When making a wool soaker or wool longies from 100% wool recycled sweaters, you always want to felt the wool to make it thicker so that it has greater protection against wetness. During felting, the wool fibers join tightly together, permanently shrinking and thickening the sweater. Depending on the type of diaper item you are making you may want your sweater to be very felted (thick) or only a little felted (thinner). You should always felt the sweater before you make your diaper item, if you felt after the item will shrink and will be too small.
How to felt:
1) Put your sweaters into the washer, add some detergent, wash on hot, rinse on cold.
2) Dry on hot in the dryer. (Make sure you empty the lint catch, felting causes a lot of lint buildup)
3) Look at the thickness and stretchiness of your sweaters.....If you want them thicker repeat steps one and two. If not, go ahead and sew your soaker/longies/wraps from your newly felted sweater.
In general, washing on hot only once will not fully felt your sweater, it will only be partially felted. This is fine since you are looking for that particular texture to make your diaper item. However, because the wool is not fully felted, you must always wash that diaper item by hand so that it does not felt further. Putting it in the washer/dryer once it is sewn will only result in a super small diaper that will only fit a newborn (if your lucky!) A fully felted sweater will be very thick and very tight and not actually all that appealing to make a diaper with anyway (in my opinion). Washing by hand isn't really a problem because you are going to want to wash with Eucalan wool wash and lanolize with lanolin anyway.
Felting is really an art because in some ways you can control how felted the sweater is, by the number of times you wash and dry, but in other ways you can't: it never ceases to amaze me how each sweater comes out of the dryer looking totally different. Some shrink a ton right away and become thick matted rugs, others remain soft and manageable regardless of how many trips they take through the washer/dryer.
If you happen to over-felt a sweater or a diaper item check out this website, you may be able to save the item.....
Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Sewing tips
~Always wash all fabrics and elastics before sewing.
~Use paper clips, bobby pins, or clothes pins when working with PUL. Using pins will add holes that will cause leaking.
~To increase or decrease the size of a pattern proportionally, take the pattern to a copy store and increase or decrease it by 5% in a photocopier, until you get the size you want.
~When checking to see if a diaper pattern will fit your little one, measure their thigh (all around the thickest part on the angle), their waist, and their rise (from belly button, through the crotch, to the back where their belly button would be). If the diaper will be made of stretchy material (wool soaker) such as fleece or wool then the measurements of the diaper pattern should be the same as your little one. If the diaper will be made of non-stretchy material (waterproof trainers) the diaper pattern should be quite a bit bigger then your little one's measurements and the length of the leg and waist elastic (at rest) should be the same size as our little one. Otherwise the elastic will be too tight and leave red marks (ouch!).
~To add a 1/4" seam allowance to a pattern, attach two pens together with an elastic and draw all the way around the pattern. By running one pen along the edge of the pattern the other pen will draw a line 1/4" on the outside. You can do the same thing on the inside of the pattern to get rid of a seam allowance.
~When serging around corners, run the fabric so that it just touches the knife but does not cut. This will allow you to turn the fabric quickly enough to make it around the curves. When the knife has to cut through the fabric it slows the machine down and will cause you to have a misshappen curves.
~If you need to remove a snap you can squish it sideways with pliers and then pull the top off. Before replacing it, zig zag a scrap of fabric right over the hole to prevent the new snap from pulling through the old hole.
~When marking snap placements on a pattern use a hole punch. That way you can easily transfer the markings to fabric by making a dot through the hole in the pattern onto the fabric.
~Use paper clips, bobby pins, or clothes pins when working with PUL. Using pins will add holes that will cause leaking.
~To increase or decrease the size of a pattern proportionally, take the pattern to a copy store and increase or decrease it by 5% in a photocopier, until you get the size you want.~When checking to see if a diaper pattern will fit your little one, measure their thigh (all around the thickest part on the angle), their waist, and their rise (from belly button, through the crotch, to the back where their belly button would be). If the diaper will be made of stretchy material (wool soaker) such as fleece or wool then the measurements of the diaper pattern should be the same as your little one. If the diaper will be made of non-stretchy material (waterproof trainers) the diaper pattern should be quite a bit bigger then your little one's measurements and the length of the leg and waist elastic (at rest) should be the same size as our little one. Otherwise the elastic will be too tight and leave red marks (ouch!).
~To add a 1/4" seam allowance to a pattern, attach two pens together with an elastic and draw all the way around the pattern. By running one pen along the edge of the pattern the other pen will draw a line 1/4" on the outside. You can do the same thing on the inside of the pattern to get rid of a seam allowance.
~When serging around corners, run the fabric so that it just touches the knife but does not cut. This will allow you to turn the fabric quickly enough to make it around the curves. When the knife has to cut through the fabric it slows the machine down and will cause you to have a misshappen curves.~If you need to remove a snap you can squish it sideways with pliers and then pull the top off. Before replacing it, zig zag a scrap of fabric right over the hole to prevent the new snap from pulling through the old hole.
~When marking snap placements on a pattern use a hole punch. That way you can easily transfer the markings to fabric by making a dot through the hole in the pattern onto the fabric.
Sewing with wool
When sewing with wool remember to always make you absorbent soaker removable from the wool cover. 
The soaker has to be washed in the washer and the wool cover has to hand washed, if they are sewn together you will not be able to wash them properly. If you lanolize your absorbent soaker you are really making it un-absorbent!
FOE~
If you are tempted to use FOE with your wool cover, you may want to think again. Although I have heard of Mommas doing this with success, it doesn't make any sense to me. The FOE will just not behave as the wool does, it will get smelly faster and the wool cover will have to be washed more frequently then a cover without FOE. Your best bet is to use two layers of wool and hide the elastic between the two layers:
If you really want one layer of wool you could try using a wool binding to hide the elastic.
Wool soaker~
Here is a terrific free wool soaker pattern (for over top of a prefold or fitted).
You can go to your local Salvation Army and pick up some cheap 100% wool sweaters, felt them, and create some really nice covers in about 30 min. I used a serger but you can also use a wide, close together zig zag for the same effect.
Check out my wool-in-two training pants instructions for a unique trainer that allows for breathability waterproofness.
Nursing pads~
One Momma I was talking to had a great idea for wool nursing pads. These nursing pads would have two parts. The first part would be a single layer lanolized wool circle, 4" in diameter, the second part would be a 3 or 4 layer flannel circle that is serged or zig zagged. Layered one on top of the other and placed in your bra, thus would create a waterproof, absorbent system that could combat any leak! I'm certainly going to try this for the next baby (right now I don't leak anymore!).
I think this wool + flannel concept could be applied to Momma pads, although I think it would be necessary to snap the flannel to the wool to prevent shifting.
The soaker has to be washed in the washer and the wool cover has to hand washed, if they are sewn together you will not be able to wash them properly. If you lanolize your absorbent soaker you are really making it un-absorbent!FOE~
If you are tempted to use FOE with your wool cover, you may want to think again. Although I have heard of Mommas doing this with success, it doesn't make any sense to me. The FOE will just not behave as the wool does, it will get smelly faster and the wool cover will have to be washed more frequently then a cover without FOE. Your best bet is to use two layers of wool and hide the elastic between the two layers:
If you really want one layer of wool you could try using a wool binding to hide the elastic.Wool soaker~
Here is a terrific free wool soaker pattern (for over top of a prefold or fitted).
You can go to your local Salvation Army and pick up some cheap 100% wool sweaters, felt them, and create some really nice covers in about 30 min. I used a serger but you can also use a wide, close together zig zag for the same effect.Check out my wool-in-two training pants instructions for a unique trainer that allows for breathability waterproofness.
Nursing pads~
One Momma I was talking to had a great idea for wool nursing pads. These nursing pads would have two parts. The first part would be a single layer lanolized wool circle, 4" in diameter, the second part would be a 3 or 4 layer flannel circle that is serged or zig zagged. Layered one on top of the other and placed in your bra, thus would create a waterproof, absorbent system that could combat any leak! I'm certainly going to try this for the next baby (right now I don't leak anymore!).
I think this wool + flannel concept could be applied to Momma pads, although I think it would be necessary to snap the flannel to the wool to prevent shifting.
Washing and lanolizing wool
I love using wool for covers. It is so breathable and soft. Wool does require special care:
Washing wool~
Wool covers only need to be washed when they are soiled or start to smell like urine. Wool should be washed with a wool wash such as Eucalan to ensure that the water repellant lanolin is not washed out.
1) Put a teaspoon of Eucalan in the bottom of a big pot/bowl.
2) Fill the pot with warm water and swish until the Eucalan is dissovled.
3) Put in your wool and let it sit for 15-30 min.
4) Take out the wool, squeeze SOME water out (or you will be wringing out the lanolin) and lay flat on a towel on a drying rack.
5) Use when it is dry.
Lanolizing Wool~
I actually tend to wash and lanolize at the same time since my wool never gets soiled.
Lanolizing sould be done every 2 weeks or when the covers seem to feel wetter on the outside. This means they are not repelling the moisture as well.
1) Put 1 teaspoon of Eucalan wool wash and 1/2 teaspoon lanolin into your pot/bowl.
2) Fill the pot 1/4 full with hot hot water and stir until the lanolin is dissolved (this is important to avoid a big lanolin spot on your wool.)
3) Continue to fill the pot with warm water and put in your wool, make sure the water is only warm so that the wool item will not begin to felt.
4) Let the wool sit for 15-30 min. Add more warm water if necessary or the lanolin will come out of the water and you will see a film floating on top. Do not panic if this happens just add more warm water until it dissolves again.
5) Take the wool out and squeeze SOME of the water out. Lay it flat on a towel on a drying rack.
6) Use when it is dry.
Sometimes the wool feels sticky when it is dry. This just means that there is a lot of lanolin on the item, this will wear off after the first wearing.
A great soap bar for getting out stains in wool is called the Sudz and Dudz wool wash bar, this bar has lanolin in it so it will not remove that from you wool item. In addition, it miraculously removes any kind of stain old and new!
Washing wool~
Wool covers only need to be washed when they are soiled or start to smell like urine. Wool should be washed with a wool wash such as Eucalan to ensure that the water repellant lanolin is not washed out.
1) Put a teaspoon of Eucalan in the bottom of a big pot/bowl.
2) Fill the pot with warm water and swish until the Eucalan is dissovled.
3) Put in your wool and let it sit for 15-30 min.
4) Take out the wool, squeeze SOME water out (or you will be wringing out the lanolin) and lay flat on a towel on a drying rack.
5) Use when it is dry.
Lanolizing Wool~
I actually tend to wash and lanolize at the same time since my wool never gets soiled.
Lanolizing sould be done every 2 weeks or when the covers seem to feel wetter on the outside. This means they are not repelling the moisture as well.
1) Put 1 teaspoon of Eucalan wool wash and 1/2 teaspoon lanolin into your pot/bowl.
2) Fill the pot 1/4 full with hot hot water and stir until the lanolin is dissolved (this is important to avoid a big lanolin spot on your wool.)
3) Continue to fill the pot with warm water and put in your wool, make sure the water is only warm so that the wool item will not begin to felt.
4) Let the wool sit for 15-30 min. Add more warm water if necessary or the lanolin will come out of the water and you will see a film floating on top. Do not panic if this happens just add more warm water until it dissolves again.
5) Take the wool out and squeeze SOME of the water out. Lay it flat on a towel on a drying rack.
6) Use when it is dry.Sometimes the wool feels sticky when it is dry. This just means that there is a lot of lanolin on the item, this will wear off after the first wearing.
A great soap bar for getting out stains in wool is called the Sudz and Dudz wool wash bar, this bar has lanolin in it so it will not remove that from you wool item. In addition, it miraculously removes any kind of stain old and new!
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