How to make a cloth maxi-pad - for menstruation - Women's Wisdom

Whole Earth Review, Summer, 1991 by Sue Smith-Heavenrich

Well-washed 100 percent cotton is best: muslim for the pads, flannel for the liners (I recycle old nightgowns and flannel shirts). You will also need about a 30-inch strip of 1/2-inch-wide elastic and Velcro tabs, or a fastener.

The belt: Measure the elastic around your hips (or wherever you wish to wear your belt), and cut to fit. Cut out a strip of cloth about 60 inches long by 1 1/2 inches wide. Then sew the cloth into a long tube, and thread the elastic inside.

Sew the belt into a circle and add Velcro tabs to attach the maxi-pads (illustration A), or sew a fastener onto one end of the belt and a loop onto the other (illustration B), and use with maxi-pads that have loops on their ends.

The pads: To make a cloth pad, cut out a piece of cotton measuring 9 or 10 inches wide by 18 inches long (or 20 inches long, if you plan to wear your belt high up on the hips). Holding the cloth lengthwise, fold over one edge about 1 inch; then fold again to near-center (illustration C).

Repeat with the other edge.

The two smooth edges should overlap slightly (illustration D), and the finished pad should be about 3 inches wide. Fold the ends over to make loops large enough to fit your belt, and stitch in place (illustration E), or sew on Velcro tabs (illustration F).

The liners: To make a liner, cut out a piece of flannel, and hem or zigzag the edges so that the finished size measures 28 inches long by 8 inches wide. (Liners for "light days" can measure 14 inches by 8 inches.) Fold the liner in half and then in half again, so that it measures 7 inches by 8 inches. Now fold it in thirds, and stuff it into the opening in the cloth pad.