Diaper FAIL! (and how to fix it)

I love my son. I love being his mommy. I love almost everything that being a mommy brings to my life. 

One thing I do not love is the crazy amount of laundry I have to do on what seems like a daily basis. I especially do not love the nasty diaper explosions that just ruin his (and sometimes my) clothes. 

Since there is no handbook for new moms (if only!) I have had to do lots of on-the-job-training. This diaper fail thing is one of the many tricks I have picked up over the past eight months. 

Here is the before.

Pretty nasty, right?

Well, thankfully, I have experience with laundry.

I have learned a trick or two from my days of washing actors clothing for a living. Its relatively unbelievable what actors can do to a costume in the short amount of time that they actually wear the piece of clothing. Anyway, years of getting stains of blood, sweat, chocolate, hairspray, paint, etc... out of costumes overnight (in time for the next show) has taught me a thing or two. 

If you have ever tried to get poop stains out of your babies clothing you know how hard it is to really make it go away. Well here is your answer! I have even used this system on poop stains that are days old. I have done this so many times that I can pretty much guarantee it will work.

Step One: 

Rince the poop off the item of clothing.

(To be honest, sometimes I skip this step, but then there are poop flecks, eww, floating around the bucket.) 

Step Two:

 

Spray stain with Oxi Clean Laundry Stain Remover

Step Three:

Put a scoop of Oxi Clean Perfume and Dye Free Verstile Stain Remover in the bottom of a laundry bucket. Add enough hot water to swish around in the bucket and mix with the Oxi Clean. You want the powder to be totally disolved.  I use the Perfume and Dye Free Oxi Clean because my son has sensitive skin, but the other stuff works just as well.

Step Four:

Fill the bucket about 3/4 full with hot water, I usually do this in the bathtub.

Step Five:

Add your poopy (or stained) clothing. Stir the clothes into the solution with a wooden spoon (make sure you dedicate this spoon to laundry and it never gets put back in your kitchen) or with your hand.

Step Six:

Let sit for a few hours or over night. If you remember, give the solution a stir every once and awhile.

Step Seven:

Dump the whole solution and clothes into the washer with your normal load of baby clothes and normal detergent. Run it through whatever cycle you usually use for baby clothes, I always use hot/cold settings, and then dry like normal.

There you go! Thats it! 

Happy baby with clean clothes.  

This works super well for poop stains and I have used it to freshen up kitchen towels and other items around the house. Its a really easy way to keep your kids clothes looking nice and clean. 

NOTE: I have only tried this with breast milk poop, not sure how it would work with formula poop.

Rocket Ship Coffee Cozy Pattern and Tutorial

Here is the pattern and tutorial for the Rocket Ship Cozy

I hope you enjoy making your very own rocket ship! Please comment and tell me about what you are making, I would love to see pictures and hear your stories.

• What you need:
• One sheet of felt 9”x12” OR ⅛ yard of felt (I used navy)
• One sheet of felt 9”x12” OR ⅛ yard of felt (I used mustard yellow)
• One sheet of felt 9”x12” OR ⅛ yard of felt (I used grey)
• Scraps of felt for the flames, windows, legs, and tip (I used yellow, orange, light blue, blue, and hot pink)
• Small amount of thin cotton quilt batting
• 4” of cord 2mm cord elastic
• One ¾” button
• Matching thread
• Contrasting embroidery thread
• Fabric paint (I used white and glow in the dark)
• One sheet transparency film (used for old-school over-head projectors)
• Cut out two pieces of felt using the EXTRA WIDE - FELT. To do this, layer the two sheets of felt (the navy and mustard); pin the pattern in place, and cut out using very sharp fabric scissors.
• Cut out the constellations stencil. Lay the sheet of transparency film, on top of the stencil pattern, use a permanent marker to trace the stencil pattern onto the film, including the outside edge of the cozy shape. Use a mini hole punch and an exacto knife to cut out the pattern.
• Tape the piece of navy felt to a piece of wax paper. Tape the constellations stencil on top of that. Using a sponge, sponge white and glow in the dark fabric paint onto the cozy. Let dry overnight. Test glow by holding the felt piece under a light for about 30 seconds and then turning off the lights. If it doesn’t glow enough for your taste add more paint and let dry overnight.
• Layer the two cozy pieces of felt (the navy and the mustard) on top of each other making sure to match up the edges and corners. Fold the elastic in half and pin inside the felt sandwich according to the elastic placement marking on the pattern. Pin the rest of the sandwich so that it doesn’t move while sewing.
• Using the sewing machine, stitch around the perimeter of the felt, ⅛” from the edge; making sure to back-stitch at the beginning and the end.
• Sew the button onto the cozy, see the button placement marking on the pattern, going through both layers of felt.
• Cut out the rest of the shapes, following the patterns. Grey for the rocket body; light blue for the outer windows; blue for the inner windows; hot pink for the rocket tip and legs; mustard yellow for the small flame; orange for the large flame. Cut the cotton quilt batting.
• Stitch the light blue outer windows into place on one piece of the grey rocket body. Stitch the inner window piece in place on top of the light blue outer window pieces. Stitch the small flame onto the large flame.
• Sandwich the quilt batting in between the two grey rocket pieces of felt, pin. Place the rocket legs and the flame in between the two rocket pieces, pin. Stitch around the outer edge of the rocket making sure to stitch through the legs and flame. Place the rocket tip in place (there will be some felt that hangs over the edge), stitch in place. Trim the extra felt from the tip of the rocket.
• Stitch the rocket and the flame in place on the cozy, matching up the stitches you made when stitching the rocket together. The legs should not be stitched down.
• Wrap the cozy around your favorite beverage and take your morning to the moon!

Here are the patterns. Print them out on a full sheet of paper.

  

Rocket Ship Cozy

Her is the mystery project I have been working on!

Did anyone guess it was a rocket ship cozy? Nope, no one guessed. I got some pretty interesting guesses though, such as Space Camp outfits, and star painting. I am starting to think making Space Camp outfits might be a good idea. What kid didn't want to go to Space Camp? 

Here is what I really made, its a... ROCKET SHIP coffee cozy!

3...2...1... BLAST OFF!!!

How cute is this? 

The stars even glow in the dark, but the pictures of the glowing didn't turn out too well.

Check out this cozy on my Etsy shop! Rocket Ship Cozy

Check back here in a few days for the tutorial so you can make your own awesome Rocket Ship Cozy!