Diaper cake tutorial

Last week I hosted a Dr Seuss themed baby shower for Haley and and our good friend V. Whenever we host a baby shower we like to bring a diaper cake for the new momma. Since Haley and I are two of the organizers for a local mom’s group where many of the members are having their second child. So we have been getting plenty of practice.
Grab a friend (seriously, this is a 2 person project) and let’s get started
You will need:
Pampers Swaddlers (size 1, qty 234 from Sam's Club: will make 3 diapers cakes (78 diapers each)
6 yards Wired ribbon (2” wide is nice)
14 inch Round cake base (scallop edge is nice)
Yarn or string (for holding spirals together before ribbon AND for anchoring layers to base)
Big crochet hook (for pulling yard through layers)
Small Gifts to attach
Lets make the layers.
For the bottom layer use 45 diapers (reserving 7 for center)
Line the 39 diapers up so that they overlap, leaving about an inch of the folded edge showing.
Carefully, with a friend, turn the diapers on their side and curl into a circle, tucking the unfolded side into the middle.

Have one person hold the spiral while the other ties some yarn around to stabilize and tighten slightly.

Even out the diapers so that they are evenly spaced.  The top should look like a spiral. 
Roll the remaining 7 diapers up tightly and stuff them in the middle.
The procedure for the next two layers is exactly the same as the first with a different number of diapers. Middle layer=22 diapers (use 3 for center), Top layer=11 diapers (none used in center)

Poke two holes about an inch apart in the center of your cake circle and feed a long piece of yarn through the holes so that the ends are coming out of top of the circle.

Poke your crochet hook through the bottom layer of the cake between two of the spiraled diapers grab one of the piece of yarn from the cake bottom and pull it through the bottom layer. Repeat for the other side of this layer.

Do the same thing for the middle and top layers and then tie a knot with the 2 strands of yarn. This will anchor the cake to the base and hold it together.

· Wrap single piece of ribbon around each layer and knot, leaving just enough to tie a bow on. You can use this tighten the layers if needed. Once the ribbon in tied on you can cut the yarn that was previously holding the each layer together.

Make bows by folding ribbons back and forth 5 or 6 times , accordion style so that you have a stack of ribbon about 6 inches in length.
Using the ribbon from the cake tie a knot around the middle of your ribbon stack and fluff. Trim wire ends that may have frayed.

Add toys, gifts, onesies, etc...all over cake until cute. Maybe make a cute cake topper of some sort. For these diaper cakes (this was a shower for Haley and another friend) I made some Baprons, tagged balls (just add some folded ribbon to the seams), and a pacifier pod.

We also included a couple of store bought brightly colored washcloths that were made into flowers using wire and florist tape and a cake topper mini Seuss hat (made by a friend).

We had found some Seuss foam stickers on clearance and used them to decorate around the ribbons in any area we thought was a little blank.


Here are a few more diaper cakes we have made in the past.

For this bear cake we used a cute baby hat as a cake topper for this one. The set also came with socks for the hands and feet so we stuffed them with a couple extra diapers and attached them with a little wire. No need for a bow on the top tier with this design.













On these 2 cakes we made bouquets of flowers for decoration rolling up onesies, socks, washcloths, burp cloths and bibs and then wrapping one end (or a fold for the larger items) with floral tape and then attaching them with wire. We filled in some bare spots with curling ribbon.
Here are more ways you can top your cake. Any simple toy will work but you can even just use a card with a little more ribbon.

Special thanks to Liasa who made an amazing hand model and without whom I could never have made these cakes.
If you make your own we would love to see it. Please add it to our flickr group