Hi
Just got my first couple of metres of bamboo fleece to make some inserts, boosters, prefolds etc, and was wondering, should I wash it a few times first or just jump in and make them then wash? Just worried about the shrinkage....

Cheers
Ky

NO, definately PREWASH FIRST!!!!

you need to do TWO hot washes, and two hot tumble dries for bamboo fleece.

shrinkage WILL happen
much fluff will get collected in the drier
but then you will have peace of mind when you sew

i also iron the ends of the fabric, to make cutting out easier

$10 titanium scissors from woolworths food supermarket in haby section or spotlight sell them too - cut thru the babmoo fine.

a steel ruler and a washable texta helped too

denim or heavy duty sewing needles are good for bamboo and hemp, being such fibrous fabrics

sew with polyester not cotton, thread

bamboo is expensive, so work out what you are going to do, BEFORE you cut it all out.

it's a wonky fabric to cut out, so the long steel ruler helped me no end.

If you dont wash, you should expect shrinkage to be about 20%, so will need to allow all over in your pattern for that If you've only got a few metres, I would cu it into to 1 metre lots then wash in hot and dry on hot in the dryer, to get most of the shrinkage out of the way. you'll probably find though that it will continue to shrink slightly with each wash for about the first 5 washes.

HTH!

Thanks for that, I will put it through the wash first then give the sewing a nudge. Thanks PB for all that extra info - I hadn't even thought that far ahead. Saves a few extra posts and thanks for all your other help on the NB nappies....now I have a bit more info I will just sit back and wait for the sales on the items I want.

Cheers
Ky

Hoo-roo ladies!

Maybe someone can help me out too... MIL is making me some nappies and doesn't have a drier (neither do I), is the tumble dry absolutely essential? Can we just prewash, dry, prewash, dry....?


Thanks!

it shrinks more with the dryer. it's not absolutely essential to tumbledry it, but it will continue shrinking when you wash it for longer if you don't. depending on what you're making and what fabric combinations you're using, that may or may not be a huge problem for you.
hth

She's using a bamboo fleece 85%bamboo, 15%cotton, then PUL outers, or sometimes hidden PUL with a cotton over the top. they are AIO/AI2's.

She's sending a couple to me, should get them tomorrow, see how i go... think she's made up a dozen already :eek: Hope they don't shrink too much!!

Do you need to prewash hemp as well? I'm assuming you do. I prewashed my bamboo but just received my hemp from the co-op and haven't done it yet. I was getting all excited about making things when I suddenly realized that I probably ahve to prewash that too!

sure do
most people recommend 3 hot prewashes for hemp
it has more oils to break down than bamboo too

Thanks for that Bek.