How to soften terry flats?

[Indadhanu]

LOL don't have one Mel!

[*charmalea*]

try hanging 2 together when they are on the line , i do it and i use TT as nappies .. worth a shot hey

[Pandora]

oh I was going to suggest the dryer too. bummer you dont have oe i guess in QLD its not like your'd need one that often..what about withteh hairdryer, when they are mostly dry?

[Indadhanu]

PMSL don't have one of them either rayray!!! LOL!

I'd LOVE a dryer, Shel is stubborn (my parents keep saying we need one so she won't buy one because she doesn't want them to be right... )

[Pandora]

hmm. maybe one could just appear suddenly..lol
Lots of things DH says we dont need just turn up..people *ahem* give them to us.

[~Aveta~]

i used to use a cup of cheap white vinegar in the wash instead of fabric softener with my nappies

[Gigi]

Just to be CRYSTAL clear here, for any clothie newbies lurking, DO NOT USE VINEGAR with MCN. it's fine with cotton terry flats, (but not hemp or bamboo flats).

vinegar used on the MCN washing, VERY VERY RARELY, can help you if the fabric goes stinky.

but if you use it on a regular basis, you will invalidate your MCN warranties and wreck the MCN.

[Indadhanu]

I am going through my BH&G magazines and found a eucalyptus oil article and they said its great to soften nappies, so I did, and it did!! YAY! And now they're lovely and fresh smelling too

[bellelass]

I think fabric softener is a no-no with cloth nappies. It coats the fibres or something and makes them less absorbent. I found flats worked fine for us (other than the jabbings from the *&%# pins) during the winter with a slower drying time but now its hot and so bright outside they dry to sandpaper. Poor little Piglet had troubles on her bottom from them. She'd have what looked like rugburn, I'd do a few days in sposies and she'd be fine. Then feel guilty about using them, put her back into flats and the rugburn bottom again. So I gave in and cast about for MCN. Let me tell you, I wish I had done it sooner. I tried out Greenkids and bummis and Baby Beehinds. You can get trial packs for minimal outlay and work out what you like. Nurture Nappies were good.

I ended up settling on Baby Beehinds bamboo and hemp fitted nappies with covers. I was using covers anyway, and these snap closed. You can snap in boosters to make them more absorbent. They are fantastic. I can't say enough good about them. I'm not too keen on AIO's, they take a looooooong time to dry and aren't as leakproof IMO. The fitteds still take a little extra time to dry (except on the reeeeally bright days) but that's ok with me. They're wonderful on Lila's bottom. We have 4 covers and 18 nappies and that works fine for us. I do a medium load every morning, just another morning chore. The hemp ones dry heaps faster, if I were doing it over again I think I might have gone all hemp. Anyway hope that helps....

ETA- Pffft silly silly me. I was so keen to help you out I didn't read the whole post... my cheeks are a little red...

[Arimeh]

Leash.. ummm

Jump in the car and come round and use my dryer??

:P

[Snowy Love]

Scrunch them up - I stretch opposite corners and then scrunch them - it doesn't make them as soft as the dryer, but better than the crunchyness when they come off the line. The other thing you can do apparently is take them off the line when they're not quite dry - but I'm not that brave - I'm scared they'll go mouldy.

[~Raven~]

When they are over dry they will go crunchy so check them periodically and while you're out there feeling them give them a scrunching up. I also give them a few flicks when I take them off the line.

[Doing my best]

I put white vinegar (or cleaning vinegar which I always run out of.) in where you normally put fabric softener. You really notice the difference.