Category — Fabric

So, you’ve decided you want to try making cloth diapers for your baby yourself, but you have no idea where to start.  Hopefully, I can help you get started by providing you with some useful information in this post. [Read more →]

Recently, I came across some scary information on polyester. Originally, I discovered that information on the Firefly Diaper website, but then I noticed it was also up on the Diaper Pin site here.

The information in the article that concerned me the most was that polyester slowly emits endocrine disruptors which can promote certain types of cancer. I’ve always believed that natural fibres were better for babies (and adults) however, polyester can be found in so many clothing items that it’s hard to think it might be harmful. I believed polyester was completely safe until my daughter started showing some sensitivity to the microfleece and suedecloth in her cloth diapers at 4 or 5 months of age. After that I became a little more cautious about using polyester clothing. That cautiousness lasted a few months until I needed some warm sleepers for my daughter. I decided to try fleece sleepers which are available everywhere. Finding sleepers made of natural fibres that fit a tall toddler is almost impossible. So, we tried fleece sleepers and my daughter hated them which did not surprise me because I do not like to sleep in fleece anything. I feel almost as if I was wrapped in a tight bag that wasn’t allowing much airflow. Even during the day, I have trouble wearing fleece tops.

So, is polyester safe or not? You decide…

Zorb(TM) is one of Wazoodle’s DiaperMaker fabrics.  According to the manufacturer, “Zorb absorbs 10x its weight in less than half a second — that’s 20x faster than cotton, bamboo or hemp. Zorb has incredible holding power too, a single layer holds up to 3 times the moisture of the best absorbing knits”.  How could that not make you want to try this new fabric?

The popularity of Zorb has been on the rise.  A lot of cloth diapering moms think it’s a solution to their night-time cloth diapering problems.  Some think it’s miracle cloth… at least until they try it.

As a lot of you know, I make Zorb doublers.  The doublers are actually made of two layers of OekoTex certified bamboo fleece and one layer of Zorb.  I think a lot of people forget about the bamboo fleece part of the doubler.  They forget that bamboo fleece itself is very absorbent (after several washes of course), that Zorb alone does not do all the hard work.

Zorb(TM) and Bamboo Fleece Doubler

Here are some pros and cons of using Zorb that I’ve experienced:

PROS:

• Quite absorbent
• Does not retain odours
• More cushy than bamboo fleece by itself
• Cheaper than bamboo, hemp and organic cotton.

CONS:

• I hate sewing with it.  I find that I’m spending more time serging Zorb doublers than bamboo fleece only doublers.  I also tend to make more mistakes when sewing with Zorb than without.
• I find the absorbency of one layer to be comparable to that of two layers of the thinner bamboo fleece.  Note that 1 layer of Zorb is approximately as thick as 2 layers of my thinner bamboo fleece.
• It’s not made of natural fibres only.  Might not bother most cloth diapering people out there, but it does bother me a little.  If you looked at my diaper stash, you’d see that most of my diapers are made of natural fibres only.

So, what do you think about Zorb?  What has been your experience with it?

Organic Bamboo Velour

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been making bamboo cloth diapers, doublers, inserts and cloth wipes for a few months now.  I fell in love with bamboo fabric, when my daughter became a heavy wetter and cotton diapers failed to hold the HUGE amounts of pee that came out of this little baby at night.  We actually ended up using disposables for a couple of months until I discovered bamboo fleece.  Around that time I started making diapers, so I decided to play a bit with different fabrics and try to find out which one would work best for us.  After doing some online research, I decided to order some bamboo velour, bamboo fleece, bamboo loop terry, and bamboo french terry.  I also tried hemp fleece, but never got hooked on that stuff.  I found it too rough after a few washes and it stained more easily.  It also has a tendency to get a bit more stinky than bamboo.  That’s my experience though.  I know a lot of people out there LOVE hemp fleece.

After some extensive testing courtesy of my daughter, I decided to go with bamboo fleece because of its absorbency and softness.  Bamboo velour felt softer than bamboo fleece, but it just wasn’t absorbent enough.  Although velour is a a great fabric to have as the inside layer of a diaper, right against baby’s skin.  I also love the fabric for cloth wipes / washcloths.

If you’d like to read about the benefits of bamboo, check out the following article:

http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/benefits-of-bamboo-fabric-547961.html

I just love that bamboo does not require pesticides to grow and that it’s anti-bacterial.