[Fluffhead]

Hey mamas.....I havent been around much lately between having my baby (she was born 5-27 the day after my bday) and trying to develop our little diaper pattern and keeping up with my other two heathrens..ahem I mean kids...

but things are starting to regulate into more of a routine which means more sewing time for me! SO here is a question I have...

I am making some VB AIO's for a friend of mine..I am using the pattern and they are size small. I am wanting to use a regular cotton print fabric as the outer...so I guess what I am wondering is, do I cut the cotton print the same size as the PUL fabric and sandwich the PUL fabric in between the cotton print and the absorbant inner fabrics? I hope that makes sense. The outer print fabric is not waterproof nor is it a laminate so I obviously have to use the PUL fabric. What do you think?

 

[onediaperinmama]

An outer cotton print will wick moisture at the legs due to how the VB AIO is constructed, I recommend not using a print and just using plain PUL. However, if you can find a polyester print or even a cotton/polyester blend you'll have less wicking at the leg area. But I think a cotton print on the outside would wick almost immediately.

 

[DandK]

I'm honestly not sure the amount of cotton in the print fabric that I've been using but the way you described is how I've been making my dipes and the ladies that have tested them so far have had no problems. Well after 3 hours they have but frankly my kids never sat in a dipe 3 hours except overnight. For night time dipes I think we're just going to use covers and prefolds.

One thing you have to make sure when using a print is that you have the diaper layer right before you sew. See the topic my sewing laugh for the day.

 

[onediaperinmama]

She's making VB AIOS, the PUL rolls in on the legs - if she sews a cotton outer on the outside, the cotton outer will roll in on the legs and almost certainly cause wicking.

You could cut the PUL layer and the cotton layer along the birdseye inner cut line and turn and topstitch but there is still a risk of wicking, I wouldn't use them for night time.

 

[lizabird]

The first time I tried making AIOs, I used PUL with another cotton layer onthe outside, and I had a ton of wicking. I think if you used a polyester fabric outside you wouldn't have that problem but of course your cute prints are much more limited. I don't know anything about the VB pattern, but I think if you used cotton on the outside, you would have wicking with just about anything.

 

[onandon]

Are covers with an outer print made by layering PUL and print and binding with FOE? If so could you bind the whole VB AIO with FOE to make a cotton print AIO?

I just bought a beautiful print I'd love to use!

 

[DandK]

Ahh Ok Jessica guess I didn't catch that part. The ones I make the layer next to babies skin rolls out.

 

[tippytoes26]

Even with a poly print, you might have wicking very fast. Make sure it's pre-washed and dried and then, take a little water and sprinkle it on the fabric,if it soaks in right away, it'll wick just as quickly. If it takes a few seconds, you *might* be able to get away with it because the urine will have a chance to get soaked up by the cotton inner instead of soaking into the print

There are lots of other ways to spruce up an AIO.. there are some really neat iron on (yes.. you can iron it on the knit side if you are careful) designs that you can print on your computer, and even those little appliques/embroidery things that you can get (usually theya re iron on) will stay on with just a few stitches and it's far less likely to wick than a print. You know those little tiny ribbon roses in the ribbons section? THey look SO sweet sewn onto the wings.. like right ther in the center of each square you stitch for the aplix. .. Just some ideas. Start thinking about it, and you can find some really fun ways to spruce up a plain AIO. or, shorten the wings by the same amount as the hook tab, then add actual "tabs" and cover them with the print you love.

To me, it's just too much work and expense to make a dipaer that doesnt work all that well. The VB pattern is designed a certain way.. and that way is really wonderful for solid PUL or print PUL, but not a print over the PUL.

the mama bird pattern has a neat way to make an AIO using FOE and you can easily use a print over it with less wicking risk.

HTH!
Amber