Brit wrote last week about Mama Cloth (aka cloth menstrual products).  I wanted to expand on that issue a little bit, but I’m going to include a bit more personal information than she did, so if you want to go there with me, follow after the break.  If not - I won’t be offended, and we’ll see you next post!

I have made my own mama cloth, like a lot of other women out there.  I looked at a few different brands of cloth pads, and decided that I could probably make mine for way less than they were charging and save myself a few bucks.  After all, I only wanted them for backup for my Diva Cup.

So I did.  I trucked down to our fabric shop and picked up a nice variety of flannel, and I even saved the ends I cut off from Kitten’s prefolds to use as part of the stuffing on my thicker ones.  I thought “this will be a piece of cake!  No problem!  I can quilt, so I can do this for sure!”

Well, it wasn’t as easy as it looked.  First, I had to make a pattern.  This wasn’t too hard to do, I just kind of guessed and adjusted as necessary.  If it’s possible, try to trace an existing pad, or do up a bunch of paper trials first, so you’re not wasting lots of fabric.  After that, it’s just cutting and sewing.

I made one pad holder, then three pads that slip into the holder (the pads sit on top of the holder, so you can change them out without having to change the holder unless necessary).  The pad holder is two layers of flannel, the thinnest pad is two layers of flannel, the medium pad is 4 layers, and the thickest pad is 1 layer of flannel sewn to a premium prefold diaper, which makes 9 layers of fabric.  Sounds like a lot, right?  Well, it’s not as bulky as you think.

And sadly?  Not as absorbent either.  You see, I had a Diva Cup Failure of Epic Proportions today.  Without going too much into it, I tried a new fold which didn’t work nearly as planned.  While sitting around, I managed to soak through the pad, through the holder, and my underwear.  Luckily, it didn’t go anywhere else (like my pants, the sofa, etc.), so it could have been worse (I suppose that would have been a Failure of Apocalyptic Proportions), but it did teach me something:  Thicker doesn’t always mean more absorbent.  For my next set of pads, I will definitely put fleece or PUL on the back.  I’m lucky that my leak today didn’t ruin anything, but I wouldn’t want to have to deal with that again (truthfully, this is the first leak of that measure in all my months of Diva Cup usage, so I am assuming that it won’t be a regular thing).

Here’s the picture of my completed pantyliner.

Tags: DIY, mama cloth