has fleece on the top from JoAnn's remnant bin, a cut-up towel in the middle, and vinyl like would be used for an outdoor tablecloth on the bottom. The fleece is to keep the baby feeling dry-- it "wicks," or takes the moisture from the top and away. The towel is to hold the moisture-- it acts as a soaker layer. The vinyl is to keep the moisture away from the floor. It is bound with old boxing hand wraps that I didn't like for boxing class. To make it, we (Aron helped with this one) quilted the materials together, then added the binding afterwards. We did it upside-down so we could follow the lines of the vinyl pattern. It has been a great play mat because the vinyl is heavy and makes the mat stay in one place (this worked until the baby got mobile! oh well). It did not work as an under mat for sleeping because the vinyl smells funny and doesn't breathe.

This mat is a sleeping mat. It is fleece, then terry, then PUL. PUL is a breathable waterproof material that is commonly used in cloth diaper-making. This was made in two stages-- one to sew the fleece and terry together, and one to add the PUL. The PUL is rolled over the top and sewn from the top. This looks nice, but makes for a hard edge when sleeping on top of it.



This mat is also a sleeping mat. It is made of fleece, terry, and PUL. This fleece is quilted together from scraps from other projects. It was made in two stages as well. The first stage was to sew the fleece and terry together using a turn and topstich method. The second stage was to add the PUL. To do this, I ironed a hem onto the PUL (it sticks to itself when ironed). Then I sewed it just inside the edge of the other piece. It works, but would be better if the waterproofing went all the way to the edges! But it is nice to sleep on, and doesn't hurt when you end up rollong onto it in the middle of the night-- the edge is nice and smooth.

If you are thinking of making a piddle pad, you need three layers. Fleece works well as the wicking layer, as would microfleece or suedecloth. The absorbant soaker layer could be terry, flannel, or Wazoodle makes a fabric called Zorb which is highly absorbant and thin. The waterproof layer could be PUL or vinyl or anything else you could think of. Sleeping pads tend to be smaller than play mats or naked time mats. It helps to quilt the mat so the soaker doesn't move around. Ideally, you would quilt it before sewing the absorbant layer on, since seams often compromise the waterpoofness of waterproof materials.

Since making these mats, someone showed me this website. They make cheap pads, and their seconds are supposedly quite nice: http://www.ezwhelp.com/BuyUsedWhelpingPads.htm.

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