Help! I need some advice

[Wildrosebella]

Hi everyone,

I am utterly brand new to making cloth anything and I'm about to purchase some fabric to get started so I need some advice on how much fabric I should get. I plan on making pocket nappies, bamboo flats, cloth pads and breast pads and for that I will be purchasing Hemp Fleece, Bamboo Terry, Microfibre Towelling, elastic, and hooks & loops.

I have already purchased 5m worth of PUL (1-2m of that will be for a mattress pad). I've been told that each metre of the PUL will make about 6 pocket nappies (of which I want to make approx. 15), plus I want to use some of the PUL for my pads and breast pads.

I think I should only get one unit of Microfibre Towelling (33cm x 160cm) which will be enough for 5 inserts - do you think that's enough? I already have one BumGenius pocket nappy that came with two inserts. I also want to get the Green Kids starter pack which will come with two pocket nappies, two inserts and two boosters.

With the Bamboo Towelling (which comes in 50cmx150cm units) I'd like enough to make about a dozen squares (approx 60cmx60cm?) which I intend to use as both flat nappies and stuffers for the pockets. If I have some spare I'd like to use some in my cloth pads and breast pads too.

The Hemp Fleece (which comes in 100cmx140cm units) I want to use for my pads of which I'd like to make about a dozen, as well as 6 pairs of breast pads. Per pad I'll be using 3-6 layers depending on if I'll be making a day pad or night pad. Perhaps it's easier to work on a 50/50 split - 6 day pads at 3 layers each and 6 night pads at 6 layers each.

As for the elastic, hooks & loops how much should I get of them? They come in 1m units.

Thank you so much in advance!!

[Wildrosebella]

Actually, I might get some Microfleece too as the pocket bit that goes against the baby's skin and perhaps for the pads too (50cmx153cm unit).

TIA!

[Bek]

breastpads you can probably fit in the offcuts of the other stuff,
have you looked at the patterns for the nappies? often they will tell you how much you need. otherwise, just measure your pattern and see how big the rectangle you need will be, then grab a piece of paper and a pencil and draw up your layout on paper to see how much you need. it will vary depending on the size of nappy etc.
hth

[emd]

With 3m of the PUL, you should have no problem making 18 pocket nappies.

I reckon 5 microfibre inserts will be enough - I personally hate microfibre after having tried four different brands, but you might love it. Better to try it, then make more if you decide you like it.

There was discussion in one of the bamboo prefolds threads about some types of bamboo terry getting lots of snags and pulls when you use a snappi. You might want to consider this when choosing your bamboo terry.

Sorry, I'm not much help on working out quantities for pads and breast pads - I've always just used offcuts, or cut up my failed nappy-making attempts.

[Wildrosebella]

Thanks girls, I'll print out my patterns and have a good go at the maths of it all!

Thanks for the bamboo link Emma, I had a read through and the bamboo I'll be getting is a 95/5% composition which is similar to the 90/10% composition that Melinda tested and found to be better than 100% - so I hope I should be okay on that!

[Nicole_M]

I'm using Green Kids pockets for my little one and we're mostly using only the microfibre inserts...they're soft & not as bulky as the hemp inserts while she's little, super-absorbant (last her over her 8 hour night sleep) and we've not had one single BF poo blowout, not even in the carseat! I have 12 and find that's enough for 2 days now that she'ss 11 weeks old.

Nicole

[Wildrosebella]

Thanks Nicole! I ordered the Green Kids 2 nappy starter package which should arrive next week - I'm pretty excited about it

[littlesox]

Originally Posted by Nicole_M

I'm using Green Kids pockets for my little one and we're mostly using only the microfibre inserts...they're soft & not as bulky as the hemp inserts while she's little, super-absorbant (last her over her 8 hour night sleep) and we've not had one single BF poo blowout, not even in the carseat! I have 12 and find that's enough for 2 days now that she'ss 11 weeks old.

Wow, she must be a light wee-er!! I used just the m/f inserts sometimes in the early days because they are easy to stuff and like you, Nicole, found them nice & malleable for little legs but they def. wouldn't have lasted 8 hours ... not even 3 hours for my DS most of the time!

I now use my microfibre inserts (I think I have about 6) on top of a prefold or hourglass in a pocket for daytime naps. (I also use them in my night nappies (BBB or MM Honeyboy) underneath a piece of polarfleece which just about covers the whole nappy)

[Wildrosebella]

Originally Posted by Wildrosebella

Thanks Nicole! I ordered the Green Kids 2 nappy starter package which should arrive next week - I'm pretty excited about it

Waaaa! It didn't arrive last week *pout* Hopefully next week... she said she sent it last Friday... *is hanging out*

[Wildrosebella]

Yippee!! My nappies arrived this morning - I love them!