Cloth Diaper Info—Caring For Your Wool Diaper Covers

 

A Batch of Covers Ready to Wash

Wool diaper covers come in a myriad of styles, which is one of the things that makes them so well loved. There is a style of wool cover for everyone to like, from wraps, to soakers, to shorties, to longies, and with all sorts of personalized embellishments in between.

Whatever style wool cover you like best, if you want it to last and work well, it needs to be properly cared for. Most 100% wool covers will need to be hand washed and laid flat to dry. They will also need to be lanolized in order to properly work as a diaper cover. Depending on the type of wool, you may also need to do some cosmetic maintenance (like pulling off fuzzy pills). If you have a hand knit cover you will want to be very careful when using with pins or Snappies that the cover doesn’t get snagged when quickly pulling on or off. Tears can also occur in repurposed wool covers if the wool is soft and not tightly felted.

When should you wash your wool cover?

There are two ways to know, the smell test and the moisture test. Firstly, does the cover smell after a proper airing out? If it does, it is time to wash it. Is it leaking? If so, it needs to be lanolized. If it does not smell, you could choose a lanolin spray to lanolize in between washings. Otherwise, lanolize it as you are washing.

Dissolve a small amount of lanolin (about a 1/4" bead per soaker, or more for larger sizes or longies) in a cup with some hot water and wool wash or a baby wash of your choice. You may also choose to use a lanolin enriched wool wash.

If you cover has poopy residue on it (which is best wiped off immediately with a damp cloth) gently clean it in warm water and maybe some lanolin soap without rubbing or agitating it too much to prevent felting.

Fill a sink or tub with warm water and submerge your wool cover in the water. Pour your soap and lanolin mixture over the cover and gently stir the water with your hand to disperse the lanolin. Turn your cover in the water to get it coated. Let the cover soak for 15 minutes. Drain the water out of the sink. Gently rinse the cover in warm water.

(NOTE: If your cover is new and made from hand-dyed wool check the water for bleeding of color. If you see a lot of color in the water, repeat the washing and rinsing until the water is fairly clear. If the cover becomes saturated during use and the wool has excess color, the color may bleed onto diapers, clothing, or bedding.) Gently press the water out of the cover without squeezing too much or twisting.

Then lay the cover on a clean dry towel and roll the towel up to squeeze out the extra water. Then lay the cover out to dry on another towel or over a drying rack. Do not hang heavier covers like longies over a single bar to dry because the weight of the damp wool will cause the cover to stretch. If you want the cover to dry more quickly, lay it outside in the shade on warm day or place it in front of a fan.

If you have hand-knit longies or covers embellished with ruffles, this is the time to do what is called blocking. While the cover is damp on the towel, take the time to lay it out nicely and arrange any ruffles. They will dry in the shape that you leave them. For ruffles, use your fingers kind of like you are fluting a pie crust to puff up bell ruffles or to evenly shape more free-flowing ruffles.

It’s hard to know before using a wool cover, but some wool is more likely to get pills and fuzzies during wear. A few can be picked off by hand, but if there are a lot, it will be tedious. I like to use a sweater shaver to de-pill my covers. This can be done before or after washing and drying. A sweater shaver costs around $10, or you could also use a sweater stone as seen here. I prefer the shaver (even though it requires batteries) because the stone tends to drag across some types of wool and pull. Lay the cover flat and gently rub the shaver over the fuzzy areas in a circular motion. Don’t go too fast, just let the shaver do its job, and when you are finished your wool cover will look really revived.

 

It doesn’t take too much effort to keep your wool looking nice and you can feel good about choosing a natural fiber with so many naturally good qualities!

Caring for Your Wonderful, Wonderful Wool

Pure Lanolin from ECDT Member Katidids

Well, our month of wool is almost up, and I thought I'd take this chance to make sure our followers and especially the winner of our Wool Promo, are well informed about wool care products.

Last week we discussed how to care for your wool covers. You can go very basic with the stuff you have on hand, or buy premade wool care products.

Products for Washing and Lanolizing Your Wool:

Etsy Cloth Diaper Team Members Mama Made Wool Wash:
MamaBear Lanolizing Wool Wash For Hand or Machine Washing

Other Etsy Sellers Mama Made Wool Wash:
Woolie Beans - Wool Wash Solution with Lanolin
WoollyMomma Wool Wash
Wool Wash Liquid
WOOly Care Kit

Commercially Available Wool Wash (mostly free shipping):
Eucalan
CJs Liquid Wool Wash
Liquid Wooly Wash
LANA Lanolin Soap
Imse Vimse Wool Cure
Imse Vimse Wool Shampoo

Etsy Cloth Diaper Team Mama Made Lanolin:
Pure Lanolin with a Citrus Essential Oil Blend for dry skin, longies, soakers, other woolens, and spinning.
Pure Lanolin Unscented For Your Longies and Soakers
2 ounces of solid lanolin

Other Etsy Sellers Mama Made Lanolin:
Lanolin Balm for Lanolizing Wool

You can also use a Lanolizing Spray to waterproof your wool in between washings.
2 oz MamaBear Lanolizing Wool Spray
WoollyMomma Wool Conditioning Lanolin Spray

You can also make your own lanolizing spray with Liquid Lanolin.
Liquid Lanolin
Liquid Lanolin
Liquid Lanolin

For more information on how to lanolize and wash your wool covers, visit Etsy Cloth Diaper Team's Laundry Tips page.

I'd also like to highlight another wool product that ties in with cloth diapers: Wool Dryer Balls.

If you already use cloth diapers you know that fabric softeners and dryer sheets are a big no-no for cloth diapers. So what do you use? Yes, you can use those spiky little plastic dryer balls, but in my experience they do not hold up. The little bumps begin to break off and then they completely break in half. Wool dryer balls are great!

You can buy them commercially and there are plenty of Etsy sellers as well. OR you can make your own!

Etsy Cloth Diaper Team Dryer Balls:
Set of 5 LARGE Wool Dryer Balls
One 100% Felted Wool Dryer Ball

Loads of Wool Dryer Balls on Etsy!

Make Your Own Wool Dryer Balls!

The Many Faces of Wool Diaper Covers

This month Etsy Cloth Diaper Team is promoting Wonderful, Wonderful Wool and giving away Five Wool Soakers to one Lucky Winner! Enter our giveaway here:

http://etsyclothdiapers.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-team-promotional-giveaway-prize.html


Aside from the wool diaper covers that have actual faces, as in monster butts and sock monkeys, there are many styles of wool covers to try. They vary in cost, in care, and in construction.

COST

1) The most economical wool covers to buy and to make would be repurposed wool covers. These wool covers are made by cutting up soft wool sweaters and turning them into cloth diaper covers. Any style cover can be made with a repurposed sweater: longies, sorties, soakers, and wraps. These can be gorgeous because of the patterns in the wool or because of the adorable embellishments added. You can purchase a basic repurposed wool soaker very inexpensively for $8-12, and embellished ones in the $15-20 range. Obviously you may be able to find these for more or less expensive, these are averages. If you can sew, a wool sweater can net you 2-3 diaper covers, depending on the size of the cover needed and the size of the wool sweater. Wool diaper cover sewing tutorials are widely available on the Internet.


2) A more expensive option in wool covers is hand-knit covers. These vary greatly in price because they also come in soaker, shorties, and longies styles and require differing amounts of wool, time, and expertise. They can also be knitted from various types of wool: lambswool, merino wool, wool alpaca blends, organic and natural wools. All of these elements affect the price. Hand-Knit covers usually start at around $20 and can be more than $75 (for longies). Again, these prices are averages. If you know how to knit, there are also free soaker knitting patterns on the Internet and good quality wool can be purchased inexpensively if found on sale.


3) A third type of wool cover is made from Wool Interlock. Wool interlock is also quite pricey. The benefits of wool interlock are trimness and some wool interlock covers are machine washable. There are different types of wool interlock. There is 100% wool, wool Lycra blend, and washable wool. Opinions on which of these is best differ in the cloth diapering community.

CARE

1) Most wool covers are hand wash and dry. The reason for this is that heat and agitation causes wool to felt and shrink. This process often makes the cover unusable. If you have ever shrunk a favorite wool sweater by mistake, you know what I mean! In general, wool covers should be gently washed in warm water with a lanolin enriched wool wash or washed and then lanolized afterward.


Despite the hand-washing, wool covers are easy to care for because they do not have to be washed after every use! Depending on your wool, and the number of covers you use, a wool cover can be washed as infrequently as every 2-4 weeks. If the cover becomes soiled, often a damp cloth is all that is needed to remove a small amount of poopy residue. Wool covers should be washed and lanolized only when they become smelly or are no longer waterproof. The smell test should be done after the cover has had a chance to air dry, not directly after removing from the child.


2) Some wool diaper covers have be pre-felted. This means that they have been shrunk to where they should not shrink anymore and can be washed in a washing machine. A word of warning: If you are wanting to prefelt wool to make your own, it often takes more than one washing to achieve maximum shrinkage.


As I mentioned before, some types of wool interlock are machine washable.


Here are some links from Etsy Cloth Diaper Team and team members to help with caring for your wool:


From Etsy Cloth Diaper Team
From Fancy Cloth Baby
From LayBebeLay
From Zany Zebra Designs

CONSTRUCTION

1) Wool Soakers: Wool soaker is an old fashioned term for a pull-on wool cover. This can be either repurposed wool or hand-knit. These are often embellished on the backside. Some have elastic or drawstrings in the waist, other do not. Often times they have an extra soaker layer sewn into the wet zone. Repurposed soakers of this kind provide excellent protection for heavy wetters. I never woke to another pee puddle in the crib after I started using wool covers.


2) Wool Shorties and Longies: These are shorts or pants either hand-knit in wool or sewn from repurposed wool sweaters. They usually have elastic in the waist or a drawstring, but some have neither. Many repurposed wool shorties and longies also have an extra soaker layer sewn in.


3) Wool Wraps: These are simply wool covers which are sewn or knitted in the same style as a PUL waterproof diaper cover. They usually have snaps, but are sometimes left plain to be used with pins or a Snappi. You can occasionally find them with a velcro style closure. They come in both sizes and one-size styles.

This Week's Promotional Feature: Wool Wraps! 

The following feature article on Wool Diaper Wraps is contributed by Etsy Cloth Diaper team member Amy from MamaBearBabyWear. Check out her shop for wool wraps and lots of other great items! 

'Wool Diaper Wraps from Etsy Cloth Diaper Team' by ClothDiaperClub

Wool Wraps in Easter Egg Colors!

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Sweet Striped Easte... rebourne $27.60	MamaBear One Size W... MamaBearBabyWe... $22.00	cloth diaper cover ... GotEmCovered $25.00	MamaBear BabyWear O... MamaBearBabyWe... $18.00
Thick Wool Custom W... MumtazSoakers $36.00	Wool Fleece Diaper ... bundlesofjoy $21.00	MEDIUM "Try Me... ClothDiaperClu... $25.00	Try Cloth Diapering... MumtazSoakers $32.95
Wool Fleece Diaper ... bundlesofjoy $21.00	FREE SHIPPING - Han... MumtazSoakers $24.00	MamaBear One Size W... MamaBearBabyWe... $22.00	cloth diaper cover ... GotEmCovered $25.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Wool diaper covers have been around for hundreds of years, but are only now regaining in popularity as more people become concerned with the environmental and financial impacts of disposable diapering.

Wool is a renewable, and healthy alternative to plastic or PUL diaper covers. Wool breathes great keeping baby cool and dry and preventing diaper rash. When cared for properly (occasional lanolizing and gentle washing) it is a great moisture barrier since it is able to absorb up to 40% of its weight in water before feeling wet. High performance athletes have chosen wool because of it's great temperature and moisture regulation properties.

Wool diaper covers do NOT need to be washed every time they are used. The natural properties of wool prevent odors and bacterial growth. They only need to be washed every week or two or when they are soiled. Simply hang damp covers to dry and use them again! The lanolin in wool neutralizes urine leaving a fresh-smelling, leak-resistant cover time and again.

Wash in cool to warm water with a detergent made for wool. Every second or third washing you should add a dime-sized amount of all natural Lanolin (you can use Lansinoh or PureLan if you have it) or a Lanolin product made specifically for wool such as MamaBear Wool Wash or Eucalan.

The best thing about wool wraps is they enable you to use ANYTHING as a diaper, save money by laying in soft absorbent dishtowels, folded receiving blankets, old t-shirts, any absorbent material you have on hand! Snap, velcro, or pin the cover and and voila! The cover holds the soaker in place.

Because MamaBear covers are one-size fits all you could potentially spend less than $100 on MamaBear wool wraps and take care of all of your little one's diapering needs using soaker materials from around your house! With care these covers have been used on two or even three babies, tripling your savings!

All MamaBear wool items are pre-felted and then washed and lanolized upon completion so that when you get them they are ready for your BabyBear to wear right away.

Don't forget to enter our great March Wonderful, Wonderful Wool giveaway:

http://etsyclothdiapers.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-team-promotional-giveaway-prize.html