Wipe Out! A Cloth Wipes Tutorial

When I first began cloth diapering, one thing I never thought I’d do was use cloth wipes. For some reason, the thought was a little gross to me. But then, the sample pack of cloth diapers arrived, I began (loving) cloth diapering my son and I realized that I had to have a special trash can just for wipes in his bedroom.

I also began thinking about the money that I spend on wipes. I usually try to get mine on sale. Let’s say I spend about $1.50 a week on wipes, assuming I’m using one package a week. That adds up to $6.00 a month, and $72.00 a year. For me, those savings were worth trying cloth wipes, especially if I was doing diaper laundry anyway! You can buy great wipes at Earth Angels Diaper Company! They also have all kinds of wipes solutions you can use on your new, deliciously soft, wipes.

I decided to try making my own wipes. My mom is a quilter and she had all sorts of left over flannel material in cute baby patterns that she let me have. So here’s a step by step process of how I made my own flannel wipes. Please keep in mind that I am by no means a professional sewer!

1. I doubled up the fabric with the pattern side facing outward and cut out 6” squares.
2. Then I set my sewing machine to sew zig zags (later I experimented with other patterns like a square shaped zig zag and an intricate lace design).
3. I sewed around the four edges of the square.
4. When I was finished, I washed and dried all of the wipes. The edges had frayed a little and I had to cut the fray off.
You can either keep your wipes in a container with water and wipes solution or you can keep a small spray bottle in the wipes box and spray each wipe as you need it. I prefer the second method!

If you haven’t tried cloth wipes yet, give it a go! I think you’ll find, like me, that you (and your baby) prefer the softness and naturalness of cloth wipes (not to mention the savings!). Plus, think of how many extra cloth diapers you can buy with the money you spend using cloth wipes!

Reader Contributed Article by
Tamara Sz.