Nappyneedz

I keep having all kinds of ideas for different cloth nappies, and every now and again I actually get the chance to actually sew some of these ideas and spend some time designing cloth nappies.  Recently I’ve been working on a brand new pull up cloth nappy. Designing cloth nappies When I start designing cloth nappies, I usually start with an idea and then think about how I could make that work.  With this new pull up cloth nappy I wanted to come up with something that would work as a full nappy, but still could be pulled up and down, to make it easier for children that just won’t sit still.  First of all I tried making a pull up cloth nappy, based on my initial ideas, and then trying it out on my own children. A working cloth nappy After this initial stage the next stage when designing cloth nappies, would be to make a second working nappy with a few changes based on my first trial.  I had a lovely embroidery that I wanted to use, so I made a version of my pull up nappy for m...

Prefold cloth nappies are one of the simplest, and most straight forward nappy types on the market, but how should you use them.  What are the advantages and disadvantages when considering padfold v’s snappi? What’s the best way for you to use your cloth nappies? Padfolding Padfolding is when you simply fold the cloth nappy into a pad shape and place it directly into the nappy cover, but how does it stand up when you are thinking about padfold vs snappi?  Is padfolding enough?  The great thing about pad folding is that it is very simple and straightforward to do.  You can fold all of your cloth nappies ready to place in the cover when you come to use them, and then you don’t have to mess around with getting everything ready.  If you have a good quality cover, such as our fantastic ecobots cover, with leg gussets which make it extra bomb proof and reliable, then pad folding is probably all you need to do.   For speed and ease of use, then you can’t really bea...

Hemp has long been one of my favourite fabrics to use in cloth nappies, but it can be a bit tricky to get it right, so here are our helpful hemp hints, to help you get the most out of your hemp nappy inserts. When to use hemp We’ll start our hemp hints with when to use hemp:  Hemp is super absorbent, and so it makes a fantastic insert for night nappies.  You can of course use it during the day, but as it is hard to dry, I tend to only use it for night times.  We currently use hemp boosters in our night time version of the dinky nappy , because they add a great level of absorbency to the nappy, without being too bulky.  Hemp is often compared to bamboo in terms of absorbency, and while some people say that they haven’t noticed any difference, I certainly find hep the more absorbent of the two.  You can get whole nappies made out of hemp too, although the length of time that they take to dry, and the fact that they can get a little stiff, has always put me off fitted hemp napp...

I often come across people one line asking “have I ruined my nappies?” when they find out that they (or someone else) has done something to their cloth nappies that isn’t recommended.  If you’ve been wondering “have I ruined my cloth nappies” and want to know how to fix things, then here we’ll look at some common cloth nappy issues. Washing with fabric softeners Back when my oldest son was tiny we went to stay at my parents for Christmas, my Mum very kindly washed his nappies and used fabric softener.  The next time I used them, they all leaked, my first thought was “have I ruined my nappies?” When it comes to cloth nappies, fabric softeners are a no no, because the softeners coat the fibres and stop the nappies from being absorbent.  It’s also important to make sure that you don’t use a washing powder that has a fabric softener in it, as this will have the same effect.  If you have used fabric softeners on your nappies, ...