Cloth Nappy Making #5

[maz]

Good idea about getting a decent machine Sarah..WTG...I'd love to make quilts...I have no brains for that stuff

Gigi - when yo made the velour liners, did you make them one sided or 2? IM thinking of making them 2 sided and just overlocking them together

ETA - ok have just back tracked and seen that you use 2 layers..DOH maz! also ive got a pattern for training pants that I'll copy for you and send you babe. I havent had the chanch to make them yet but hey there's always tonight lol.

Jgal - get onto Melbel about maxi-swirl...Im pretty sure she's got some hidden that she has been stalling to put up in her store

[*Efjay*]

I have a Pfaff hobby sew. Its great for MCN as the foot has extra lift in it. so you lift the foot as normal but then I can raise it even further to put more layers under it. That was its main selling point for me.

[Sair]

Pfaff seems to be a very high quality make. I was shown a Select 4.0 for $799 but to me it didn't offer much with only 40 stitches. I would assume they are heavier built and longer lasting though.

Just got back from putting $50 towards the 6260 so that is what 1/14th of the way?

Quilting, to me. Sew scraps together, get some fluffy stuff, and a plain sheet of fabric, sew together and top with funky stitching. I better not say that in the quilting forum, I am sure it is way more technical than that. I am lucky my mum is a very talented seamstress and quilter, maybe over Skype she can teach me a few things.

Now that bamboo fleece from the co-op, I am confused by it. It is in a tube shape and one side is fluffy, the other not. would I sew the 2 not fluffy sides together and have myself an insert? Or would I need more layers than that. I may as well put some use to it now rather than keep it in a box.

[*Efjay*]

Why you would need more the 40 stitches is beyond me LOL MCN need 3 basic stitches, Straight, zig zag & tripple zig zag. Plus it helps to have an overlocker LOL.

BF, I personally prefer to put fluffy sides together have the knitt on the outer. Pre wash it befor eyou sew it as it shrinks. But if you did a say 30 by 30 square (for example, bigger might be better) then you would have a trifold. 2 layers make your square folded into 3 gives you 6 layers.

[maz]

Dont do the fluffies on the outside Sarah - Ive done this and after a while the fluffiesness looks horrible plus the fluff ends up everywere.
Fiona is right...knit side out and wash it first. I usually wash it 3 times in hot water.

[*Efjay*]

Oh, also my Pfaff wasn't top of the range, I think Paid about $360 for it.
I was looking at getting a singer but after explaining what I wanted it for she actually said the pfaff (which was cheaper then what I had my eye on) would be the better option. Hasn't missed a beat yet. Its a good learner/basic machine that has enough functions etc that I wont out grow it any time soon. It has ya fancy stitches too but I honestly rarely switch from my basic stitches.

GIgi, My pfaff didn't come with a walking foot, I got that extra. But it came with a heap of other feet. button hole, blind hem (which might be what your thinking for the thin close seams??) zipper, clear, quilting & a couple of others I don't even know their use LOL.
When making MCN I use my clear, walking & now my zipper foot. Zipper gives a great close top stitch.

[melbel]

Gigi with velour you want to get a nice thick one cos the thin stuff is a bugger to sew it moves and stretches everywhere......I have heard good things about the quality of the fairy fabrics bamboo velour in that it is not soo stetchy and holds it shape better when you are sewing. I have two diff veours that i got through coops and the difference is like night and day and it is all pretty much due to one being thinner and too stretchy and the other one being thicker.

Oh and Maz those maxilocks aren't hiding anymore...

see my post here : https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...me-get-em.html

i hope that link is allowed? I get soooo confused with links these days.....

[Gigi]

How exciting you have your overlocker on layby Sunshine!!

i looked at some Pfaff hobbyones too, for the high lift of the foot (if that is the right words). i think it a walking foot was already in that mahcine - is that right? But it was an extra $25 for a foot i liked (so you could make really skinny seam, some sort of guide so you can sew really close to edge of fabric).

WIth that tube of bamboo Sunshine, i select one point and cut across, so you get a flat piece of bamboo. SOme people sew it fluffy side out, some sew smooth side out. i don't mind either. But i found it DOES matter when you sew with hemp. with hemp, i only sew the fabric FLUFFY side out, otherwise after much washing, you get balls of stuff TRAPPED inside the stitching and it makes the item a bit bumpy.

Sometimes, things said online, might be typed out with a kind voice and kind eyes, but that doesn't transpose always into the words read by another person. It's so hard online, to always convey what you mean, in the way you mean it. Especially with tired mummies who don't always have time to check their entries, like I would if i wasn't so tired all the time! So, i hope you are not "put off" sunshine, this is a really nice group, and it's so much easier to get point across IN REAL LIFE, when you can see the person's eyes, facial expressions etc. i have come a cropper with this MANY TIMES, when i have offended when offending was the LAST thing i would have intended. SOmetimes, all it takes is a comma missing, to totally change what a sentence means. something as tiny as that.

also, typing out all the niceities we say in real life, is time consuming and i know i can come across as a bit brusque, when i get to the point (yes, that does actually happen sometimes) without all the niceties that i would normally say before that bit.

Sometimes the voice of experience has learnt expensive, painful lessons, and they want to save others from having to "learn the hard way". I know FJ and MAZ and i can safely say they said what they said, in a helping way. They have large families and are super busy, hearts of gold and so helpful to lots of people and MCN advocacy in general.

nuff said, hope what i meant came across ok, :hugs:

Maz - yes, i do double layer of cotton velour, overlocked around and knotted.
bamboo velour keeps softer for much longer, but of course, costs more to use.

what is an ok price to buy bamboo velour at? is this another fabric that varies in percentage and those numbers, as to the quality? i get mixed up with the gsm and the percentage bit with fleece and terry, let alone with velour LOL!!!

i'm thinking of making the initial training pants using cotton velour and once i have got the size and how to make them sussed, maybe making some with bamboo velour inner. Or maybe just the wetzone, sewn over the cotton velour?

my current idea is to make the Monkey Mile High soakers in fleece, with absorbent material inside. like an AIO trainer pullup. I have made this pattern up as a night cover for a friend's child, so i can do it as a cover ok. This style involves no FOE or elastic. it may be a bulkier trainer, oh well, i will just make one or two for bilby to try and see how she responds to them. WDYT? will this be too much like a nappy for her to "get" that they are undies? i wanted to avoid FOE and make it easy for her to pull up and down.