When it comes to sewing your own cloth diapers and leakproof underwear, knowing the best places to buy fabric makes the process much easier. Over the years, I have bought over 1000 yards of fabric and in the process found my preferred places to buy each type of fabric that I use.
For an overview of the types of fabrics frequently used in cloth diapers, you can check out my post, 16 Types of Fabrics Used in Cloth Diapers.
Also, if you want to know how to get started sewing cloth incontinence products, I guide you through it here: How to Get Started Sewing Adult Cloth Diapers.
So here’s what type of fabric to use for cloth diapers and where to buy the fabric for the cloth diaper you’re making.
1. Wazoodle
Wazoodle Fabrics manufactures and sells organic and non organic cotton, bamboo, stay dry fabrics, microfiber, and zorb. They are the creators of zorb and offer multiple options for it. This is my favorite place to buy fabrics for sewing cloth diapers.
What I buy:
Bamboo fleece – their fleece, though a little more expensive than other places, is ready to absorb. This means less shrinkage when washed and requires fewer washes to reach max absorbency. I buy the regular and heavy weight.
3D Bamboo Zorb – I have tried several different types of zorb and have found that this is my preferred option. Bamboo zorb is much softer than cotton zorb and the 3D dimple version is very absorbent without being bulky.
PUL – Wazoodle has good quality PUL for an affordable price. However, I generally only buy solid color PUL from Wazoodle as I have found their printed collection to be less than impressive.
Fold Over Elastic (FOE) – One thing to keep in mind with FOE is that it has a tendency to loosen up with wear. For this reason, especially when used as a waistband, it’s important to choose a FOE that is going to be sturdy. Wazoodle’s FOE is high quality and lasts.
2. Nature’s Fabrics
I’ve bought fabric from Nature’s Fabrics since I started my whole shebang in 2015. However, since I switched to buying bamboo fleece from Wazoodle, I don’t buy as much from them these days. However, they have high quality fabrics and offer more color options on fleece and solid PUL than Wazoodle.
They offer organic and non organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, stay as well as stay-dri fabrics, and wool interlock.
In addition, as I said before, Wazoodle’s selection of PUL prints leaves a lot to be desired. Although I should note that even though I want to buy cute, sophisticated prints, the baby/childish ones ALWAYS win out on my shop. Alas. The good news is, Nature’s Fabric has an excellent selection of PUL prints that manage to check all the boxes in their cute sophistication while maintaining that sense of childishness. While I mourn the loss of Diaper Sewing Supplies, Nature’s Fabrics has really stepped up to fill the void of cute PUL prints.
What I buy:
PUL – Since I’ve been sewing through my fabric stash, I haven’t needed to buy PUL lately, but Nature’s Fabrics is now my go-to for PUL prints.
Bamboo Baby Loop – If you have read some of my other posts, you may have noticed that I tend to wax poetic about bamboo baby loop. While they are NOT all created equal, Nature’s Fabrics version is divine. Nice and thick, plus super soft it’s my go-to choice for diapers, cloth wipes, and washcloths.
Hemp – For simplicity’s sake, I don’t often use hemp unless I have a special request. But if I did need to buy hemp fleece or hemp jersey, this is one of the places I check to compare prices.
3. Simplifi Fabrics
This is another place that I’ve bought a lot of fabric from in the past, but not so much now. Simplifi Fabrics is a Canadian based company and one of two places I’ve found that has charcoal bamboo. They also have a variety of cotton, bamboo, hemp fabrics, as well as a natural wool interlock. While their quality and variety is impeccable, Simplifi Fabric is also the most expensive place on my list to purchase fabric.
4. Organic Cotton Plus
As the name says, this store sells a wide variety of organic cotton fabric, as well as hemp and other blends. While a bit expensive, they have a cotton/hemp birdseye that I haven’t seen anywhere else. In addition, they carry a variety of fleece, flannel, and terry.
5. Kinderel
Kinderel is one of my go-to places to purchase hemp fleece and jersey. They offer competitively priced, good quality, organic fabrics in cotton, bamboo, and hemp. In addition, they are the other place I’ve found that sells charcoal bamboo.
What I buy:
Bamboo fleece – While I no longer purchase bamboo fleece from them, I do, on occasion, purchase stretch bamboo fleece. Their bamboo fleece is the same quality as Nature’s Fabrics.
Hemp – I have gotten both hemp jersey and fleece from Kinderel.
6. Very Baby
While most of the places on this list sell fabrics for an assortment of applications, Very Baby is one of the few that sells fabrics primarily geared towards cloth diapering.
Moreover, they are the ONLY place I’ve found that sells cotton diaper twill! Regular cotton twill is a lightweight fabric that works well for structured clothing items like pants and jackets. Cotton diaper twill, on the other hand, is super lightweight, almost gauzy fabric, that is used in making prefold diapers.
Very Baby also has PUL, organic birdseye and some bamboo, cotton, and hemp fabrics. Plus, wool jersey for making diaper covers.
My only beef with Very Baby is that they carry a limited supply of fabrics and are often sold out.
What I buy:
Cotton diaper twill – The few times I made prefolds, I used this cotton diaper twill, which I like much better than birdseye.
PUL – I’m always on the lookout for a good deal on PUL, so I have occasionally purchased some from here.
7. Joann Fabric and Crafts
While it’s true that Joann has very little to offer in the way of cloth diapering fabrics, I would be remiss in not mentioning them. After all, you do get to go in and touch the fabric AND can we say coupons?
But as far as cloth diapering goes, you can buy cotton flannel, birdseye and double gauze for making prefolds. It’s too bad that the babyville boutique line is discontinued. They also sell Dritz 1” fold over elastic in black and white that is good quality.
8. Fabric.com
Fabric.com sells diaper flannel, double gauze, PUL, hemp fleece at reasonable prices. They also have athletic mesh (also known as athletic wicking jersey or awj) and cotton lycra jersey.
What I buy:
Athletic mesh knit – their athletic mesh knit is thin and silky, on par with Babyville Boutique’s discontinued athletic wicking jersey and Wazoodle’s; only, it’s a third of the price.
Cotton lycra – I use cotton lycra in my pull ups. I love it because it doesn’t pill horribly like cotton interlock. Fabric.com’s Fabric Merchants version is just the right weight, not too heavy (like Joann’s or Onlinefabricstore.net) and not so light that it feels unsturdy.
9. Ebay
While I RARELY buy fabric from Ebay, I have found it to be an excellent place to when looking for a discontinued or specific fabric that can no longer be purchased from the original store.
What I buy:
Babyville Boutique PUL prints – these prints have by and far been the most popular ones in my shop. So when I’m out, I go to Ebay since Babyville is no longer in production.
10. Etsy
Like Ebay, I like to go to Etsy when looking for a specific fabric that is discontinued. They are also an excellent place to go if you want a particular fabric but don’t need to buy a whole yard. For example, 3D bamboo zorb is a whopping $26/yard, but if you don’t need the whole yard, you can save money by purchasing less than a yard on Etsy.
Related articles:
7 Best Adult Fitted and Pull On Cloth Diapers
How to Sew Adult/Big Kid Cloth Diaper Inserts
8 Best Youth Pocket and AIO Diapers for 2022
Should You Use Vinyl, Plastic, Nylon, PUL, Wool, or Rubber Diaper Covers?
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Alecia
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