Up-Cycling For My Cycle

The other day, I found myself in an awkward situation. It was that time of the month again, and I was slap out of pads.

To add insult to injury, we had literally just returned from the supermarket. I had no desire to get my shoes back on, pack up the toddler, and drive the fifteen minutes back to town just to get that one item.

So I decided to improvise. 

I had some t-shirt scraps and some old ratty cloth diapers that I've been trying to find a use for. Making homemade pads seemed to be a good use for them.

First I made a simple pattern for a liner, and used it to cut up a couple old, ratty pre-fold type diapers to form what would become my absorbent material for the pads (these diapers have had a long and storied history. They went through a couple kids before I got them, and since then they've been through a couple more).

I used a panty liner I had as a basic guide for making the pattern.

Then I made a bigger pattern and used it to cut two matching shapes out of some old t-shirt scraps I had leftover from a previous project.

I basically added about an inch around the first pattern and added 'wings'

I sewed the core to one of the bigger shapes, then sewed the other shape to the back of the shape with the core sewed to it, leaving a small area unsewn.

 I then used the opening to turn the whole thing inside out, so that the core was inside between the two pieces of t-shirt, and the seams were hidden. I then folded in the raw edges of the unsewn area and sewed it closed.

I then ran a row of stitches alongside each of the 'flaps',

added a buttonhole and a button,

 and voila. Homemade feminine sanitary product.

Here's what it looks like buttoned.

These have worked out pretty well. They're very comfortable. I use cloth diapers for my toddler, so cleaning them is easy for me too- I just wash them with the diapers.

(If you don't use cloth diapers, most sources I read up on said to rinse them out and then throw them in the wash. Some people recommended soaking in in an Oxy-clean solution before washing).

I have bled through them slightly a couple of times. I compensated for this by wearing some thin panty liners that I had on hand underneath the pad. While making these in the future, I think I'll probably cut a waterproof layer from a heavy duty Ziploc type bag or an old shower curtain using the larger pattern and sew it either onto the back of the pad or underneath the absorbent layer.


Here's the pattern I used for inspiration. (I modified it somewhat to fit the materials that I had on hand, but this was my starting point).