Flats & Handwash Challenge: Day 3 - What Do I Do With This?

I am taking part in the Second Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.  For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to prove that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all.  You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post.  This year there are over 450 participants from all over the world!  


Today is Day 3 of the Flats & Handwash Challenge! The topic of the day is how I use my flats. For Mister, I simply pad fold them and lay them in a cover so he can put the diaper on just like you would a disposable. (I pad fold differently than in that video, but basically you're just making a long pad). I like to play around with the folds for myself. My current favorite is the Airplane Fold, but I've been using an Origami Fold with a pad folded flat inside of it for nights. I used to use the Diaper Bag Fold a lot and will probably revert back to it, as well as try out new folds. I'm particularly interested in trying out the Gaynor Fold For Girls and the Jo Fold.


There are also a lot of alternate uses for flats. I'm just going to list what I can come up with off the top of my head:
- Burp Cloth
- Baby Blanket/Swaddling Blanket
- Nursing Cover
- Clean Up Spills
- Wash/Buff Car
- Household Cleaning Rag
- Pillow
- Shade
- Tie Things Together with a Flat


And some we tried last night:
- Bandana Top
- Baby Toga

Mister and I were talking about the flats and he came up with the idea that it would make a great baby toga. Later on after MissE was asleep, I went to take a shower and forgot to take a shirt to the bathroom... but there was a clean flat in there, so I tied it on like a bandana top!


Today I woke up and washed 8 flats, a few wipes, and one cover. We alternated two wool skirties yesterday so no need to wash those, but I washed the night cover. So far so good!


My sweet girl napping:

Edited to Add: I tie dyed a dozen of my flats tonight! Can't wait until tomorrow evening to see how they turned out!


I started out with a dozen GMD large unbleached flats, 7 different colors of Dylon permanent fabric dye, 8 squirt bottles (was planning on mixing 2 colors but didn't), rubber bands, and gloves.

This is the end product for tonight!

(ETA: See how the tie dyed flats turned out here, and how I did it here!)


If you'd like to see how other bloggers are using their flats during the challenge, click on any link below!