Mama pads tutorial

I've said previously that these are really easy to make, and they don't really need a tutorial.  But in case you are visually minded, I've put together a step by step of my process.  There are heaps of other really good tutorials out there, so if my method doesn't work for you, just search for one that does.

Materials

PUL - enough for the full shape of the Mama pad, and some smaller scraps

Absorbent material - cotton, bamboo, microfibre, are all good choices

Snaps - either metal or plastic.

Stay dry material - like microfleece (optional).

note: I have Mama pads with both a stay dry layer and without, and to be honest, I don't notice a difference, so feel free to skip that last material if you don't have it.

Cut an hourglass shaped pad (not a squashy rectangle thing like I ended up with) from your absorbent materials.

Note: the size and shape of this is entirely up to you.  You may need to experiment with things like size, number of absorbent layers and shapes until you get something that is comfortable for you.

Using your pad shape, cut a larger hourglass with wings shape from your PUL.  It should be larger all around than your pad.

Cut a scrap of PUL to fit over the widest part of your wingy shape.  You need this as reinforcing for the snaps on the wings, and also to cover the stitching from your pad (scroll down to see what I'm talking about.)

 Note: If you wanted, you could cut two wingy shapes from PUL rather than just using a scrap.  I haven't needed the extra protection, and I'm cheap so I just use a scrap.

Place your absorbent material right side up, and overlock around the edges (this one looks much more hourglass).
Note: I use my overlocker for this but if you don't have one, a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine should do the job equally well

Stitch the pad onto right side of the wingy shape using two straight lines in the middle of the pad lengthwise - its clearer in the next photo.  These should be at approximately the same place as the wings, so that your scrap of PUL will cover them.

 Place your PUL scrap, right side to the wingy shape's wrong side, so that it covers the stitching and will also create two layers of fabric on the wings.

Overlock around the wingy shape.  If the pad gets in the way, you should be able to move it around to overlock the PUL, since it is only attached in the middle.

 Admire your handiwork.

Put snaps on the wings - I'm sorry, I failed and didn't take a photo of this step, but you want to put the snaps as close to the corner of the wings as you can.  I use metal snaps because they are cheap and I don't own a snap press, but plastic snaps would work equally well.

My project this week

Is of a feminine nature.

Now before you get all squeamish on me, let me tell you that Mama pads are fabulous.  Easy to make if you are so inclined, and extremely easy and comfortable to use.

I love mine, which is why my project is to make some more to round out my collection. 

More mama pads

My project last week was really successful.  I whipped up a few more mama pads.  They are a seriously fast and easy project.  It wasn't all plain sailing though.  My overlocker apparently doesn't like to over lock several thick layers of fabric, and getting around the curves was a little tricky.  By contrast when I used my sewing machine for the finishing, it sewed through the layers like a hot knife through butter.

These have wings (snaps to be attached when I get some more), and are about four layers of bamboo fleece.  I find bamboo fantastic for these because they are so absorbent, but cotton would work as well.  I cut the hourglass shape of the pad out first, and then cut the wing shape out of two layers of PUL.  Make sure that the wing piece is larger than the absorbent pad.  I over locked the absorbent pad together and then attached it to one layer of the PUL with two lines of stitching in the hopes that they will stay put and be comfortable.  I then over locked all the way around the PUL to create a nice finish.

I also did a couple of smaller mama pads.  These only have a couple of layers of cotton fleece, and are smaller in size to round out my collection.

This was a very satisfying project.  Its a really easy beginner project, and there are heaps of patterns and tutorials out there.  You don't need any special fabrics (although if you have cloth nappy materials they are helpful).  Give them a go, just think of all the savings you'll make over your lifetime.

Cloth pad tutorial - Natural Suburbia
Jan Andrea's pattern
Directory of other cloth mama pads
My previous posts here and here

Are you inspired? Or does the whole idea just gross you out?

Feminine Hygiene

My project this week are more reusable products of the feminine hygiene variety.  I thought I had better start with how the ones I made last time have gone (don't worry, there will be no gory details).

On the plus side of the ledger, my Mama pads work at least as well as their disposable equivalents, and I suspect in some cases actually work better.  They're easy to use and wash (I soak and then put them in with the other clothes).

On the negative side of the ledger, they are bulkier than their disposable equivalents.  There's no getting away from it, they are less comfortable to wear.  This is the main reason that I don't tend to wear them at work, where it might be a little too obvious ( I do a lot of presenting work in front of young people, the last thing I need to worry about is whats going on down there).

They also move around.  Even the ones that have snap fastenings on them seem to move and curl in and require more adjustment than I like.

So this week I'll try tweaking a few things in my pattern to see if I can address these issues - specifically bulk and movement.  At the very least I'll have a couple more Mama Pads to round out my collection.

Mama Pads

I made myself some Mama Pads this week, and it was such a quick and easy project, I wondered why I didn't do it weeks ago.  I used this pattern from Jan Andrea, but as she says, its pretty forgiving.  You could just make rectangles if you couldn't be bothered with the hourglass shape.

I used up all the scraps of PUL, microfleece and cotton flannelette that I had left over from nappies. The most time consuming part was cutting out all the material.  Rather than stitching and turning, I laid out all the material right sides out (the way they would be in the finished product) and then zigzagged around the outside.  As I already mentioned, they were super easy, and a really quick sew, just what I needed after the fiddly baby shoes I did last week.

Products of a feminine hygiene nature

My project for this week are things of a feminine nature.  I’ve been meaning to blog about this subject for a little while, but I was too chicken.  If you think this kind of subject should not be discussed in mixed company it would pay to close this blog now.  I’ve decided that since I am pro cloth in a number of other respects, it’s about time I extended this to my own feminine hygiene products.  There are a number of websites that sell these kinds of products, such as Mothers Instinct, and Ecomoom but I have decided to make some of my own this week.