Period Products are Bloody Important
Feminine hygiene products are not negotiable. Stocking up on store bought products is a good idea, but there are definite limitations.
If we’re in for a long-time economic downturn, you’ll likely run out. And if you’re compelled to leave your home, you’ll have to leave your stash behind.
Disposable pads are a fairly recent phenomenon. In the not-too-distant past, women used to wash and reuse their pads. Fortunately, the current trend toward non-disposable, environmentally friendly products extends to period products.
Common forms of reusable protection include cups, cloth pads, period pants and interlabial pads. This post focuses on making your own pads.
Video Tutorials
YouTube Video for Beginning – Sewing by hand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8M8Pso37aU
Sewing Cloth Pads 101 – Upcycled Pads (with sewing machine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXTimqbdDAo
Written Tutorial with Patterns
This nicely illustrated set of instructions is for sewing machine, but the patterns are valid regardless. Downloadable PDF:
https://dl.orangedox.com/gqTFVpawCnyoZdRAB6
Free Downloadable Patterns
Pattern for a heavy flow:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B33KtQ_Zr9i2YWJhZjdkZjctMTllMC00NmMyLWI4OGMtMTA5NDczNTJkNzUx/edit?hl=en_US&resourcekey=0-GdTPnIfCtKHB88kOyNvXcg
Pattern for a pad and a carrying bag:
https://godschild.org/wp-content/uploads/17-Aug-22-Reusable-Sanitary-Pad-and-Bag-Pattern.pdf
This nicely illustrated set of instructions is for sewing machine, but the patterns are valid regardless.
https://dl.orangedox.com/gqTFVpawCnyoZdRAB6
You may also want to consider buying a few menstrual cups as backups.
