In Praise of Flour Sack Towels

[le Hollandais]

Last week I went to Target and bought a 4 pack of Flour Sack Towels. These are 30X30 inches. As they are 100% cotton, they will shrink in the wash, and as I had read, must be laundered before using as diapers. Since they are a bit small, one needs to be judicious in folding technique. I found that the only fold I could use was what I call the letter fold; where you take both sides and fold them to meet in the middle, and then fan out the top a bit, bringing up the bottom end up between the legs. 

After experimenting yesterday, I found that three towels layered and folded made a pretty good diaper. And just as a belt and suspenders expedient, I folded up a baby diaper that I had been using as a polishing cloth (and had been thoroughly laundered previously for just this occasion) and used it as a soaker this morning. 

So I got up this morning, diapered up with my towels, took my morning leak, and made coffee. One of the things I learned is to pee in short bits so that a puddle doesn't occur in the bottom of my PUL. I have to say that layered up this way Flour Sack Towels really make great diapers. I'll have to buy a few more.

[rusty pins]

One big advantage to doing that is how quickly your cloth diapers will dry after being washed.  I have a DL friend, a member here who always layers his thin adult diapers with baby diapers.  Easier to wash, quicker to dry since they are one or 2 layers and not one super thick heavy cloth diaper, and one more advantage is baby diapers can be added in the areas you need the most absorbtion.  When up and walking around, extra baby diapers in the crotch will soak up what you need but keep a lower profile higher up the back side.  When sleeping, extra cloth baby diapers in the back and sides help all night.

[jimmyic]

I also use flour sack towels for diapers. I use one or two towels with a baby diaper as a soaker down the middle.  The ones at Bed Bath and Beyond are  38 x 32 and fit me perfectly. it saves a lot of money  then paying some of the places that are out there on the internet.

[R682]

I did play around with improvised towel diapers quite a bit in my youth (even though I had disposable options for real). As well as a 'letter fold', there's always the option of three separate towel layers: one folded into a long thick rectangle, to make a U-shaped main 'soaker' between ones legs; which sits in a wider square of double or triple thickness to address any sideways 'spread'; and then one single thickness outer layer, which is the only one which is actually secured in place conventionally around one's waist, binding everything else tight against you. The others are simply held in place by the outermost one (or possibly secured to that in key places, if seeming too likely to shift out of position, rather than wrapping around to themselves.) Of course, the result is far too bulky to be practical for anything except waddling around the house like the apocryphal toddler, and large plastic pants are a must when it comes to functionality (though I used to get remarkable results out of plastic shopping bags with the bottom corners cut off, pulled up so the plastic stretched around my legs!). There's obviously far more absorbancy than you need, given you're likely to be damply uncomfortable enough to want to change before needing a second pee becomes likely (not to mention the diaper would pull itself down under it's own weight long before any limit was approached) but the level of redundancy does mean you can feel confident in its initial performance, despite the cobbled together nature!