Wednesday, July 25, 2007

I've been sewing this evening

Ok,, If you're one of the dudes that read my blog then you may want to skip this one.
















Really, if you want the mysteries of womanhood to stay that way,, turn back.





























Still here? Ok fine.

I ran across a tutorial on how to make cloth menstrual pads. When I first saw it about 6 months ago I thought "wow,, you really have to be a hippy to want to wear those".

Well, I still think it but I've considered quite a few other things recently.


  • Regular feminine products often give me a rash. I know,, I'm sensative right? har har.

  • They would be perfect for my disaster kit.

  • They are frugal

  • The boys wore cloth diapers,, why not me?

So, I gave it a go this evening. I purchased $1.00 of fabric at walmart (literally ONE dollar). I had snaps and an old towel so no cost there. For the record though ,, snaps are like $1.16 for 36 and everyone has the towel that they have to hide from company! The fabric was half a yard of flannellette and half a yard of nylon lining. I have enough left to make at least 3 more. I have enought of the lining to make them from now till Kingdom's come! Well,,, maybe not till then but it was a 72 inch bolt instead of a 36 and you use less of it. So these pads cost about 25 cents and they'll last for years!


Here's the tutorial I used. There are many sites out there selling these things but now that I've made one, I can't understand why in the world you'd PAY for one,, it's so easy!!

Here's the front. I know,, exciting right?

And the back, you can see that I sewed a little snap to hold the "wings" down



Here's the back opened up. The backside overlaps to keep the absorbant liner in. Kinda like a pillowcase!

Here you can kinda see the inside and the liner. The burgundy is the nylon lining fabric. The swirly thing is the removable absorbant liner.

After I finished it, I was certain that I was not going to wear it. I didn't feel like it could possibly be comfortable. I tried it on and I was wrong!!!!! It's not bad at all! Then I poured a little water on it and tried it on again. Still,, not bad. I'll be making many, many more of these!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Crystal, that is SO gross. You just put those thing thru the washing machine? If I need to trim my budget, it ain't gonna be there. Some things are worth the money, Tampax and disposable diapers top my list!
I like the fabric though. Good luck with it.

crystal said...

It's not nearly as gross as you'd think AND when the grocery store and the drug store isn't available do to some kind of unforseen disaster/upheaval I'll be set!

Dallas Meow said...

WOW
I've always thought we'd have to resort back to the days of the red tent.
This kind of thing should be in emergency kit lists.
If only I could sew.....

crystal said...

Thanks for the comment! I'm currently locked out of blogger because someone flagged me for inappropriate content!!! Can you believe that?!
Can't wait to blog again!

Stephanie Appleton said...

I've been thinking about switching to something like this too. I'm of the same mind. If I can wash diapers all these years why not feminine products?

The name is escaping me right now, but you can also buy a cup thing you can insert to catch the flow and then just dump it in the toilet. Wash the cup and reuse it.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...this is interesting. Can you let us know how it goes when you "really" use one? I already use the Diva cup - this seems like the logical next step.

And, ftr, I don't think this was inappropriate at all!

Ketutar said...

I can't believe someone thinks this is inappropriate! How sensitive can people be!
I'm planning on making these, but I need to get my sewing machine fixed first... (yeah, yeah, all kinds of excuses LOL)
I'm also plannin on making myself a pile of "reusable" handkerchiefs, so that I won't be depended on paper ones anymore...
It really is better to have the reusable pads NOW when there still is all kinds of materials available in stores, snaps and all, and also, just think of all the used non-reusable "female hygiene articles"... now THERE's some YUK for you :-D

Anonymous said...

I once asked my grandmother years ago, how they dealt with this "time of the month" back in the '20's and '30's. She said they just used old clothes cut to fit or cloth left over from making something else (then she said old diapers held best). So I had to know how you cleaned them. She said that you just threw them in with the baby's diapers and boiled or later bleached them. Now I wonder, was there always a baby around? and if there wasn't...

dec2057 said...

I was grossed out when I first heard about mamma pads from my daughter UNTIL she gave me one for Christmas and a few days later I was dealing with a nasty yeast infection. My saddle area was so sore and I hated wearing the commercial disposable liners because I figured out that THEY were causing my yeast infections because of allergic reactions to the chemicals in them. The minky mama pad my daughter gave me was so soft and had fleece on the other side - I figured, what the hey...nothing could hurt as much as the danged commercial pads did right about then.

The huge sigh of relief and bliss you heard was me trying out my new mamma pad. Oh what heaven, no more pain, what comfort.....what stupidity that I didn't try it earlier!!!

I am totally sold on mamma pads - they are 1000 percent more comfortable than 'sposies and look at all the money I am going to save.

Yes, my other daughters are still grossed out, but I will be laughing (and smiling) all the way to the bank and to my sweet daughters who loved her mom enough to give her a mink mamma pad for Christmas!

Thanks for this tutorial - I am off to sew mamma pads with some gorgeous minky that was given to me tonight. You guessed it, I got it from the daughter who gave me the minky mamma pad. She is such a great kid!