My prefolds are getting stiffer, not softer

[coldandsleepy]

We've been diapering our son in unbleached Indian prefolds. Before he was born, I boiled all of the diapers about three times to get the cotton oils out. They were line dried after each boiling. (We don't have a dryer.) They were fairly soft at that point.

Since then, we've been washing them with a diaper-friendly detergent more or less every other day and line drying them. Instead of getting softer or even just staying at the same roughness level, they seem to be getting more and more stiff and coarse feeling! Aaah! A couple of the diapers are nice and soft, but most of them are just really rough and icky feeling.

I've tried adding vinegar to the wash, and I've also tried the Ecover fabric softener. Neither seems to make any difference.

Do I need to boil/strip them again? Is there some other diaper safe fabric softener I should try? Are line dried prefolds just really stiff and coarse?

I should mention that they are still perfectly absorbent at this point. It's not a problem beyond us being concerned that they're too rough to put on our baby's soft skin!

[Chloe'sMama]

I did dry my prefolds a few times before starting them on the line, but I notice they are crunchier when I dry them on the line.

I shake them out really well before putting them on the line and then again when I get them off and that seems to help a bit.

do you have a drier you can use once or twice just to fluff them up a bit?

[bremen]

my line-dried prefolds get stiff, too. ironing helps them feel softer

[SuzyLee]

I line dry and mine are stiff too. I don't worry about it. If you bunch them up and rub the fabric against itself they soften up a little.

[npl]

Try taking them down before they are 100% totally dry, and see if that helps. Also, flexing them, like pps have suggested.
I used to dry them outside in a very hot climate and would find they dried so fast I didn't get to them until they were bone dry and stiff as a board. I would hang them in pairs, back to back, so that they would dry more slowly. I also finished them in the dryer with a wet towel, but that's not an option for you.
I wonder if hanging them in a damper environment (bathroom?) would help?

[octobermom]

Yea sadly line dried only prefolds jsut don't stay super soft and fluffy. Try drying slower (pin a few together on the line) take off before 100% dried and snap them to soften a bit. They'l be fine just not as soft as a dryer could.

Deanna