Tutorial - Replacing the Elastic in an Itti Bitti Modern Cloth Nappy

Ive had quite a few of my itti MCN un-usable due to the elastic going. Today I had a go at replacing it. I cant believe how easy this was, even with my limited sewing skills! To show you all how easy it was, I wrote this tutorial :) Hope its easy to follow, and all your unwell itti's are on the mend soon!

Replacing the Elastic in an Itti Bitti D'lish

As you can see the elastic in this nappy is stretched so much, it is no longer functional. This tutorial will show how to replace the elastic. Im very much a beginner sewer, so Im not sure if this is the 'right' way, but it works and its simple. Ive used elastic similar to the one that was already in there because its all I had here. Id would be preferable to use something like swimware elastic.

Step 1 - Start from the centre front of the nappy.

Carefully unpick the seam from the centre point out each way. You should be able to see when you reach the part of the nappy that has been overlocked - stop when you reach this point on either side. You will unpick a section about 9cm long (this was in a large nappy)

Step 2 - Once you have unpicked the section of seam, turn the nappy completely inside out through the unpicked section.

Step 3 - Cut three pieces of elastic about 3/4 of the length of the stretched elastic. This will be too long, but I found it easier to trim the excess later than try to judge the exact amount.

Step 4 - I have left the old elastic in the nappy and stitched the new over the top. You could unpick and remove the old elastic if you wanted. This is what the stretched leg elastic in the nappy looks like before putting the new piece in.

Hold one end of the elastic over the point that the old piece started. Using a zigzag, stitch back and forth several times to secure.

Step 5 - While stretching the elastic as much as possible, stitch along the full length with a zigzag stitch. Once you reach the other end stitch back and forth several times to secure. Trim off excess elastic.

The nappy should now look like this.

Step 6 - Repeat with the other leg elastic, and back elastic.

Once they are all done turn the nappy back in the right way.

Step 7 - Stitch the opening closed. You could hand stitch it, but I just ran a line of machine stitching across. You can see it a little, but the minky hides it pretty well, and it was much quicker than doing it by hand.

All finished, and the nappy is ready to put back into your stash!