Thursday, July 18, 2013

Which fabric is best for diaper inserts?

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is...which fabric is best for diaper inserts?

Here's my quick answer:

Organic cotton - Cotton is durable and the long-time standard for cloth diapers. It's easy to get clean, and it can be bleached if needed. Average time to absorb wetness, average time to dry.

Bamboo - Usually blended with organic cotton, bamboo is a delicate fabric. It's virtues are that it absorbs wetness more quickly than cotton. After washing, bamboo is quicker to dry than all-cotton. On the downside, bamboo will show wear more quickly.

Hemp - Looks the least refined, but can really soak. Hemp is slower to absorb than cotton or bamboo but can hold more wetness. It also takes the longest to dry.

Microfiber Terry - Absorbs like the dickens. Takes special care in handling and sewing, but once it's sewn up many people swear by it. Quick to dry. Cannot touch the skin, so must be topped with some other fabric like suedecloth.

We have a lot of different absorbent fabrics, so you can choose what you like best. There is no one perfect fabric!

What would I use?

If I wanted to make a premium diaper, I would use bamboo fleece (sewn smooth sides out), possibly topped with bamboo velour. For an extra-trim diaper, I would go with bamboo french terry. And for an ultra-premium diaper I would choose double loop terry because it doesn't shrink and stays soft even when lined dried. I would know that my inserts might not last several kids if washed a lot, but my bamboo inserts would perform beautifully.

If I had a super soaker kiddo, I would go with hemp fleece or hemp french terry to make separate nap and night boosters. If my baby was a super-super soaker, I would do the entire insert out of hemp or microfiber terry.

If I needed inserts that would last through several kids, and cost was a factor, I would go with organic cotton. I would not have to be picky about rinsing out all the detergent (important for bamboo!) every washing. I could hang the inserts to dry and then finish with a quick fluff in the dryer.

The fantastic thing about sewing for yourself is that you can try different combinations of fabrics.

9 comments:

  1. Will there be a problem if I made some of the bamboo fleece inserts with the fuzzy side sewn out? I had not realized it should be the smooth side out until several inserts into them. Will this cause a problem? Thanks!

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    1. Bamboo fleece sewn with the fuzzy side facing out seems like it should be the logical way to do it--that super softness would be against the baby's skin. However, you might see a couple problems. The fuzzy side will be more difficult to clean if you ever need to scrub. The other thing is that over time the fuzzy side will shed off a bit and end up in your dryer lint collector due to the mildly abrasive action of tumbling around in the dryer. Your fuzzy side out inserts will function, they just might not last quite as long.

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    2. Never made inserts before, just purchased microfiber terry and the hemp french terry. Your above post says I can make the entire insert out of one or the other correct? Would it be better to combine them? I am making inserts for size 1 (nb-small) pocket diapers using the babyville patterns.

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    3. Many times a combination of fibers will give the best absorbency for your baby. The difficulty is when fabrics made of different fibers shrink at different rates - when sewn together, and then washed, the insert may twist or buckle. Often people pre-wash the fabric before sewing to solve this difficulty. But be aware: you cannot pre-wash microfiber terry! You could make one test insert using microfiber terry sandwiched between the hemp, and then wash and see how it does.

      In a production manufacturing setting, fabric is not prewashed. Rather than mix fiber types, the insert might be designed with two layers microfiber terry sewn together as one petal. Two layers hemp sewn together would form another petal. Tack the petals these together at a couple points, and there you have it! The benefits of both fibers, without worrying about pre-washing fabric or different shrink rates.

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  2. I want to make fitted diapers for my son who pees a LOT. We often travel to places where we have to wash by hand and don't have a dryer. So basically I need to make a diaper that is absorbent, has a decent dry time, and is durable and can stand the test of time. What would you suggest. I was thinking organic cotton pocket fitteds. How many layers would you suggest making the fitted diaper (I know for inserts you say at least six layers)? Thanks for your help!

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    1. Personally, I would not do fitteds because in that situation they will take too long to dry. I would do a PUL cover, in which I would lay inserts. I would sew the inserts as a 2 layer rectangle of organic cotton french terry, that would then be tri-folded (like a prefold) and laid into the cover. This type of component system lets you re-use the cover for several changes. The absorbent part is essentially a rectangle of cloth that you can hand wash and hang to dry - and it's not too thick so you have a reasonable dry time.

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  3. Can you suggest where to buy? I would like to stitch it myself, but I do not have the time.


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    1. There are many, many cloth diaper companies online. A few simple searches might overwhelm you. Try itsybitsybums.com as a place to start.

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