Making Cloth Menstrual Pads

Cloth menstrual pads are an excellent way to save money, preserve our earth, and use up old scraps of fabric at the same time!  You can make them out of nearly any absorbent fabric you have laying around.

The instructions and ideas I am suggesting are for "pocket pads" in which the pads are a two part system: a outer shell with the bottom consisting of two halves that create an opening, and an insert that is inserted into the opening of the pad.  The pad will wrap around the crotch of your underwear and secure on the bottom OR you can create a pad in which it just lays in your underwear. You may also make an "all in one" type pad, where the absorption and shell are combined into a single unit, but you lack in customizable absorption for your heavy flow days.

Fastener: Use snaps, buttons, hook and loop, or nothing at all to fasten under your underpants

Fabric for shell: Anything absorbent or easily passed through (you'll have an insert on the inside of your pad, you want the outer layer to be suck the fluid into the pad, not pool on top of it)- flannel, sherpa, velour, old towels, fleece, suedecloth, etc. 

Fabric for insert: Anything absorbent - flannel, velour, sherpa, towel terry, cotton, hemp, bamboo, etc.

Care & Washing: I just throw my pads once used in the diaper pail and wash with the diapers on hot and throw in the dryer.  Once my kids are out of diapers I will have a separate container or just use the wetbag I use for traveling with cloth diapers (essentially a waterproof bag that is re-usable and closes with a zipper) for the pads to prevent staining on other clothing and wash on their own cycle.  I've heard that soaking the pads in water, much like a wet pail system for cloth diapers, will help lift out any stains.  I'm not a big fan of having water stored around holding diapers OR pads, so I deal with any stains and they aren't a big problem for me.  The only time I really get stains (on diapers or pads) is just when I let them sit for too long before washing. Otherwise there isn't a big problem.  While you're out and about, carry a wetbag or even a zippered plastic sandwich baggie.

Patterns:

A nice "all in one" style pad here (pdf)

"Pocket" style pad here with instructions (Hillbilly Housewife site)

Tip: To hide stains, use dark fabric.

Tip 2: To prevent your pad from sliding around, put a strip of hook or loop on the underside of your underwears crotch, then affix the opposite of hook or loop to the wings of your pad.  Instead of having the pad secure to its self when attaching, have the wings attach directly to your underwear via the hook and loop.

Tip 3: Create a leak-proof barrier by using a waterproofed material on the bottom half of your shell - the layer of fabric closest to your underwear.