Let’s first start by explaining the February in the title… I started writing this post back in February and then I happened and it never saw the light until now.

Since February is always all about red and hearts, I found fitting to talk about those red days. We are now at the end of August, but since I kinda liked the title, I decided to keep it since the topic hasn’t changed.  I mentioned in a past post about this ongoing project, but if you haven’t got what the topic will be, I’ll give you one more hint: it has to do with leaking “wherevers”.

In the last six months I’ve switched almost totally to Reusable Cloth Pads for my periods that I’ve been sewing myself. It’s a quick and satisfying sewing project and it is also environmental friendly. I’ve just sewed today my fourth “batch” and I thought it was time to pick up this post again and finally finish it. There are plenty of resources on the internet, even free patterns, so I won’t go into details on how to make it, but I want instead to share my “review” (definitely a 5 stars) on this experience.

When I started looking into it, my mom wasn’t too convinced as she remembered having used cloth when she was young before disposable ones were easy to access, but she definitely was curious to know how it went for me, and now that she has seen I’m happy to have switched, I made a few for her too for next time I’m going to Italy.

The cloth pads are not the only zero waste solution for periods as well as the environment is not the only reason to move to a reusable and/or more natural solution. It’s also a saving in terms of money, while the initial investment is higher – but as I’ll explain later on, it is also possible to upcycle material- on the long run, you’ll save plenty of money, because let’s not forget how expensive having a vagina is. They are also more comfortable than their plasticky counterparts and, one thing I particularly appreciate, they don’t smell as bad. Yes, they obviously need a little more maintenance than the disposable ones, but they are also cuter. And if you are not up for sewing, there are plenty of makers on Etsy.

I’m not an expert cloth pad sewer or an expert seamstress at all, but I’d like to share what worked and didn’t work for me so far.

A cloth pad has 3 components and for each there are different materials to be used depending on the absorbency needed. This blog is a good place to find information on each layer and what to use.

1. An absorbent core
2. A topper – the part that goes against your lady-bits.
3. A backer – the part that goes against your panties

Here are the four batches I’ve done so far.

For each of them, the backer was always fleece, which is mildly waterproof so it keeps the moisture inside, but different material for the topper and core.

Batch 1) This was my very first attempt, so before committing I went very cheap and used whatever I could find at home/charity shop.

• topper: an old t-shirt from a running race, it’s synthetic, but wicking fabric.
• core: 100% cotton tea towels found in a charity shop.
• backer: blue polar fleece found in the remnant basket in the fabric shop.

Since batch 1 was a success, I ordered a bunch of fabric from an online Irish shop, including 1 meters of terry towelling fabric, which should provide me with cores until eternity and beyond.

Batch 2)

• topper: 100% cotton.
• core: 3 layers of terry towelling fabric.
• backer: the same blue fleece used above.

Batch 3)

• topper: 2 with 100% cotton owl fabric and 2 with pink flannel.
• core: 1 or 2 layers of terry towelling fabric.
• backer: pink polar fleece for both

Batch 4)

• topper: velour.
• core: 3 layers of terry towelling fabric.
• backer: blue fleece.

Regarding the patterns used, for the first 3 attempts, I drawn my own. The first time, I used a disposable one to trace the pattern, but the other 2 where inspired by internet searches. The problem with this technique is that once sewed and turned, they are always smaller than you’d expect if you hadn’t add a quarter of an inch for wiggle room (and I didn’t). Fed up with having them turning out shorter and smaller than should be, I got a pattern from Versodile  that made cutting and sewing so much easier and the pad turned out (almost) perfect.

I was a bit reluctant at first to buy PDF patterns as you need to print them, but I printed them once and laminated, so now I can use them several times. The one I purchased in particular is a bundle of two shapes with different sizes, so you can create different pads with different length, so it’s pretty handy!

The last thing you need is snaps and a snap pliers to apply them. This is the part I’m still struggling with as they tend to come off.

There are also a few different techniques, i.e. hidden or exposed core, cut squares, sew and then trim, etc. So far, I’ve been doing only hidden core, I like the look and it looks easier to me. I have, however, tried a few different ways of cutting and assembling. I might do a post later on once I’ve sewed a few more to decide which my favourite way.

One last last thing that really helped when turning them was pinking shears.

Finally, here’s a few resources I’ve found extremely useful:

• Reusable Menstrual Products: I’ve mentioned this already, but this blog is brilliant and full of information, so I list it again.
• Sweet Dragon’s hidden core tutorial: this has been my go to page for the assembly order of the layers.
• Corky Lorenz’s YouTube channel: she is the maker of the Versodile patterns. So many useful tutorial!
• There are several Facebook groups, but I’ve only joined two as Facebook is extremely overwhelming when embarking in something new. Just a little warming, when you see all the awesome pads everyone is doing you’ll get addicted 🙂
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    Sewing Cloth Menstrual Pads

    
    
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    Sewing Cloth Menstrual Pads by Versodile

    
    

There are a few more topics that would be definitely worth it mentioning, such as maintenance, cleaning, stash, etc. but as I’m still experimenting, I’ll get back to the topic of cloth pads in another post(s). I will hopefully be back soon with some other projects: I have a couple of sewing projects in the pipeline (aka my messy head), one is bra making and the other is bullet journal related. But in the meanwhile,  I wish you all a lovely Sunday of crafting!