Cloth Diaper - Creative Rehab

Cloth Nappy Fabrics 101 Part 6: Stay Dry Fabrics

by Kellie Rose | Apr 24, 2015 | Cloth Nappy Making, Minky Fabric, My Makes, Product Guides, Sustainable Sewing

Hello! And welcome to the last part of my nappy making fabrics guide. Last up we’re going to talk about “Stay Dry” fabrics which are often used as the inner layer of a nappy. We have up to 20% off all fabrics in our “Stay Dry” section and all orders placed over this week that you’ve asked us to hang on to will be dispatched today. We also have 20% off nappy making kits all week long.

What is a Stay Dry Fabric?

A stay dry fabric is generally a man-made fibre which feels (almost) dry to the touch after it’s gotten wet. These fabrics are said to have “wicking” properties, which means they draw moisture away from the skin and out in to the atmosphere so the moisture can evaporate. Let’s be real here, if you pour water on to any fabric it’s never going to be 100% dry but on these types of fabrics it will feel much dryer than an a natural fibre absorbent fabric which will just be sopping wet.

Why is this important in a cloth nappy? So your baby isn’t sat with wetness against his or her skin for any period of time. So how do stay dry fabrics do this? It all comes down to the wicking…

Most wicking fabrics are made from polyester blends, and synthetic fabrics don’t retain moisture like natural fibre fabrics do. Polyester holds on to a tiny 0.4% of moisture where as cotton retains about 7%. All polyester fabrics are not wicking fabrics, the wicking properties comes from the weave. The fabrics are constructed in such a way that the moisture is forced into and through the gaps in the weave

So there are a number of fabrics that can be used as a stay dry layer and each can perform differently. Our most popular choices are microfleece and suedecloth but some people choose to use cuddlesoft or plush too.

Microfleece

Microfleece is probably the most popular nappy lining fabric we stock, it’s a fleece fabric which is incredibly soft, thin, comes in a variety of colours and wicks moisture very well. No fabric will be completely dry when liquid is added but microfleece is one of the best at pulling the moisture away from the skin to the outer of the fabric and letting it evaporate and keeping you cool and comfortable. Because of this it’s also a popular choice for exercise clothing. We also stock an which has a smooth knit on one side and fleece on the other, it’s a great choice for slimming down your nappy even further.

Suedecloth

Suedecloth is a 100% polyester fabric which has a very short, fuzzy nap on one side and a smooth knit on the other. It’s much thinner than regular microfleece and is cheaper too. It works very well as a wicking fabric and is the fabric used as an lining fabric in many mass manufactured cloth nappies. It’s a popular choice as it comes in a wide range of colours and is only £3.99pm!

Other Stay Dry Options

Plush

Some people line their nappies with plush (minky) fabric. I had several nappies lined with plush and due to its luxurious and tactile nature it certainly made the nappy feel very special. Lining with plush does add bulk and in my experience it doesn’t feel quite as “dry” as microfleece or suedecloth but the performance is still adequate and it does have the bonus of feeling extra special.

Cuddly, super soft plush fabric

Cuddlesoft

Cuddlesoft is in essence a plush fabric without a brand name behind it. This means the quality isn’t as good as something like Shannon’s cuddle fabric, but it’s still lovely and tactile and usually a bit thinner so it makes it a good choice for a nappy lining fabric. In my experience it performs a little less well than microfleece or suedecloth, but it’s perfectly fine.

Well that concludes my series on cloth nappy fabrics and I hope you may have learnt something or perhaps been tempted to give cloth nappies a try. It’s by no means exhaustive and there are so many other ways to use the fabrics too, I’ve just mentioned some of the post popular. If you have any other questions or have an area that’s puzzling do get in touch and I’ll do my best to help.

Cloth Nappy Fabrics 101 Part 5: A Guide To Plush and Outer Fabrics

by Kellie Rose | Apr 23, 2015 | Cloth Nappy Making, Fabric Guides, Fabric Information Guide, Minky Fabric, Sustainable Sewing

Boring Legal Bit: If you follow any tutorial or guidance found in this post, or on this blog, you agree to be bound by our disclaimer which can be viewed here

Hello! And welcome to part 5 of my nappy making fabrics guide (you can read the rest of the series here). Today we’re going to talk about one of the best bits of cloth nappy making – the pretties!! The outer layer is where most of the fun happens so read on….

Today we have 20% off all plush/ minky as well as quilt weight cottons so fill your boots! If you’d like to get involved in more than one offer this week but are worrying about the accrued postage costs – don’t! Just leave us a note at check out and ask us to hold your order until the end of the week then we’ll dispatch it all together and refund you any postage charges due. We also have 20% off nappy making kits all week long.

The use of the word “pretties” is rife within the cloth nappy community and boy, are there some amazing creations out there. Many WAHM (Work At Home Mum) creations really excel at turning nappies in to works of art.

So what are the fabrics you can use on the outside of a nappy?

PUL

A lot of mass manufactured nappies will use PUL as the outer layer. This works well for a number of reasons. Firstly, that you’re using the waterproof layer as the outer layer so you are reducing the number of layers needed by one. This means it costs less to make and you get a slimmer nappy. The down side comes when considering the pretty factor – it’s more difficult to embellish and customise PUL without affecting it’s waterproof properties. With the right handling it is possible to embroider on to PUL but those needle puncture holes will eventually weaken the PUL and longer term is likely to affect the performance and longevity of your nappy.

PUL as an outer fabric

Plush/ minky fabric

To my mind, this is where the magic happens. Plush is great to use as the outer of a nappy, keeping it simple it comes in an array of pretty prints so you can get a good looking nappy with minimum effort. It’s very forgiving for less than perfect stitching as stitches get hidden in the pile and let’s face it, plush fabric is one of the nicest, most stroke-able fabrics you’ll ever come across and what nicer feeling is there to have on your baby’s bottom?

You can read my full Guide to Plush Fabric here which has some hints and tips about sewing and a guide to it’s composition and handling.

You actually don’t need any fancy machines to create spectacular nappies, just check out this amazing creation from Bumble Bees (this is actually my nappy, I’m SO lucky!)

Image courtesy of Bumble Bees MCN

You can use applique really effectively to create some really amazing effects.

Image courtesy of Bumble Bees MCN

Image courtesy of Bumble Bees MCN

But if you are lucky enough to have an embroidery machine then there really is no limit. I mean, just look at this from Dinky Dot Bots . If these don’t have you adding an embroidery machine to your Christmas list, I don’t know what will.

Image courtesy of Dinky Dot Bots

Image courtesy of Dinky Dot Bots

So as well as being pretty and tactile, using plush as the outer of a nappy does have some functional benefits. Because it’s a polyester fabric it won’t easily absorb moisture, this means that it’s unlikely to wick any moisture on to your baby’s clothes.

Cotton

Another option for your outer layer is to use a quilt weight cotton. Because of the vast array of choice, cotton is a popular choice to easily add some decorative magic to a nappy. Because cotton is a natural fibre and will absorb moisture relatively quickly it isn’t common to see the outer layer made completely out of 100% cotton because the risk of wicking is high. Often cotton will be teamed up with plush placing it as a high back panel like this:

Image courtesy of Bumble Bees MCN

Or at back and the front leaving plush fabric around the leg area like this:

Image courtesy of Bumble Bees MCN

All of that said, I recently had a chat with Toya from Made by Toya who reminded me that ages ago we’d spoken on the phone about using cotton as an outer and I didn’t recommend it because of the potential wicking issue, but I’d not tried it . She was keen to use fabrics from her stash so she did. And it worked! She used the Chelory method. which I’d not seen before so using cotton is definitely an option. This would be a great way to use up some of your stash and keep the nappy trimmer too.

Image courtesy of Made By Toya

Well I hope that has given you some idea of the different fabrics you can use on the outside of a nappy, and the design elements that are possible. I’ll be back tomorrow for the last in this series and shall be talking about the options you can use on the inside of a nappy, often called “Stay Dry Fabrics”

Cloth Nappy Fabrics 101 Part 4: Notions and Fastenings

by Kellie Rose | Apr 22, 2015 | Cloth Nappy Making, Fabric Guides, Fabric Information Guide

Hello! Today I’m taking a break from the fabrics today to talk about some of the notions and fastenings you can use when making cloth nappies. And welcome to part 4 of my nappy making fabrics guide, you can read the other parts in this series here. Today you can enjoy up to 20% off KAM snaps, lastin and Aplix/ Touch tape hook & loop. Wondering what an earth these are? Fret not! All is to be revealed…. If you’d like to get involved in more than one offer this week but are worrying about the accrued postage costs – don’t! Just leave us a note at check out and ask us to hold your order until the end of the week then we’ll dispatch it all together and refund you any postage charges. We also have 20% off nappy making kits all week long.

Fastening your cloth nappy

You have a choice of two main fastenings – KAM snaps or hook and loop.

Hook & loop fastening

Hook and loop is the generic term for “Velcro” (you know, like “Hoover” is the brand that has become the household term for “vacuum”) – one side of the fastening is covered in tiny hooks the other is fuzzy and made up of tiny loops and together they stick to form a firm fastening. You can’t just use any old hook and loop in a nappy though, you need some special stuff that can withstand the high volume of laundry that a cloth nappy goes through. Normal “Velcro” will just lose it’s stick after a few washes and won’t be any use to man nor beast. In a cloth nappy you need to use brands such as Aplix or TouchTape.

Hook & loop fastenings have their advantages in a cloth nappy, especially at the beginning. You don’t need any special kit to apply it, just a regular sewing machine and at change time they are super speedy (and often favoured by men!) but the disadvantage of using hook and loop is that as your little ones grows they will learn to be able to undo this type of fastening much quicker than using KAM snaps.

The nappies above have a hook and loop fastening, can you see the white hook and loop at the front?

KAM snap nappy fastening

KAM snaps, oh KAM snaps… oh how I love thee! Anyone that’s got busy with these wonderful fastenings will confirm how ace they are and SUPER useful for many things. KAM snaps are for life, not just for nappies.

The downer for a beginner in the nappy-making world is that you need either some pliers or a press to apply these “poppers” so it adds to the initial cost BUT they really are super useful little fellas and I’ve used them all over the place. You can use them instead of buttons, press studs and even zips. They come in a mind boggling array of colours and also different sizes and shapes. For a nappy you need a size 20 snap,

rather than a size 16. A size 20 KAM snap can’t be undone easily by small hands and they are also incredibly strong and are weight-bearing. A large wet bag full to the brim with dirty laundry will easily have its weight supported by one size 20 KAM snap.

As well as providing the fastening for a nappy KAM snaps are also very handy at providing a fitting adjustment in the rise of the nappy as seen in the photo below. The snaps on the rise can be popped together for the shortest rise setting when your baby is small and let out as they grow to make the nappy larger.

Lastin vs Elastic

There are generally two areas of a nappy you need some kind of elastic – around the legs and at the back. There are two main types used – Lastin and Polybraid elastic – and I can’t say that one is better than the other, it comes down to a personal preference.

Lastin

Lastin is a clear, flat elastic which has an amazing stretch and can elongate to 300-400% and it’s stretch recovery is amazing. Lastin is resistant to chemicals and doesn’t absorb any moisture so is equipped to stand up to the laundry demands of cloth nappies. Not only is it great for nappy making but it’s great for garment making too and is used to reinforce neck lines, arm holes and is great for seam re-inforcement. You should use Lastin brand in nappies and not just a generic clear elastic which might not be strong enough to hold shape or withstand the laundry regime.Lastin has a soft return on the stretch and is less likely to mark your baby’s skin and it creates really great looking leg gathers, not always possible to achieve with polybraid elastic.

Lastin was my personal choice when I was making nappies but some people find it difficult to use and experience breakages. The trick is to give it a bit of a pre-stretch before you sew it and then NOT to over stretch the Lastin when you are sewing it. If you over stretch it under the needle its likely to break. It can take practice as Lastin is super stretchy and will stretch more than elastic will so there’s not an easy “stop” indication. Practice makes perfect as they say!

Polybraid Elastic

Cheaper and more readily available, there’s nothing wrong with using good old polybraid elastic. It has a good return but it can be a little harsh on larger legs and can leave marks on your baby’s skin. It will still hold up well to frequent washing.

The only way to find out which you prefer is to try it and see which you get on with.

I hope you’ve found this useful. Join me tomorrow to talk about the outer layer of a nappy.

Boring Legal Bit: If you follow any tutorial or guidance found in this post, or on this blog, you agree to be bound by our disclaimer which can be viewed here

Cloth Nappy Fabrics 101 Part 3: An Absorbent Fabrics Guide

by Kellie Rose | Apr 21, 2015 | Bamboo towelling, Cloth Nappy Making, Fabric Guides, Fabric Information Guide, Sustainable Sewing

Hello! And welcome to part 3 of my nappy making fabrics guide, today it’s all about absorbent fabrics. It’s these types of fabrics which predominantly determine the performance of your nappy and there are a number of different combinations to try. Today you can enjoy up to 20% off absorbent fabrics. If you’d like to get involved in more than one offer but are worrying about the accrued postage costs – don’t! Just leave us a note at check out and ask us to hold your order until the end of the week then we’ll dispatch it all together and refund you any postage charges. We also have 20% off nappy making kits all week long.

Bamboo Fabric

In China bamboo is referred to as the plant of a thousand uses and it has been used for centuries as a building material and in garden design and more recently it’s being used as a textile thanks to Beijing University developing bamboo as a fibre. The bamboo plant is particularly sustainable as it grows so quickly, some species grow as much as 140cms per day! As well as the obvious quantity and speed benefits this brings it also dramatically reduces the amount of water needed to grow the plant. As bamboo is a grass it can have a “hair cut” (just like mowing your lawn) and it’ll carry on growing without being replanted, and unlike cotton it doesn’t need pesticides and can be cultivated naturally.

Bamboo is sometimes called “cashmere from plants” because it is so very soft to wear next to the skin and has a wonderful sheen. The fibres in bamboo’s structure have a criss-cross texture, which is covered in tiny holes and make it a great moisture absorber that is also good for ventilation and breathability. Bamboo outperforms cotton’s absorption rates by three times and if bamboo is worn as clothing it wicks moisture away and evaporates perspiration instantly keeping you cool and dry.

There is a natural substance within bamboo called bamboo kun which protects the plant from pests and pathogens and means bamboo is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. Japanese laboratory tests have shown that even after 50 washes bamboo fibres continue to have the same level of anti-bacterial properties, how amazing is that?! Bamboo fabric comes in a number of fabric types including bamboo fleece, stretch terry, velour and towelling.

How is bamboo used in a a nappy?

Bamboo is most often used layered up as an insert (pictured on the right of Victoria’s photo below) as the absorbent layer of the nappy. There are lots of different ways to create an absorbent layer, here’s a good starter guide. I’m going to focus on the fabrics rather than the construction to help you choose which is best for you.

Photo Courtesy of Bumble Bees Modern cloth Nappies

Bamboo Towelling

Bamboo towelling one of our best selling bamboo products and the premium version is to die for. It has a super sheen and the hand is amazingly soft. There isn’t any stretch to contend with here but it has a terry loop on both sides so it’s quite lofty. It makes very absorbent as a nappy booster, but it also makes brilliant cloth wipes (along with other things like bibs, “un-paper” towels, bathrobes and beach towels!)

Bamboo Velour

We have bamboo in a velour finish which is a knit fabric. It’s smooth on the wrong side and the right side has a short, soft pile. It’s very soft and silky, has a fantastic drape and is lovely and tactile which lends itself well to gorgeous clothing, loungewear and it makes snuggly, breathable blankets. In nappy making it’s a popular choice as an inner layer of a nappy as it’s very soft to the touch and for pre-folds as it’s thinner than bamboo towelling. It has quite a stretch to it so careful handing is required, lots of pins, a ball point needle and a walking foot will help keep this fabric firmly under control. Bamboo velour takes dye very well is a very popular fabric for providing a beautiful blank canvas for a colour palette of your own design.

Bamboo French Terry

Bamboo French Terry has a smooth knit on one side and on the reverse there’s a dimpled weave effect as seen in the photo. I’ve heard French Terry referred to as “magic” before now. I think the textured surface really assist the absorbency of this fabric. Made in the USA this is a premium fabric.

Bamboo Fleece

Bamboo fleece is just like a cuddly sweatshirt material – one side has a smooth knit and the other is a fluffy fleece. Our bamboo fleece is ridiculously soft and really is a premium product far superior to others I’ve seen. It’s manufactured in the USA and not China which I think makes a big difference. A popular choice to make boosters as it’s soft and very absorbent.

A note about fabric weights

Most natural fibre absorbent fabrics will have a fabric weight (gsm – grams per square metre) listed. Quite simply, the higher the gsm the heavier the fabric will be and more it will absorb. The pay off for more absorbency is a bulkier nappy as the fabrics are thicker.

Manmade Absorbent Fabrics

Zorb Fabric

There are a number of manmade absorbent fabrics available, the most popular being Zorb. Zorb is manufactured in the USA specifically for use in cloth nappies. It’s a pretty high performance fabric and can absorb up to 10 times it’s own weight in liquid in under half a second and not only does it absorb quickly, it holds on to that moisture. Wazoodle, who manufacture and distribute this very specialist fabric, say that two layers of Zorb has the absorbency power of

8 layers of flannel
6 layers of French terry
5 layers of fleece

The number of layers is key as a slim cloth nappy really is the holy grail of cloth nappy making. Zorb has a fluffy texture that’s a bit like curtain interlining.

A key point about Zorb is that it MUST be sandwiched between other layers of fabric, without this step the fabric is liable to shred when washed. To assist with this we also stock Zorb II – a sandwiched product 🙂

Zorb II

The clever folk at Wazoodle are always coming up with solutions to tricky problems. Zorb II has all the same absorbent properties of the original Zorb but it comes pre-sandwiched between two layers of bamboo/cotton face fabric.

Microfibre

We’ve stopped stocking this for the moment but I wanted to mention it as it’s very readily available from your local supermarket in the form of dishcloths should you want to give it a whirl. Microfibre absorbs *mega* quickly. This is great because as soon as your baby wees you want the liquid to be drawn away from the body as soon as possible, microfibre does a fantastic job of this BUT it falls down as it can’t hold on to liquid for very long, when it’s compressed then the liquid just leaks out, just like a sponge of water does when you squeeze it. You can harness the super quick powers of microfibre and get around the compression issue by backing it with a layer of absorbent fabric that is better at holding on to liquid – like bamboo.

Hemp

Hemp is the genetic name for the cannabis family, but fret not, the plants used in textile creation are not those used to smoke! Producing fabric from hemp has an old tradition originating in China where it was used for rope, clothes, shoes and also paper for as many as 10,000 years. Between the 16^th and 19^th century 80% of the world’s fabric was made from hemp but the fibre fell out of favour because of it’s association with marijuana, despite being a different plants species. Recently hemp is seeing resurgence in popularity, as it’s a sustainable crop. It’s also incredibly strong and durable, it resists mould and it has amazing absorbent properties which are even better than bamboo.

Hemp has great holding properties for liquid BUT it takes it a while for it to take up the liquid so it’s often layers with faster absorbing fabrics like microfibre, Zorb or bamboo.

I think we get more questions about absorbent fabrics than any other nappy making fabric so I hope that’s helpful. More to follow tomorrow when I’ll be talking about fastenings and notions.

Cloth Nappy Fabrics 101 Part 2: PUL Fabric

by Kellie Rose | Apr 20, 2015 | Cloth Nappy Making, Fabric Guides, Fabric Information Guide, Sustainable Sewing

Hello! And welcome to day one of Real Nappy Week 2015. In this series I hope to share information about nappy making fabrics as well as letting you know about the offers we have running this week, so let’s talk about the offer first. Today you can enjoy up to 20% off PUL which is the waterproof layer used in a cloth nappy (as well as a whole host of other applications). We will be having different fabrics on offer each day. If you’d like to get involved in more than one offer but are worrying about the accrued postage costs – don’t! Just leave us a note at check out and ask us to hold your order until the end of the week then we’ll dispatch it all together and refund you any postage charges due. We also have 20% off nappy making kits all week long.

You can read the intro to this series here and the full series will be unravelling here

PUL in cloth nappies

I’ve already written about the composition and properties of PUL in this waterproof fabrics post and had an article published in Sewing World but today I’m going to talk specifically about PUL or polyurethane laminate in relation to cloth nappies. So why this fabric in particular? Well, it’s because not only is it completely waterproof (not water-resistant) it’s also breathable. I’m sure you’ve worn waterproof clothing that hasn’t been breathable at some point in your life and are familiar with that rather hot and clammy feeling. To ensure your baby’s bum doesn’t feel like that it’s important to use something breathable whist being waterproof. You need stop the wet from transferring on to your baby’s clothes and there are two ways you can layer PUL in a nappy.

1) as an outer fabric like the Bum Genius nappy pictured below. The fabric used here is, you guessed it… PUL.

2) As a hidden layer in between the outer layer (usually Plush/ minky) and an absorbent or stay dry layer. See the photo below to give you an idea where the PUL usually sits.

Well that wasn’t hard, was it? Please do have a read of my earlier post for more information and enjoy the PUL discount today, I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about absorbent fabrics.

Psssst! There’s still time to sign up with Billy in the Great British Nappy Hunt. You could win a £50 Plush Addict voucher, among other fab prizes

Boring Legal Bit: If you follow any tutorial or guidance found in this post, or on this blog, you agree to be bound by our disclaimer which can be viewed here

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