How to Make a Cloth Diaper Bigger

 While front closure diapers do a really good job accommodating a variety of sizes, sometimes they’re not quite big enough. Since many of the larger sizes are harder to come by in cloth incontinence products, it can be challenging to find a product that’s going to work.

The good news is, If you have a cloth diaper pattern, it’s really easy to make the waist circumference larger. 

If you don’t have a cloth diaper pattern, you can either make your own pattern or purchase one.

Another option to make the waist bigger on a cloth diaper if you don’t have a pattern is to use cloth tab extenders. These are for snap diapers, but you can also make them with hook and loop tape.

How to Make a Cloth Diaper Pattern Larger

Enlarging the waist on a cloth diaper pattern only takes a few minutes. You can add inches to the back wings, front wings, or a combination of both to create a fit that is comfortable.

Step 1: Measuring your pattern

First, you need to know how big your pattern is. Measure the back wing to the snap (x2 if pattern is cut on fold).

Next, measure the front to the last snap.

***If not a snap pattern – or if you’re not using snaps – measure the width and subtract 1” for seam allowances on each side.

Add the 2 numbers together and this is the largest waist size your item will fit. 

Step 2: Determining how much to add

Now that you know how big your pattern is, you need to decide how big you ultimately want it to fit. For example, if your pattern fits up to a 56” waist, but you need it to fit 60,” you will need to add at least 4 inches. It’s always good to make it slightly larger in order to give yourself some wiggle room 🙂

Step 3: Making the back wings bigger on your cloth diaper pattern

For the sake of our example in making the pattern fit a 60” waist, we are going to add 1 inch on the fold of the diaper for a total of 2 extra inches.

To do this, I will simply extend the line of the wing by 1 inch and round the edges. You can keep the wings squared if you prefer. 

Finally, move the marks for your snaps – if applicable – over by 1 inch.

Step 4: Adding snaps to the front of the diaper

To get to 60”, we need to make sure to enlarge the front of the diaper by at least 2 inches. I place the snaps on my patterns 1.5” apart. Depending on your pattern, the placements of the snaps will probably be between 1-1.5” apart. 

In this case, if we add one extra set of snaps, that would add 3 inches to the final waist circumference.

To do this, we’re going to start with the snaps. This way, it’s a lot easier especially if you end up adding two or even three additional sets of snaps. 

Since my snaps sit 1.5” apart, I’m going to add another set 1.5” from the last ones. A clear ruler  makes this so much easier.

Repeat for however many additional sets of snaps you want. 

Step 5: Re-drawing the diaper front

To make the curve for the diaper front, draw a line 1 inch away from your last row of added snaps. The 1 inch is to ensure you have enough space not just for seam allowance, but also so your sewing machine foot can topstitch around the snaps.

Next, curve the top corner of the diaper front. 

To create the curve where the front meets the rest of the diaper, start at the diaper line and gently curve it around to blend it with the line you drew 1 inch from the snaps. 

Again, you want to make sure there is at least 1 inch between the edge of the diaper and any snaps.

Step 6: Finishing

Now that you’ve got your pattern re-drawn, simply cut it out and make another diaper! If you find it’s still not large enough, simply go back and repeat the above steps until you get a fit that works best for you.