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fabric options Commonly used fabrics for sewing cloth pads. Most of the images can be clicked, to go to the sources. Cotton flannel/woven is usually available in local fabric shops. core (absorbent) zorb 1 bamboo fleece cotton flannel top layer (next to skin) bamboo velour dyeable velour bamboo sherpa bamboo interlock bamboo jersey cotton velour cotton interlock wicking jersey cotton woven bottom layer (moisture barrier) softshell fleece PUL windpro fleece how to sew pads

How to sew cloth menstrual pads. This step by step process can also be used for incontinence pads, and postpartum pads. Sewing your own washable cloth pads is a fun project and also environmentally friendly, by reducing waste from disposable pad products. Snaps for pads Keep that pad from shifting with some snaps on the wings! where to get plastic snaps Plastic KAM snaps are a very popular closure option for the wings of your cloth pad. This is the brand used by cloth diaper makers, which requires stricter regulations for safety.

Nozzel I sealed the bottle with a tie-dye nozzle cap to prepare for application. All steps: Select paint I used Jacquard Lumiere blue mixed with leftover white metallic to lighten the color for an orange shirt. Shake The paints blended together smoothly inside the bottle after a good shake. Rhythm I used steady pressure and timing to keep the dot size and spacing consistent. Pour The paints were combined into a squeeze bottle using a funnel from my tie-dye supplies. Test flow I squeezed a few dots onto a paper towel to get the paint flowing evenly. Nozzel I sealed the bottle with a tie-dye nozzle cap to prepare for application. Start dotting With the paper towel removed, I started applying dots directly to the shirt. See all tutorials

Rinse I threw the shirt into my utility sink and sprayed it with cold water until it ran mostly clear. Then I rinsed it with hot water and then sent it through the washing machine with some normal detergent. All steps: Supplies I decided to use just one color so I could create a swatch for the color “black ice” from Dharma. My shirt is 100% cotton in size medium. Setup I used a wire basket and a cooling rack above the plastic bin so that the item would drip off excess ice and dye. Batching It took about six hours for the ice to melt. I let it sit for about 18 more hours to fully set and this is what it looks like after the ice has melted. Soda ash This shirt was pre-soaked in soda, ash water in a repurposed bucket that used to be a kitty litter container. It was only hand wrung, so it was pretty wet before folding. Application I decided to apply the dye with ice, so I piled on a bunch of ice before adding dye. The green fleece around the shirt is just meant to hold up the ice around the shirt so it gets plenty of liquid. Rinse I threw the shirt into my utility sink and sprayed it with cold water until it ran mostly clear. Then I rinsed it with hot water and then sent it through the washing machine with some normal detergent. Fold I folded the shirt up at an angle. On that fold line, started rolling the fabric really tight in the center, but I let it roll looser on each end. Incline These days it’s common for people to do an incline set up when they’re using some variation of the rolled technique. I used some mega blocks to hold the basket up at about a 30° incline. Result The final shirt turned out pretty cool. I like the way the fold turned out, as well as this die color. Next time, I would like to add some black somewhere on the shirt just for a little extra contrast. See all tutorials

Poly Fleece The shirt is inside out and facing down. I laid it on top of a large piece of polyester fleece. Then I used tall, scrunchies and shove the whole thing in a snug basket. All steps: Preparation I am using a 100% cotton shirt that has been pre-soaked in soda ash water. The color I’m using is dark brown by Dharma Trading Co. Mega Blocks I wanted to dye this on an incline, so I used some mega blocks to prop the metal basket up on the cookie cooling rack. Mega blocks are awesome for tie-dye because they can be stacked and used for several purposes. Batching It took about six hours for the ice and the dye to melt through. It all collected in the bin under the cooling rack. Trying to get flow ice results does not work well unless you have drainage for the melt to drop off. Poly Fleece The shirt is inside out and facing down. I laid it on top of a large piece of polyester fleece. Then I used tall, scrunchies and shove the whole thing in a snug basket. PPE Usually, I wear a full painters mask to make sure that I’m not breathing in any of the fine dust from the dye. The dye can float in the air for a while, and you don’t wanna be breathing that in. Also, it’s a good idea to wear gloves because touching soda ash can irritate your skin. Saturation As you can see in this image, where I am unfolding the shirt, there’s a lot of white space remaining. If you pay attention when you’re unfolding and think about how you placed the dye, you can get a feel for how to do it differently in the future to get the saturation that you want. Ice When I’m ice dyeing a shirt, I usually add about the same height of ice as the height of the thing that is folded. I did not sprinkle on any extra soda ash with the ice and the dye. DOI I sprinkled about half a teaspoon of powdered dye over the middle section of the ice. If I could do it over again, I probably would’ve added more dye all over. Wash & Dry Here’s what the dark brown color looks like in the flowy ice dye style when the shirt is fully washed and dried. I love this color and will definitely use it again. I would like to try combining it with a dark color for more contrast. See all tutorials

Preparation I am using a 100% cotton shirt that has been pre-soaked in soda ash water. The color I’m using is dark brown by Dharma Trading Co. All steps: Preparation I am using a 100% cotton shirt that has been pre-soaked in soda ash water. The color I’m using is dark brown by Dharma Trading Co. Mega Blocks I wanted to dye this on an incline, so I used some mega blocks to prop the metal basket up on the cookie cooling rack. Mega blocks are awesome for tie-dye because they can be stacked and used for several purposes. Batching It took about six hours for the ice and the dye to melt through. It all collected in the bin under the cooling rack. Trying to get flow ice results does not work well unless you have drainage for the melt to drop off. Poly Fleece The shirt is inside out and facing down. I laid it on top of a large piece of polyester fleece. Then I used tall, scrunchies and shove the whole thing in a snug basket. PPE Usually, I wear a full painters mask to make sure that I’m not breathing in any of the fine dust from the dye. The dye can float in the air for a while, and you don’t wanna be breathing that in. Also, it’s a good idea to wear gloves because touching soda ash can irritate your skin. Saturation As you can see in this image, where I am unfolding the shirt, there’s a lot of white space remaining. If you pay attention when you’re unfolding and think about how you placed the dye, you can get a feel for how to do it differently in the future to get the saturation that you want. Ice When I’m ice dyeing a shirt, I usually add about the same height of ice as the height of the thing that is folded. I did not sprinkle on any extra soda ash with the ice and the dye. DOI I sprinkled about half a teaspoon of powdered dye over the middle section of the ice. If I could do it over again, I probably would’ve added more dye all over. Wash & Dry Here’s what the dark brown color looks like in the flowy ice dye style when the shirt is fully washed and dried. I love this color and will definitely use it again. I would like to try combining it with a dark color for more contrast. See all tutorials

Base color Decide on your first color, which needs to be light and bright. I decided to use 1 Tsp soft orange powdered dye. Mix in about a cup or two of warm water until the dye dissolves. All steps: Base color Decide on your first color, which needs to be light and bright. I decided to use 1 Tsp soft orange powdered dye. Mix in about a cup or two of warm water until the dye dissolves. Pour Dump in the second color at one end. It will naturally flow toward the other end, in a way that looks nice. 8oz of water seems to be a good amount of liquid to use for the second color. Too much water might dilute the color or overtake the whole design. Scrunch Place the shirt into the bin of dye and swish it around until it’s fully saturated in color. Then scrunch it loosely. This will make it so that there’s no white left on the shirt. Squish it Use a gloved hand to squish, wiggle and generally mess with the shirt. It's fun. It mixes the color a little so the gradient is smooth. There will still be subtle details even if you mess with it. Lazy mixing It's annoying to mix liquid dye and then funnel it into squirt bottles, which is why I usually just ice dye. But for this, you can just mix a second color in a wide mouth jar and stir it. No need for a squirt bottle transfer. 1/2tsp of fuchsia for the dark bottom color. Rinse & reveal Since the water was warm, I didn't wait the whole 24 hours for the color to batch. I guessed that it would be ok after 12 hours since the heat sped up the reaction of the dye bonding. Reds/oranges react faster than other colors, too. This shirt is very bright and makes me happy to look at. See all tutorials

Absorbent core fabric for sewing cloth menstrual pads, and cloth diapers. How to prep before sewing, and what GSM to buy. Bamboo Fleece (400 GSM) Nature's Fabrics listing Bamboo Fleece Info Absorbent fabric used as core material for cloth pads and diapers. It feels distinctly silky and floppy. 2 layers of this is GREAT for a heavy cloth pad core. Texture The knit side is smooth The brushed side is fuzzy After washing, the fabric edge will curl toward the smooth side. Sew close to the edge to prevent curling inside of your pad. Weight (GSM) Common weights to buy for cloth pads are 300, 400, and 500gsm. I personally enjoy working with the 400gsm weight. Prepping the fabric My most recent yard of bamboo fleece had a shrinkage rate of about 14%. This is normal. To avoid a finished pad wrinkling after sewing, make sure to fully "prep" the fabric. Wash and dry on hot 3 times, before sewing. Performance Bamboo fleece makes very thin pads. Highly absorbent, and stays soft/floppy longterm. Absorbency layers 1 layer = liner/moderate absorbency 2 layers = heavy 3 layers = very heavy/postpartum It might be tricky to sew 3 layers, so it might be good to use a graded (stepped) core approach. Where to buy I love buying pad materials from Nature's Fabrics. They have excellent customer service and stock consistent fabric styles. Not just for cores Lots of people love having the top layer, next to skin, sewn with 300-400gsm bamboo fleece. It's adds a lot of absorbency over the entire pad, instead of just in the core section. Whether you have the smooth or fuzzy side facing out, is up to preference. Dye your bamboo fleece This fabric dyes beautifully with fiber reactive dyes! You can ice dye or liquid dye bamboo fleece.

Frequently ask questions about tie dye and ice dye. Can you reuse soda ash water? Soda ash water stays good forever. Just keep a lid on it so it won't evaporate. If you happen to put an item in there that releases dye, you can put a white item in to see if it will soak up the dye molecules. Does the size of the ice matter? Crushed ice melts faster and spreads dye more softly. Big cubes melt slower and give stronger separation between colors. Both can work, it depends on the effect you want. Why does black split into other colors? Many black dyes are blends of other pigments. As the ice melts, the components separate, creating outlines of blue, red, or green. This is normal and often desirable. Can you speed up the ice melting? You can, but it’s risky. Using heat or breaking up the ice early might reduce detail and cause uneven saturation. Slow melts usually give cleaner flowy lines. Why do you use ice instead of bottles? I love the way ice slowly pushes dye through the fabric, by gravity, creating organic patterns. It looks more like something that would occur in nature. What is the cold mist method? The cold mist method is a process I use to layer color into dry, tied shirts using powdered dye and a misting nozzle, with cold water. Why don't pink geodes saturate well? Even with added effort, they tend to stay on the surface or miss areas under the sinew. I often black or orange to help reach the areas they miss. How fast should the ice melt? If the ice melts too fast, like within an hour, you can lose detail and get washed out areas. Slow it down to get more even results. Do some colors need different amounts? Yes, some colors are way more potent than others! If you are ordering from Dharma, they will indicate which colors need difference ratios to be at full strength. Why is my shirt dull after rinsing? Dye that didn’t bond gets washed away. Dull results can come from under-batching, low soda ash, or not enough dye powder in the first place. What’s the best fabric for ice dye? 100% cotton or rayon usually gives the best results. Cotton/poly blends can work but won’t absorb color evenly. Avoid anything labeled “colorfast.” Where do you get your dye? I usually get my fiber reactive dye from Dharma Trading Co. They have many kinds of dye, so make sure you're looking at fiber reactive procion dye. How do you keep the white areas white? It helps the item batch the full 24 hours so excess dye has time to exhaust. Then, rinse with cold water until it runs mostly clear. That helps the white areas stay clean. How long does it have to batch? Procion dyes take about 24 hours to fully set, at room temp. If you use heat, you can speed up batch time. Blues usually turn out better with full batch time of 24 hours. What does soda ash do? Soda ash is what makes the chemical reaction happen, that makes the color permanent on your shirt. Why are my colors muddy? Overlapping complementary colors makes muddled colors. For example, red next to green will make a dark brown. Dye FAQs

Dye Tutorials Black Ice Dye Melt Speed Flowy Brown Metallic Accents Bold Color

Bedazzle your natural fibers with the magic of fiber reactive procion dye. Make up new ways to squish dye and cotton into sick new drip. Welcome to your new hyperfocus hobby. Dye Tutorials Item Title This is placeholder text. To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Item Title This is placeholder text. To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data. Item Title This is placeholder text. To connect this element to content from your collection, select the element and click Connect to Data.

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