To help make using cloth nappies even cheaper, you can make your own inserts, or re-purpose other items.
You can get microfiber 'chamois' towels from car care places, big supermarket chains, and online. Ensure you get one with a high 'polyamide' content as that's the fiber which is absorbent. If you get a microfiber without it, it'll just be a nice smooth.. completely un-absorbent polishing cloth.
To DIY yourself some inserts you'll need..
A ruler (the longer the better)
A cutting mat and rotary cutter or sharp scissors
Fabric pins
Tailors Chalk or washout fabric pen (I prefer the 'thick' blue Clover brand pens, and chaco chalk pens)
Bamboo Fleece, hemp fleece, cotton towelling or Microfiber Terry. Or any combination of them.
Polyester thread (I use gutermann 100% poly, but cheaper poly thread is fine too)
80/12 or 90/14 universal needles. (I use schmetz brand)
Sewing machine and/or Overlocker
Prewash your fabric (bamboo, cotton and hemp fabrics) on a warm to hot setting with a small amount of washing powder (general rule of thumb is to prewash the fabrics in the manner that you intend to care for them). I'd suggest not washing above 60C, though. Put them through the drier on the hot cycle. Be careful to not overload your machine, you'll probably need to wash in 2-3M lengths of fabric at a time.
Once fully dried, lay the fabric out on a table, the floor, anywhere with enough space for it to lie flat. Mark out squares that measure around 10" x 10" (25cm square), pinning every so often to stop the layers from shifting as you cut. You should be able to get between 6 and 9 boosters from 1m fleece. You might instinctively want bigger boosters- but remember that you don't need much absorbancy at the back of the pocket, and you don't want the insert to be too wide either.
Put a few pins into the squares to keep them all nice and neat while you sew.
Sewing Machine:
Optional: Sew straight lines about where the folds should be (this helps with folding and stopping the layers from shifting during washing and drying)
Finish the raw edges with a zig zag or overcast stitch
Overlocker:
Stitch around the raw edges.
voila. cheap inserts.
I like to have a 5 or 6 inserts to every 4 pockets. It means the shells DO get worked harder, but you don't have to wait as long for all the inserts to dry.
Online fabric suppliers (by no means a complete listing!)
Metropolitan & Regional Australia: 2 to 10 business days by Registered Post.
International: 6-14 business days by priority Airmail. Insurance is at an additional cost.
Shipping during traditional gift-giving times can be significantly longer.
Do you do Custom Orders?
To a degree. I will occasionally (and at my discretion) take on custom orders through email correspondences. More often then not the only custom work I will accept though, is through the occasional listings on shop.sugarshots.com.au. I had a period in time where I was taking on custom order after custom order, large ones. I found the workload grew exponentially - to the point where I wasn't able to process orders in a timely manner.
So now, I may take on the occasional custom piece, but will only do so through limited custom product listings.
Custom Order turn arounds vary between 2 and 6 weeks. That is not a guaranteed time frame. Delays do happen, and often they are out of my control. But please be assured I do my absolute best to complete orders at the earliest.
Custom Orders also now have a surcharge. They invariably take up more of my time, time which up until recently I wasn't charging for. The additional cost per custom nappy varies from $3.00 to $1.50, dependant on amount of nappies ordered. This is payable upfront with the deposit, and is a non-refundable fee.
Australia Post delivery times vary greatly. I've had same city packages take a week to arrive, and I've had parcels sent to SA (regional too!) arrive in two days. The time varies greatly, and for this reason I don't consider a parcel lost until 10 business days (so, two calendar weeks) have passed after posting.
to check on the status of your order, you can log into your congocart account through the sugarshots.com.au login, then view on 'Account Services'.
Sugar Shots! nappies, evolution, changes and estimated dating.
Sugar Shots! have been around for a while now. The original nappies were ai2s, and they were of a very much smaller design. You can tell them apart from the current design by the labels (or rather, lack of). If there is no 'Sugar Shots!' label, then the nappy you have is either an original release, with a slower drying, sewn in booster and a contoured snap in booster OR a knock-off (I've seen a few floating around that I KNOW I didn't make)..
The original nappies had partially anchored leg elastic, and shaped+exposed hook and loop tabs. They were primarily sold in 2007.
The next generation released around February of 2008, were seen to have a simple Sugar Shots! name label, and size label. They had fully sewn down leg elastic, and a far more generous sizing range. They also comprised of a booster system that was far quicker to dry. Two layers sewn in, and a snap in bi-fold booster.
The absolute most current design, circa 2009, have the fancier Sugar Shots! name label, pretty hook and loop tabs (or more angular side snap wings). The sizing remains very similar. (I had to recreate most of the patterns in the Great Baby Destruction of November, 2008).
Why are your postage rates so high? Is that how you turn a profit?!
They're not high! I actually undercharge on postage :)
Sugar Shots! offers flat rate registered post on all nappy orders. Some things like wipes and wetbags MIGHT be able to be sent more cheaply, but not always. If you feel as though postage should be cheaper, please use the 'request total' option during checkout, and I'll adjust the total if adjustment is due on your order.
To help clarify what the flat rate postage is covering..
Prepaid satchel ($5.50) OR regular small package post (between $4.20 and $5.40 plus packaging costs ranging between $1.00 and $1.50). The prepaid satchel can fit two nappies in it, usually, and the small packet post can fit one.
Registered post, which *starts* at an additional cost of $2.70
There ARE cheaper ways to post, but I'm unwilling to offer them as the standard postal method due to how insecure they are. A lot of packages went walk-about using regular and express post, and I'm unable to remake and/or refund for lost stock.
Do you offer Layby?
yes!
Laybys are available on orders over $100 excluding postage. The initial deposit is 10% of the order, and is non-refundable. Any payment amount made greater then 10% is refundable. Laybys are offered over a 2 month term, with regular payments expected. Longer terms *may* be available on a case by case basis. Please contact us to discuss
Custom orders must be paid in full before they are commenced
Hyenaing
Stockings are done on the basis of first-to-cart instead of first to checkout.
Orders with different addresses or placed by different users will not be combined.
Levelling the playing field:
To have the best chance of nabbing the item you want, ensure you are logged into the shop, have the page open to the thing you want, images turned off on your browser (google your browser name to find out how to do this), and start refreshing /just/ before stocking is due to go live.
To help increase your chances of getting the item you want, ensure you've turned off all other bandwidth eating programs, including outlook/email clients/facebook/whatever. If your connection is shared with others in the house, make sure they're not using it when you want to nab something, and that they don't have any file sharing programs or computer games running.
Also try to keep little fingers away from off switches. ;)
And finally, the cart automatically empties after 20 minutes of inactivity, so check back them to see if anything wasn't checked out with.
Forms of Payment
Payment forms accepted at present are PayPal, and Direct Deposit.
PayPal accepts payments through Credit Card, PayPal balance (money already in your personal paypal account) and from your bank account.
Product Defects
Please check your items thoroughly when they arrive. Any defects to items that did not occur during postage must be noted immediately and Sugar Shots! must by contacted via email (sugarmama@sugarshots.com.au) within 72 hours of arrival. The 72 hours will begin at the moment Delivery is confirmed through the Australia Post tracking site.
If the buyer believes the item to be defective or that the incorrect item has been posted, the buyer has five (5) business days to return the defective item back to the vendor for exchange. If the item is found to be defective, it can be exchanged for an in-stock item of equal value within five (5) business days of the vendor receiving the defective item. If the item is not mailed within ten (10) business days of receiving a return number, the return will be null and void.
The buyer will be refunded the return Registered Post amount in the form of a Sugar Shots! store credit. No item will be accepted without prior return authorisation. Should the item be found not to be defective and to be free of flaws, the buyer will be required to cover the cost of returning the item by Registered Post.
Returns
Sugar Shots! does not accept returns or exchanges on the basis of fit, style, colour, or incorrect sizing due the intimate nature of the garments.
Warranty
All Sugar Shots! products come with a 90 limited warranty. (Does not apply to items sold as second quality goods).
Elastic
If the elastic goes out with in 90 days of receiving the diaper, the buyer can return the item and the elastic will be replaced for free within fourteen (14) business days of the vendor’s receipt of the item. After 90 days, there will be a $6.50 charge for the replacement of the elastic. The buyer is responsible for shipping the item to the vendor for repair and the vendor will cover shipping back to the buyer once the item is fixed. After the warranty has expired, the buyer is responsible for shipping to and from the vendor for repair.
Snaps
The snaps on the diapers are under warranty for one (1) year. If a snap breaks it will be replaced at no cost to the buyer within ten (10) working days of the vendor’s receipt of the item. This policy applies only to the first owner of the item.
Other Product Defects
Any other problems that are deemed manufacturer defects will be dealt with on a case by case basis at the discretion of the manufacturer and are completely at the discretion of the vendor. All items will be vigorously inspecting and have a 90 day guarantee.
The vendor has the expressed right the change any of these policies as deemed necessary and without any prior notice
Seconds Quality Items
Second Quality Items will be marked as seconds. They are sold a- is and do not come with a warranty.
Nappy Info
Size Chart
Inner Fabrics
We offer several types of inner fabrics. The most common are preferred are Suedecloth, Microchamois/Microfleece, and Organic Cotton & Bamboo velour (Which I refer to as OBV-NAT for the natural coloured, and OBV-DYE for the handdyed velour).
Suedecloth is a very popular and hardwearing choice. It's extremely trim, highly resistant to 'pilling', and has a gentle stay-dry effect.
Microchamois is a delightfully soft polyester fabric with many shared properties to microfleece (it's a trademarked name, with a slightly different manufacturing process & hand). It's extraordinarily soft, has a superb stay-dry effect, and more resistant to pilling then most other polyester fleeces.
Bamboo Velour is simply divine. We use a short-piled, organic cotton and bamboo fiber blend, with a 2% poly content in the backing. This is an exceptionally good choice for children with sensitive skin. It is more prone to staining as it is a natural fiber, but stains sun out quite easily.
Pocket Nappies
Sugar Shots! pocket nappies generally are side snapping. They feature an easy to stuff envelope styled opening at the front (inside!), and 10 snap sets for size adjustment.
They are gently elasticised at the back and legs for a snug fit, and are flat fronted (no elastic!) to minimise bulk
Because they are trim, they need to have more narrow inserts then other pockets generally do. You can use just about any old thing to stuff them with, contour inserts/trifolds/bifolds etc as long as it isn't too wide.
You could even make your own inserts from bamboo fleece, hemp fleece, microfiber terry.. Or of course you can buy inserts from Sugar Shots!
Budget Nappies?! What's this all about?
There's always a need for cheaper but still fantastic nappies. Sugar Shots! is now offering budget packs, made with cheaper spotlight (non imported) minky, microfleece outers, or plain pul outers. They're just not as fancy. They are simple nappies, no fuss garments made from the same Sugar Shots! patterns as the regular SS!s.
They are denoted as the Budget Nappies by the black sugar shots! label.
I'd like to make sure they are easily identifiable for obvious reasons. They're made from cheaper (but still awesome!) quality fabrics, and the ai2s have fewer couture finishes (such as the internal booster sewn to the inner layer, rather then a hidden layer. Just one example).
They are perfect for the budget conscious, as daycare nappies or just because perhaps you don't want embroidered everything. :)
Proudly Australian Owned and Made
AI3s, AI2s, AIOs.
These are all nappies which do not require a cover. The AI part stands for All In and O/1/2/3 refers to how many additional parts required for functionality.
AIO means that everything is included, with no snap in parts- It's all sewn into the body of the nappy. Drying time is quite slow for AIOs.
AI2s generally mean that there is an outer/shell (often with sewn in absorbancy), and one snap in. I offer two snap ins with my ai2s for a little extra boosting. But the mini snap in is not required for most babies.
Sugar Shots! AI3s are a quick drying outer shell with no sewn in boosting, and two snap in boosters for absorbancy. They are very quick drying, as quick as a pocket nappy
.
Fitteds
Sugar Shots! fitteds come in front snap and side snap style. They contain between 4 and 6 layers of bamboo fleece, and come in a dazzling array of prints and colours. They require a cover, and I thoroughly recommend wool interlock covers.
My embroidered nappy has plasticy bits around the embroidery?!!
Never fear! that's a water soluable clear film used in the embroidery process, to flatten the fabric pile and provide a 'better' surface to stitch over.
You can pick it off carefully, or mop it off with a damp sponge, or just ignore it totally and put the nappy in for it's pre-washes.
Washing the nappy with it still on won't harm the nappy in any way, or cause residue issues.
Absorbency and boosters
Sugar Shots! come in differing levels of absorbency. This is because different babies have different needs, and the nappy you select should reflect this. Why have a nappy with tonnes of boosting & extra bulk if your bubby is a light-wetter?
Having different boosting options allows you to customise the levels of absorbency required for your bub & situation (ie, car trips, naps, play or daycare).
The ai2 shells have a standard boosting option of a snap in contoured bi-fold, consisting of five absorbent layers and the a top layer matching the inner, as well as a smaller snap-in booster of 3 layers of thick and thirsty bamboo fleece.
Pocket Nappies are supplied with a standard bamboo fleece trifold, with the option to upgrade to a more substantial insert if required. The Heavy Wetter - Day trifold has two full layers of bamboo fleece, with a centre panel consisting of another two layers of Crazy Absorbent material (a combo of bamboo & polyamide- same fiber as microfiber).
Also available is a range of lay in boosting options.
Should you have specific needs for boosting, please don't hesitate to contact Customer Service.
