new to wool - help please!!

[violet]

Okay, I'm preg with my third and I'm just now getting into wool. The other two were diapered with prefolds and wraps, but night time leaks wore me down and, sigh, i used sposies at night. Sorry, it's true. But I hope to do better this time. I'm trying to make some soakers before the sprout arrives.

Q-- I washed and dried some 100%wool sweaters but they don't seem to have shrunk that much. Some, certainly not wearable anymore, but how do I know they are done shrinking and are ready to cut for soakers?

This will reveal my ignorance -- do you just diaper with a prefold or something and then slide the soaker over? So it works like a wrap only a slide on version? So I can go ahead and size it to fit over a standard diaper butt with a double or something if necessary?

How many soakers do you have for each size? I have info on the washing and lanolizing, but won't the wool airdry well and how many uses between washes?

Thanks,
violet

[walkinthepark]

You can wash again if the sweater doesn't look like it is done shrinking. You can make pull on type soakers or you can use a wrap style cover with velcro or snaps. It depends on what you prefer. I think it's nice to have a couple of soakers to alternate if one needs to be washed. I usually turn my soakers inside out when I take them off in the morning so they call air out. If they start to stink I wash it. Usually, every week or two. I hope I answered all you questions. Really it's just trial and error. Experiment and do what works best for you.

Valerie

[woolywahm]

Hi!

I'm so glad you are trying out wool. I had lots of friends into cotton prefolded diapers and wool covers when I had my son and started on that path myself. As a seamstress, I decided I could start making my own wooly covers out of sweaters and soon my friends all wanted them too. One of my friends made her own diapers out of recycled flannels. Now I make pull up covers and longies and other woolly ensembles. I have found that a pull up cover works quite well with either a tapered waistline or some elastic.

The wool doesn't need to shrink much in order to work. I've washed hundreds of sweaters and some don't shrink at all and still prove very useful. If you search under my username you can read some of the other threads I made and responded to about exactly this kind of thing, but basically, I wash hot on a heavy duty cycle to ensure the most agitation, dry in the dryer and sometimes repeat. One of my friends keeps turning the washer to the agitation cycle 3 or 4 more times so that she gets the most action on the wool. I have noticed that some sweaters shrink a lot on the second washing as well, and one thing to watch out for is shrinking them too much because they can become quite thick which makes it difficult to sew them.

The covers I really liked that I started basing my design ideas off of were made of 2 fairly thinnish layers of ribknit (very stretchy) wool that were wider at the bottom and slender at the waist. They didn't need elastic because the taper held them up. You may want to experiment with this a little. Measure the little one's waist, or some little one's waist if you want to make them before your's arrives. The stretchiness of the wool also factors in. If it is really felted it usually wont stretch as much and should be cut a little bigger. If you plan to use cloth diapers you will need to make them a little bigger also to accomodate the bigger bum.

Does this help to get you started?

[Kari_mom]

You can certainly snappi or pin a prefold on and use pull-on wool covers/soakers over them. You could also make wool wraps and tri-fold prefolds if the wrap is snug enough. Or do a combo of both. I like wraps under clothing and soakers as clothing, it makes changing easy at home. For a new baby you might also want to think about some longies, or sweater pants to keep him/her warm.

I prefer lightly felted wool, not fully shrunken. It works great and still has nice stretch so that it fits well and comfortably. I've over-felted some sweaters that are so stiff, they are practically useless and not comfy at all. Once through the washer (hot/cold cycle) and dryer is plenty to me. My stuff might be able to shrink more, but I handwash it all anyway so it isn't a big deal.

I like to have around three wraps and four pairs of shorts for summer, three wraps and 6 pairs of sweater pants for winter. You will probably need to air your covers between wearings, newborns especially tend to soak their diapers and since wool is absorbant, it will be damp too. I wash when the covers get food or poo or other dirt on them that doesn't shake out. Otherwise my covers last for weeks without washing, thanks to the wonders of lanolin.

You didn't ask about this, but I thought I would offer this observation especially since you are used to PUL/nylon covers. Wool covers and onsies can be hard to use together, as can wool with typical newborn/infant clothing cut for trimmer disposible diapers. Wool isn't as trim, and you can get wicking if you fasten onsies over wool soakers. Some moms don't have a problem at all. I found that I couldn't use much of the clothing I had collected from three previous children with my fourth, who is 100% cloth diapered with a preference for wool. I could use most of it if I used PUL covers. Just something to think about.

I also wanted to suggest that you might try fitteds for night-time diapering under wool. I think fitteds designed for night-time use are much more absorbant than prefolds, which in combo with wool will likely solve your leaking problems.

Good luck!

[jillybeans]

oh wool is so easy! Have you seen this site?
http://diaperfabric.wahmart.com/stor...llary.asp?ID=3

We use prefolds under our soakers, with a snappi. As far as number, i got away with two super-soakers for night (either super felted or wool doublers in there) and three for day time. Oh, and now that i've been doing it for a while(actually selling them now!) i realize that depending on the sweater, you really don't need to felt! Not felting keeps the stretch in.