Sew a Fleece All in One with Snaps instead of Aplix

Pattern: Very Basic All in One

Sewing a fleece AIO instead of a PUL AIO is very easy.

Step One: Use your pattern extension lines to cut one body layer of heavy weight fleece instead of PUL. I like to use light weight Windpro® fleece to keep the AIO still fairly thin and trim. Cut your two body layers of birdseye as directed in the pattern.

**You can follow the pattern instructions to make the internal soaker pad at this point – or continue on with these instructions to make your soaker quick drying.

Step Two: Follow the pattern instructions and sew or serge your body layers together matching up the leg areas and leaving the front and back end open.

I made this AIO with snaps instead of Aplix and also made it with a quick drying snap-in soaker.

Step Three: Sew your elastic as directed – sewing to the fleece side. Photo shows the elastic sewn to the leg area on the fleece side.

Tip: Kill two birds with one stone, and serge your elastic into the leg area at the same time you serge the sides shut. This takes practice and may require a special elastic foot on your serger, but saves time in the long run.

Step Four: Continue to follow your pattern directions and sew the back waist elastic between the elastic anchor points through both layers of the birdseye.

This photo shows the leg elastic gathering the leg areas as well as the back waist elastic sewn in.

Step Five: Serge or sew the back waist opening shut. Stitch the front panel on the ends as directed in the pattern instruction sheet.

Tip: Hold your wings together and make sure they’re the same size before turning the diaper right side out. If one is bigger, sew a little until they are the same size. You can do this with the front panel edges as well. Trim excess and turn right side out.

Here’s the shell turned right side out with the front panel & back waist topstitched. My grandmother is a better seamstress than me, so don’t look too close ;o)

See how sewing the elastic to the fleece side of the body layers makes the fleece roll in nicely on the leg areas?

To make your snap in soaker, you’ll need to stretch the back waist elastic and mark your snap placement points. For M and L sizes, I mark the snaps about 3.5″ apart and only a finger space down from the elastic. For S and XS sizes, the snaps should be 3″ apart and a finger space down from the elastic.

I know lots of folks put the sockets on the shell side but I like to use the studs – it signals a warning to my husband that there is something missing, otherwise he might put the diaper on without the snap in soaker pad (should it not be already snapped in for some reason). If you’re worried about user error and the studs digging into baby’s skin, you can put the sockets on this side.

Fold your soaker pad according to the pattern dimension guides and zig zag all around or serge to secure ends. I like to round the edges. Then apply your cap/sockets (or cap/studs if you chose to apply sockets to the shell) in either corner – check to make sure they’ll line up properly with the snaps you applied to the shell.

If you’d like to hide your snaps on the soaker pad, apply them to your soaker pad between the layers before serging or zig zagging all around.

You can sew on Aplix® according to the pattern directions if you’d like, or follow my instructions to apply snaps. I don’t like snaps on the VB AIO as much because it takes so many and it’s hard to get them lined up properly. But snaps are nice for many reasons… so here are the instructions ;o)

If you have a grid on your cutting mat or a ruler (or a measuring tape pulled tight), hold your front panel up to it and find the center. You’ll want your snaps on the front panel about 1″ apart. Mark the top row first.

Then using your wing, find the placement for the lower snap row. It will depend on how wide your wings are.

Here are both rows of snaps marked. The lower row should be one snap shorter than the top row on both sides.

Sockets should go on the front panel. Caps go on the inside, & sockets go on the fleece (or PUL) side. It’s hard to get these straight, so go slowly ;o) This is a medium, you could probably add one more snap on either side of the top & bottom row, but I don’t like to use the diaper if the wings are closing all the way out there anyway. It’s time to move up a size by then!

Go here for big picture: http://verybaby.com/content/tutorials/images/fleeceaiosnapsqd/frontsnappanel.gif

Wing snaps need to be spaced 2 inches to avoid wing drop. Cap/studs go on the top row – caps go on the fleece (or PUL) side, and the studs are on the inside (birdseye layer). One cap/stud goes on the bottom corner.

To create a crossover snap setting, apply two socket/caps (sockets on fleece or PUL side, caps inside) between and to the side of the caps on one wing. Check your alignment, the corner snaps on the other wing should snap into the crossover snap while the second top row wing snap should snap into a socket on the front panel.

Go here for big picture: http://verybaby.com/content/tutorials/images/fleeceaiosnapsqd/crossoversnaps.gif

All done! You can make your super booster doubler as directed in the pattern instruction sheet ;o)