Disposable pads, like disposable diapers, are a consistent source of waste - for me, it's 12-16 pads a month, or about 170 pads to the landfill each year. That amount of consistent waste, as a lifestyle, is not okay with me.
By crafting my own re-usable pads out of thrifted materials, I'm able to reduce my waste by about 3.5 pounds of cotton, plastic, and cardboard a year, thus saving trees & other precious resources, and re-purpose materials already in the consumer cycle. Oh, and it's cheaper than buying pads! So, thanks to instructions in Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knudsen, I made myself a set of re-usable cloth pads.
First, I found materials at the local thrift store - mine has regular 50% off sales, so I was able to get yards of fabric for $4.50. Besides the obvious cost-efficiency, buying thrift uses resources that are already in the consumption cycle and prevents raw resources from turning into new products.
Cloth pads need about three basic layers of material, and you can mix & match from the following:
- Topper - Soft, feels good, and (possibly) pretty! Cotton flannel, flat cotton, natural velour, velveteen.
- Core - Absorbent, as many layers as you like. Cotton flannel, terry cloth, fleece.
- Backing - Water-resistant/-proof and, possibly, non-slip. Flannel, corduroy, fleece, PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric.
Ideally I would have used materials I already had, saving money & reducing consumption, but my mending pile was recently exhausted by holiday projects. I went to the thrift store and bought flannel cotton, fleece, and a water-resistant PUL children's vest that had multiple velcro closures (for the wings). As you can see, I wasn't shopping for looks (I don't particularly feel the need for attractive menstrual pads, though it can be done!), but instead went for functional materials.
Once I had all my materials gathered, I designed the pads. I used tracing paper left over from a design class I took in college, but you can use whatever paper/cardboard you have available as a pattern. I used a disposable light-flow liner that I knew I already liked, and traced its shape onto the pattern paper.
On each pattern, I wrote the use, and an 'ingredients list': a different cocktail of layers, for each type of pad, with different levels of absorbency and water-resistance. I now had three patterns, all suited to my needs. My ingredients?
Light-flow liner = 3 cotton flannel + fleece
Daily pad = 2 cotton flannel + 2 fleece + cotton wing + PUL
Night pad = 2 cotton flannel + 2 fleece + cotton wing + PUL
I folded my materials into layers, beneath the traced patterns, so I could cut multiple layers at a time. Then, after smoothing each layer, I pinned the fabric to itself, to keep the layers from moving as I cut around the traced pattern. I cut each type of fabric separately, but you can also layer the entire 'cocktail' of fabrics and cut them all at once.
Once all the layers were cut into their patterns, I laid out little pad sandwiches - layered the pads in their final order. It was very satisfying! I used bobby pins to keep them all together (since, as a dancer, I have a lot of bobby pins lying around - as always, use what you have).
Then, the sewing. I, as I said before, didn't place a high priority on the aesthetics of my cloth pads, so I took a sewing shortcut and top-stitched everything. This leaves the edges of the layers open and frayed - that's okay with me, and I figure it might even create a little edge buffer.
{If you want a clean-edged look, you can layer things in an inverse order (from top to bottom: 1. Backing, face down, 2. Wings, if using, 3. Top material, face up, 4. Core layers), and sew around the edge, leaving a 2-inch hole. Then you can pull the pad right-side out, through the hole you left, tuck the raw edges in, and neatly finish sewing.}
I sewed different features onto each type of pad, though they all shared a straight middle seam, from front to end, and a seam around the entire edge.
I'm pretty proud of myself - I made three liners, two daily pads, and two night-pads. It only took ~$1 in materials and 3 hours of work (of course, drinking local beer and eating potato chips while sewing makes it seem a lot less like work!)
I'll take them for a spin when the new moon comes. I figure if I need to make any changes in the engineering, it's good to start with a small stash and then make more. I'll keep y'all posted on how well they work, and any changes needed.
For those of you interested in making your own, I highly encourage it! Check out ClothPads.org - it's very extensive, has great a how-to, and has a page full of downloadable cloth pad patterns.
Have you made or worn your own cloth pads? How did you do it? And how did it go?