[cherubess]

I have made some boosters from hemp fleece that I only received a few weeks ago.

Initially I washed it in hot water and then warm water in the next few washes.

I cut out rectangles, folded the hemp fleece in half, then straight stitched near the edge to keep it together and zig zagged right along the edge as I do not have a serger or overlocker.

A few washes later I have noticed little holes/fraying appearing on quite a few of these hemp boosters, namely where the stitching has been done.

I wash in warm or cold water only in a front loader and then line dry.

Is this normal? Should I not have used hemp fleece for boosters?

I am new to diaper making so any advice would be helpful.

Prior to this I purchased cloth nappies and they are cotton terry material. I thought that I'd give hemp a try as I'd heard that it was good and making my own I thought that it would work out cheaper.

Now it seems that I have made an expensive mistake

 

[ReneeC]

I don't think it's a problem with the hemp fleece itself, because the first cotton terry doublers I made did the same thing, and I had used a serger to make them. I trimmed them down and restitched them--I serged the edge and did an extra line of straight stitching on the regular machine next to the serged edge, but with more stitches per inch, which seems to have solved the problem. I think it's just due to wear from the washing machine's agitator.

 

[kokonutmama]

I think it may be a problem inherent to fleece fabric. The fuzziness comes from brushing the surface and actually breaking some of the yarn. Some fabrics are better than others, of course, but I think all told fleece is more likely to develop holes for this reason.
I guess the solution is to reinforce your seams to more evenly distribute any pulling, as pp already said.