Hemp Question

[fiveredhens]

Hi,

I am new to the world of making cloth diapers. I have made some wool longies/soakers out of recylced sweaters, and had such a blast. I ordered some hemp jersey and want to make some soakers/prefolds. I am a total newbie to hemp, so my question may seem really simple. Do I need to wash the hemp before I sew to get it to the right size? I am worried about shrinking and am not sure how to proceed. I don't mind making things big and allowing for shrinakge, or washing first if necessary, but before I start cutting, I thought I would check the board for the answer. Thanks!

Jamie

[Sophiasmomma]

yes wash your hemp beofre sewing!!

[peekyboo]

Yep, you wash your hemp first. I washed mine several times so that when the diaper is made, it's ready to go!

Also, you should pre-wash any cotton-based materials and sherpa and terrycloth stuff...really, so far the only two that I have read that you don't need to prewash are fleece and PUL.