PUL facing the "wrong" way....

[Shaunam]

I've seen this mentioned before, as a way to help prevent outer prints from wicking. You face the shiny side towards the outer of the diaper. Does this work?

I want to make some cute covers with outer prints and want to reduce wicking as much as possible. Plus, I don't want the shiny side next to his skin. If I were pinning or snappi'ing the prefolds, I wouldn't mind the shiny side next to his body and would do it my regular way to avoid the confusion, but I trimmed all my prefolds so I could tri-fold them without folding down in the front (I'm LOVING the trimmed prefolds, BTW) and a considerable amount of the cover will touch his skin.

Any input? Thanks!

[JLav]

If I use an outer fabric (like a cute print) on the outside of my cover than I turn the PUL so the shiny side is facing in. I just think it looks better that way. I haven't noticed any wicking, but the fabric can absorb a small amount of pee so it limits how many times the cover can be worn before it's washed. Unlike a cover with the shiny side facing that can just be wiped off. I think the 2-layer method works the best with PUL, if you try to tt a cover or diaper that way it will wick for sure.

[boscopup]

One of my first covers was made this way, and it worked great. I recommend binding in FOE. It can wick quicker than a one-layer PUL cover, but it still takes a pretty saturated diaper to wick, usually. Like JLav said, you can't re-use it quite as much, but it can be re-used. In fact, I just put DS down for a nap in the cover pictured in that link, and I have NO worries of him leaking.

[UnskulinMama]

Maybe I'm the odd one out here... I've always made my PUL/Print covers with the shiny side facing the baby. (I use fitteds or snappied prefolds, so I don't worry about the shiny fabric touching skin.) This way, at the legs, where the PUL touches the print, it's the shiny, non-wicking side of the PUL. (I actually do T&T these covers, and only really have a problem if the diaper is *really* saturated or not tucked in properly. I wouldn't use them for overnight, but for daytime they're good.)

I don't like the idea of having the fabric-y side in contact with a wet diaper. It seems like it'd be a lot more likely to wick out the legs (where the fabricy-PUL touches the outer print fabric) than the other way around.

[boscopup]

If you use FOE, the fabrics aren't touching each other. That's why it doesn't wick as easily as a T&T cover would.

[Shaunam]

Thanks! I was planning on using FOE. I was guessing that it would be like the inside of a Bummis cover. They are polyester on both sides and the laminate is sandwiched between them, right? Bummis tend to smell quicker than other covers because they absorb some, but I love Bummis anyways. I can usually use them 4-6 times, maybe more, before they are noticibly smelly.

[boscopup]

Yeah, Bummis are "sandwich PUL", so it's actually one piece of fabric made up of two knit sides and laminate inbetween, as opposed to the two separate fabrics most of us use. You can get sandwich PUL, but it's hard to find. I've seen it in one co-op 2-3 months ago, but haven't seen it in any online fabric stores.

But like you, I use my print outer/PUL inner 4-6 times before washing, and it's fine.