Triple Clicks

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Cloth Feminine Pads

This post is about how I made my light days/panty liners pads... Minus the snaps.. because I'm arguing with Amazon over the payment method.... 

So I made my pattern through measurements I got through the Amy Nix videos on YouTube. That was a lot simpler than it sounds.. Take two computer paper sheets, fold in fourths.  I wanted these pads 8 inches long, so I made a mark at 4 inches, then a mark about halfway down at 1 1/2 inches to get my pad three inches wide, the wings were measured at 3 inches to make sure I had them wide enough to fasten underneath.. Connect all your dots. For your seam allowance, you want to measure 1/4" from the first line. Cut along the outside line and unfold your papers.  Take your second paper, draw a line to cut the wings off, then mark 1/2" inside that line and the edge. (I did 1/4", it was too long.) Cut along the last line made, this is your liner. I marked them both since I plan on making more than one pattern. 
My finished Pattern

 I used flannel for the outside, traced around my pattern making enough for 12 pads.

 Here's the tracing of my inserts, I used cotton for this-old cloth diapers and a tshirt. 

 Here's all my pieces cut out. 

 You pin however much you are comfortable with. For me, it just took enough to hold it in place. I did an assembly line, so one step at a time.. Can you see how there's not much room between the liner and the outer layer? That caused a few issues later on.   A lot of the instructions I have seen, women use a zig zag or decorative stitch for this part-makes it fancy.  So if you have a fancy sewing machine, go for it. I did use a different color thread on some of them... but then the thread decided it didn't want to cooperate with the bobbin.


 My 80 year old sewing machine I'm still learning how to use. :) The only thing I miss is the zig zag stitch some days. 


 My helper. Both girls love to help pin-makes me nervous! LOL 


 So when you get the liners sewed on, you want to sew the right sides together, making sure you leave a spot  (about 2 inches) to turn it right side out, a lot easier on a straight side. 




Here's the two pieces sewn together.   

Instructions I've seen also said to clip the corners, being careful not to clip your stitches, there won't be as much bulk when turned in the seams this way. Personally, I haven't seen much difference, I clipped some and I didn't clip some. 


Here it is after I turned it.  A lot of people use a chopstick to help make sure they get everything flat, my hands are small enough I don't need the extra help-at least with these.  It's also recommended you iron to get the seam flat after this step, but I didn't-mostly because of the little finger help I had.  


And here's the finished project. After you turn, you want to top stitch to keep everything flat and to get that turning spot closed.  If you have snaps, now is the time to do those. Fold the wings around, mark where they overlap and then follow the instructions for your snap pliers/press.  
For now, I'm just using a diaper pin, a little uncomfortable, but until Amazon processes the gift cards, I'm stuck.  
Hope this helps any who are thinking of making their own pads. 

Tabitha 

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