How to make my own hemp or micro inserts?

[ladybugsea]

Obviously I can figure out how to literally make them! Question is, where to get the materials? The hemp, for example? I just received my Cottonbabies inserts and I laughed when I opened them up. They are huge!! And my DD is a peanut and a light wetter. I was also disappointed they are made in China (assumed they were made in the US by a WAHM). Now I understand why people were using the Walmart auto towels. I have something like that for my car and this feels just like it only in white! Probably just easier to keep the Cottonbabies, but I like to make more work for myself and paralyze myself overanalyzing things. :) I have a few JBs and they are so much slimmer. I would love to be able to make some hemp inserts.

[toomanystrollers]

For diaper/insert making fabrics, check out:

www.fabriconnection.com

www.diapershop.com

www.fullmoonbabygear.com

HTH

[ALLEYCAT]

She sells hemp. Boy I could really run with that one (dime bag gets you a yard) tee hee hee. Anyway this is THE stuff the inserts for baby blankets are made of. I have bought some from her twice and she shipped it fast (she did just have a baby though). It is really easy to sew but holy cow does it shrink and lint like crazy during that process. Make sure you wash and dry several times or your inserts may end up too small.
It also makes great washcloths from the odd cuts, I made round ones one day and they are everyones favorite for CD changes to cleaning messy faces (face washies have velour on one side to keep them seperate from bottom washies).
My sewing skills have greately improved over the last few months and I have been teaching my adult step-daughter to sew now also, seems like a great place to start, they are diapers YKWIM?

Edit to add: Oh yeah, and my Walmart sells blue micro towels that are the size of baby towels right neext to the small ones. The big towel is THICKER than the small ones and I cut it into inserts shaped just like the MOEs. I now have a hemp insert and a MOE imposter in every diaper. We are very happy with this arrangement. Soft micro against baby, fast absorbing and hemp to make it last longer and spread the pee.

[kozachka]

You can also buy hemp fabrics from www.hempfabricshop.com, shipping is free with $25+ order. That means you'll have to buy around 4 yard I believe. Don't think you would need that much fabric for inserts.

www.HempTraders.com also has a good selection of hemp fabrics but you have to order at least 1 yard and can only ship UPS, which in my case would be $5.27/1 yard of hemp french terry. BUT you can order knit hemp scraps for $5/pound, which is about 1-1.5 yards. Since scraps are chosen at random you might end up with either french terry, jersey or fleece. SewShoppe has some remainders on clearance as well.

DiaperShop allows you to order fabric in any increment of a yard. You can ship either FedEx or USPS. So if you are only need a little bit of fabric but don't want to deal with scraps they probably would be cheaper.

Elena, Mom to Daniel 11/27/03

[lizajane]

hiya. i sell off my scraps at cost. it is just a whole lot easier to cut my inserts from a whole yard, but the scraps have plenty of material for "regular" inserts, i promise! send me an email.

[ladybugsea]

Thanks for the replies. I tried one of the Cottonbabies micros last night and I actually really liked it. Her bum felt like a little cloud! And she woke up after 12hrs in her brand new FB and was totally dry to the touch. I couldn't believe it! And no stink, either!! I guess the FBs that I've been borrowing must have some serious buildup because they stink and are not dry to the touch, even when they come out of the laundry.

I went to Walmart and bought some small towels to try. The Cottonbabies seem to be just like two towels folded and serged. I didn't notice any bigger ones. Unless they look more like terry?

[ALLEYCAT]

I guess they do look kind of like terrycloth. They are about 36"x36" for $6.87 called Drying Towel, Walmart #075116624922. They are cornflower blue color and feels much thicker than the smaller blue/white pack I also bought. These serged up very nicely and cost about half what the cottonbabies do, but you have to do the work.