Friday, January 29, 2010

Lamb Diapers

Vet2Be named the little lamb Amanda Lynne (a mandolin) because he loves mandolin. She still loves running around with the dogs, but is definitely not house trained! I looked at preemie diapers the last time I was at the store. $9 for 30 diapers! Nope! Not spending that much money on diapers for a lamb.

I had some flannel on hand and decided to make some diapers for her.

 
Its a little hard to see in this photo, but there is a hole in the diaper for her tail!


A better photo with her tail coming through the diaper.


Here is the pattern I drafted. The instructions follow.



Click on the picture, it will come up full size. Then print to your printer. You may have to resize the pattern for your ewe lamb. Our lamb is very small.

 
Printable directions - click and print.

 Instructions for Ewe Lamb Diapers (This diaper will not work for a ram lamb)
  1. Wash the flannel in hot water before you start to cut out or sew. Flannel will shrink. If you cut and sew before you wash the fabric, your diapers will shrink the first time you wash them,
  2. Cut out both pattern pieces and overlap where indicated. Tape pieces together.
  3. Cut out (2) diapers on fold.
  4. Cut out (4) 3” x 3 ½” squares of flannel for the absorbent pad.
  5. Zig-zag or serge around the edges of the absorbent pad.
  6. Place absorbent pad on dotted lines on diaper and sew around the edge to attach it to the diaper.
  7. Place other diaper piece on top of the one with the pad (the pad should be on the inside) then serge around the entire edge of the front and back of the diaper to make one diaper.
  8. Mark placement for tail hole and sew a buttonhole there. Cut buttonhole open.
  9. Pin velcro where indicated--strap pieces should be on one side, tummy pieces should be on the opposite side of the diaper. Before you sew, make sure that you can fold and the diaper and the velcro will come together to hold the diaper on.
  10. Sew velcro onto diaper
  11. Match dotted lines for darts. Serge or sew along dotted lines. You do not have to do this step, it makes the diaper fit better, but the diaper will still work if you don’t sew the dart. I serge the dart, you can also zig-zag at the dart and trim the excess.
These would probably fit doeling goat kids, as well. Hopefully we won't have any problems this year and have a 'house goat' as well as a 'house lamb'!

The diapers last about 2-3 hours before we have to change them. I need to make a few more to last us a few more weeks. They only take about 10 minutes to make. Finding the 10 minutes can be a problem some days!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Good'ay and Greetings from me in Australia,

You are a wonder woman for producing the pattern for the lamb nappy.

I have a 2 week old bottle-fed ewe lamb, and I have to transport her 100 miles for the odd week-end away and then back home again. The nappy would be a blessing.

Would you kindly contact me about the sizes, because USA paper sizes are not the same as Australian sizes.

My email is:-
williams.ejw@gmail.com

Thank you,
John