DIY Cloth Pads Tutorial

[javastain]

Ok, so I made some tampons, I just need to; a) have my cycle (due soon) and b) find the camera... I will post over in corchet FO's and link here...

Also, I took a look-see at the cloth diapers we have and they are simply multiple layers of cotton in the middle part. That seems to work for babies and lots of pee and poo, so I am sure it would work for us too!

Off to find the camera!

[swozniak]

"As a sidenote - my daughter is 11yo and I'm hoping to convert her at the beginning.  I'm just thinking of all the crafting supplies I can buy with the money saved!!LOL"

It's a great way to get your daughter comfortable with herself as well.  You should definitely pick out fabric that she'll be excited about (do other people get excited about fabric?)

I liked this pattern, but you might find that you need a wider back to prevent leakage  Goodluck! 

[javastain]

Ok guys I did it...
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=82588.0
I'll try them out and if anyone is interested just ask! Also, I'm going to try a few more ideas... as I've said before I use the pads, but MIL just bought a house with a pool, so these would be perfect!

[ASH903208]

I've got 439857 questions about this.
When you say nylon... Do you mean panty hose material??? If not, where would I go about finding this nylon material??
And next.. I'm not exactly sure how this works. Is the top layer cloth? So do you go around feeling wet all day? Is it not gross to change the blood soaked lining? I dont mean to sound weird or anything, because I'm not afraid of a little blood... I just dont want to be out somewhere using a public restroom and have to change my towel pad and come out of the stall and wash the gallon of blood off my hands with other women standing around....  Its a natural thing, but I know I sure dont want to be standing next to a woman who comes out of a stall with blood soaked hands!
I usually use nothing but tampons.. But I must say, I am VERY interested in this whole cloth pad concept... We just moved, but as soon as I can find a place for my sewing machine, I will definatly be making some!!!

[javastain]

SO, yes, the layer next to your body is cotton or flanel, and no, you don't feel any more wet than you would with a regular pad. The next layer(s) would be also cotton of some sort, either you make inserts or just padded pads, but you can do this with many different forms of cotton, layers of flannel, or layers of cotton, or batting. Then if you like, you could put a moisture barrier on the bottom, like oil cloth, vinyl, or some other plastic-y fabric. I would suggest if it is slippery, to add one last layer of something so that it won't slip around in your panties (or even velcro and special sets of panties with the other side in them?)... check out the thread going on the tampons...

Ok guys I did it...
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=82588.0
I'll try them out and if anyone is interested just ask! Also, I'm going to try a few more ideas... as I've said before I use the pads, but MIL just bought a house with a pool, so these would be perfect!

[watchgirl]

I would suggest if it is slippery, to add one last layer of something so that it won't slip around in your panties (or even velcro and special sets of panties with the other side in them?).

I second that!  The set I made all of windbreaker type material on the bottom and they slide all over the place!  I ended up adding some ribbons to my undies to keep them from sliding back and forth.  My pictures are somewhere earlier in this thread.
As for traveling, I have a little vinyl coin purse that I keep mine in when I use them.  I roll them up tight and then wrap some tp around them and stuff them in the purse.  Then, as soon as I get home, I rinse them off.  Another nice thing is no loud crinkly noise when you open and change a store-bought pad! 
-Paula

[verycrafty]

These seem cool!  I want to try them but I cant sew.  

[lovething]

verycrafty, you can always buy premade ones.

[verycrafty]

verycrafty, you can always buy premade ones.

They are so expensive and I am so poor I get disposable ones free now so maybe sometime in the future. Besides I dont know how my sister will react if I ask her to buy me some! (my sister is my primary caregiver just so you know )

I like the lunapads ones though. They are pretty but not nerly as nice as the ones I've seen here 

[javastain]

If you like them you can provide your sister (who I assume is buying your pads) a breakdown of how much money you will save in the long run if you are provided the re-usable pads... figure out how many you use in a cycle, and multiply that by a year (or three). Then figure out how many re-usable pads you would like to have (maybe 10) and then figure you could use them for about 2 maybe 3 years (that's really only 24-36 cycles)... so the math might look like this... a box of pads costs $5 (it's been a long time since I've bought pads... but we'll use really easy math for this one) and assume you go through one box a cycle, so 5 (bucks) times 36 (cycles in 3 years)= $180. Now I know you can find 10 cloth pads for under $180!!!