Welcome

Ok, so this is a first. It's a first for me, writing a blog, and its a first for you, reading mine. Welcome to my blog. I am mostly going to be writing about, as the heading states, my Business, Beeba Bottoms, and my Kids, Beeba 1 and Beeba 2. For the sake of safety and their father's wishes, I will not use their names here. If you know us offline, you already know their names.

So how did I get into making diapers?

I've always sewed... when I was 12, i was designing dresses for my kid sister's barbie dolls. I actually had my first sewing machine at age 7, and it wasn't a toy, either. Of course, I didn't learn to use it till I was 11. That machine was melted (yes, thats right, melted) when I was 13... we had a house-fire. I didn't sew much for a while after that.

When I was married, my mother sewed my wedding dress on her 20-year old machine. I wanted to help, but didn't dare mess up my own dress. but I watched. and when I moved out of state with my husband, she gave me that machine. My sewing days were back.

When Beeba 1 was a few months old, wearing trashie diapers, he was getting all sorts of rashes... so I started reading. I learned about the kinds of diapers available... and then I learned the price. can we say sticker-shock? So, out came the old machine, and a paper grocery bag. (I had read that I could make a pattern by tracing a trashie)

I soon tossed the paper bag, it gave me headaches, and tossed the trashie-tracing idea, too... trashies never did fit well anyway. I didn't give up on making diapers though. Being a frugal mom, I started with free patterns. I tried the ottobre small first... it never made it onto a bottom. then I tried the Mama bird pattern.. better, but not great. so I started measuring... Beeba 1 was not happy as I stretched measuring tapes all over him.

After several tries, I came up with my first pattern, and covered it with a wool wrap I had chrocheted from yet another free pattern.

It worked, but it still wasn't perfect. I wanted perfect. So I kept working. It took several months, but in the meantime, I was building his stash.

Eventually, I had a pattern I liked. The only problem was, the Velcro kept falling apart. That led me to do some more research. I found out that Velcro was exactly 2 things. 1. the most expensive brand of hook and loop I could have gotten, and 2. the worst brand. I found a Brand of Hook and loop called Touchtape, and fell in love. It was strong, it lasted, and it came in different colors. (although I never bought anything but white... I couldn't imagine needing more than that for just my Beeba.)

There were still problems with Touchtape... If I forgot to close the laundry tabs, I got huge diaper snakes in my washer and dryer, and lint loved to build up in the hook, making it useless untill cleaned. Still, my husband loved that it was just like using a trashie, so I kept trucking. Besides... who could afford to use snaps??

It was around that point that I had a few people tell me I should sell the diapers. Being naive, I listened. I made a few business cards, created a little angelfire site, and even registered with my state as a business. Ha. I did get some sales.

My first sale was a pretty big one, too. A local mom saw my family out walking and thought that the diapers were cute. She ordered 10 diapers for her son, who was a bit older than mine... she was hoping they would help him potty-train sooner. I don't know if that worked, but later, she also bought diapers for her daughter (who had not been born yet when I met her).

I started to make some stock, and arranged to go sell at a local farmers market. That was fun. I didn't sell much, but hey... How many people go to a farmers market for diapers? But, I got my name out locally, and that did help a bit.

My nephew came and helped out one week. He played more than helped, but hey... thats what kids do.

After the summer was over, I realized I was no longer in love with Hook and loop. My son had learned to pull it off, as many toddlers seem to do. I decided I needed an alternative. I tried snaps. Metal snaps from the craft store. Ha. That was a total flop. Good thing I never tried to sell those. They fell off in a few washes, if they hadn't fallen off in their first use. Let it be a lesson to aspiring diaper makers. Metal snaps= not for diapers.

I didn't give up so easily, though. I tried getting snaps from online. I bought from the snap store, their long prong metal snaps. they worked better, but not by much. metal snaps were not the way to go. but by this time, I had realized that even though metal snaps were the pits, I liked the concept. I did some math and realized that I had made enough money to invest a bit in my business. I bought a real snap press.

By the time my snap press got here, I was pregnant with Beeba 2, and tired all the time. I made my husband do all my pressing for me. but boy, did it feel good not to have diaper snakes in the laundry, or to have to pick lint off of diaper tabs. I decided that I would keep offering the hook and loop, since that was my original product, but that I would also offer the snaps. Polyresin snaps work great for diapers, by the way. You just have to press really hard.

In the meantime, I had decide I needed a better website, because I knew the local scene wasn't going to last forever, and I also knew that I was going to have to take time off when Beeba 2 was born. I wanted my business in a good position when that happened. I arranged a trade. I got my website designed as a storefront, and in return, I made a stash of diapers.

To Be continued... the kids are calling.