Pad Making: Speed Turn and Topstitch (and Some Suedecloth Stuff)

 

Here we go with a tutorial about some time-saving tricks for making turned and topstitched pads.  This is a method I was first introduced to by watching the YouTube videos made by Courtney of Versodile.  Go look them up!  They're terribly helpful.

Please don't let all of the photos and details in this post overwhelm you! When I'm learning something new, I want all of the details and information, and then I choose which parts I want to use and keep.  I decided to include as many bits as I could.  I figure, that way if someone is a beginning beginner at pad making, there will be information for them here, and there will also be help for those who have been making pads for a bit and want to just take their work up a notch.

This post feels like it took forever to put together!  The problem was that this was my first time ever trying to sew with suedecloth, and I did not anticipate how squirrely it would be to sew.  I thought it would be like sewing with cotton, and it was absolutely not.  So I'm including in these photos and instructions a bit about working with suedecloth in particular, and what I did to manage it.  I'm going to mark the parts that were specific to this type of fabric with an asterisk (*), so that if you're working with something easier, like cotton, you can just disregard those parts.

Okay, let's get this party started!

For this tutorial, I chose to use a pattern called, "Love My Lady Cloth" by I Heart To Sew.  I'll do a review on the pattern itself in a future post, but I chose this pattern for today's pad because as you can see in the picture above, it comes with two lines - a cutting line and a sewing line.  The trick to this speedier method of pad making is that we just aren't going to cut on the cutting line.  The majority of the cutting will happen in one swoop at the end of the project.  

So the first thing you'll do is print out your pattern, and cut it out on the sewing line, instead of on the cut line.  (In this pattern, the dashed line is the sewing line, and that's where I want to cut out the pattern piece - the part where I'm pointing in the photo.)  If your favorite pattern doesn't have a sewing line printed on it, you can just determine what size the seam allowance is on your pad (does it have a 1/4", 1/2", or 3/8" seam allowance?).  Then, use a ruler and a pencil and trace that far to the inside of your cutting line, and cut there.

Here are my pattern pieces, all cut out.

At this point, you'll use your core pattern to trace the core onto a single piece of your core material, and then use the speed core method I described a few posts ago.  For my pad, I'm using a Zorb sandwich of 1 layer of diaper flannel, one layer of Zorb 1, and another layer of diaper flannel.  Finish up making your core, and set it to the side.

Next you'll place your main pattern piece on the back side (also called the wrong side) of your topper fabric.  It's important to remember that you need to leave enough fabric at the sides to account for some seam allowance.  I try to make sure the pattern piece is about 1/2" from all edges of the fabric, so that I can be sure I have plenty of room to sew when I'm ready for that step.

Then, you'll trace your pattern piece onto that back side of the topper fabric.  I've tried lots of fancy and expensive tools for this, but my favorite is just a washable crayola marker.

Using your rotary cutter, rough cut around the outside of the line, being sure to leave plenty of fabric for a seam allowance.  Here, I've just cut a rectangle of fabric around my pattern shape, but you can cut it more conformed to the shape if you want.

*As you can see in the photo above, the ink in my marker bled out into the fabric.  In all the fabrics I've worked with, this was unique to suedecloth.  I was worried at first that my markings wouldn't be clear enough, but you can see that there is still a distinct line on the fabric, so it turned out fine.

(Generous pregnant belly shot.  You're welcome.  Seriously, this is what I'm trying to work around here!)

Now you'll lay your topper fabric over your backer fabric, and with your rotary cutter, cut the backer fabric to the same size as your topper.  I'm using Windpro fleece, but if you're doing a hidden PUL backer, you'll do this for the PUL and for the fabric you're using as the layer that will touch your underwear.

*This is where things really started getting crazy with the suedecloth.  I couldn't believe how shifty it was!  If I bumped or tugged on it in any way, even though the fabric remained flat on the work surface, the entire shape would change.  I accommodated for this by making sure that any time I had to move the fabric, I would lay the pattern piece back on the top of the fabric and adjust the suedecloth, as shown in the above picture, to make sure that the lines I'd marked on it matched up correctly to the actual pattern piece.  That way I wouldn't end up with a lopsided pad in the end.  If you're not using a shifty fabric, this isn't a necessary step.

At this point, you'll need to secure your core to the back/wrong side of your topper fabric - the side where you've drawn your pattern.  To really give the pad a nice finish, make sure you measure in from the sides of the sewing line to the side of the core, and ensure that it's even.  Use as many pins as you need to feel good about the core not shifting as you sew.

*This topper fabric would shift something fierce when I tried to pin the core to it, so I opted to use basting spray to secure the core to the topper.  If you've never used basting spray before, it's a handy weapon to have in your arsenal.  Just lightly spray the core and rest it onto the backer.  It holds the pieces securely, as you can see in the photos, it's repositionable (like a post-it note), and it washes away in the first wash.

Now moving to the sewing machine, and placing the topper fabric facing down and core material facing up, you'll sew the core onto the topper.  (I always use my walking foot when making a pad, but it's okay if you don't have on yet.  Just go slowly, and work with your machine!) I like to start with a channel down the center of the core, beginning and ending about an inch from the ends of the core material.  This isn't a necessary step, just something I like to do.  When stitching around the outside of the core, make sure that your stitching comes nice and close to the edge of the core material.  Use any stitch you'd like - keep in mind all of these stitches will show on the finished pad.  Make sure you're sinking your needle in the fabric, then lifting and lowering the presser foot every few stitches when you're navigating the curves, or your pad will be a mess, because your topper fabric will want to shift and bunch up underneath your core as you go.  Take as much time as you need with your sewing - don't feel pressured into a race!

Once your core is secure on the topper, it's time to make your pad sandwich.  When you do this, you want to make sure that all of the parts that belong on the outside of the pad, are facing the inside of the sandwich. 

It will look like this if you're using a fleece backer:  
-backer fabric, with the wrong side touching the work surface (the fuzziest side - the right side - will face up)
-topper fabric, right side touching the backer fabric (the wrong side, with the core on it will face up)
-core 

It will look like this if you're doing a hidden PUL layer:
-PUL, shiny side down, touching your work surface.
-backer fabric (the one that will touch your underwear and show on the outside of the pad), wrong side down, touching the PUL.  (The pretty side will face up.)
-topper fabric, right side down (The pretty side of the topper fabric will kiss the pretty side of the backer fabric)
-core

(If you look at my past post with a review of the "Flares" pattern, I had my backer fabric facing the wrong direction during the sandwiching process, so once the pad was finished, the back looked inside out.  It happens!)

Once you have your sandwich made, it's time to pin or clip the pieces together.  Situate your pins or clips around the outside of the sewing line you've made on the topper.  It's a good idea at this point to flip your sandwich over and smooth everything out to make sure there aren't any bubbles or bunched up spots.  

*In the above photo, you can see that I've cut away more of the excess fabric.  This is because I discovered that the suedecloth wanted to shift around unless it was secured closer to my stitching line, but pins weren't a good option for the most part, because they wanted to push the slippery fabric around and distort the shape.  If you're not using a slippery or shifty fabric, this won't be that necessary, since you'll probably be using pins near your sewing line anyway. 

Pin or clip all the way around.

*In this photo, I'm just showing that once again, I needed to place my pattern piece over my work to make sure that the suedecloth hadn't shifted, and my pad shape hadn't distorted.

I like to make a few marks on the sewing line (the little green marks here), at the straightest part of the line, to remind me where to start and stop sewing.  This tells me where to leave my opening for turning.  Because I've forgotten to stop a few times. Uh... like on this pad later on.  Oops.

Now comes the sewing!  This is the beautiful part!  Because you traced a sewing line and not a cutting line, it's so darn easy to just stitch along the line instead of trying to navigate a seam allowance with bulk on one side of your presser foot and thin layers on the right.  

Position your pad under the presser foot so that the line on your fabric falls directly under your needle.  Begin where you've marked for the turning opening and backstitch, then stitch forward a few times to make sure that stitching won't come undone when you turn it right side out.  (This is the only time I backstitch with my walking foot, because a walking foot isn't built for backstitching.)

And now you'll just stitch around the pad, making sure your needle is always stitching directly on the sewing line.

When you get to the curves, it's really important to make sure you're navigating the curve without pulling and pushing on your pad.  As you can see in the picture above, on the left, the sewing line has started to take a jog to the left, instead of traveling straight ahead of the presser foot.  This is when it's time to sink your needle into the fabric, raise the presser foot (top right picture), turn your pad slightly so that the line points straight ahead of your presser foot again (bottom right picture), lower your presser foot, and take a few more stitches.  Repeat this process every time that line takes a jog to the left instead of pointing straight ahead.

When you get to the wings (or any other corner), stop sewing right at the corner, sink the needle into the corner, lift your presser foot, turn the pad so that the line is ahead of the presser foot again, lower the presser foot, and then continue to sew.  Repeat this at every corner, no matter which direction the corner turns.

When maneuvering around the curves, I like to hold onto my pad way off to the side, as pictured above, instead of having my hand by the presser foot.  That helps me remember not to push and tug on the pad to get around those curves, but just to guide it and use the presser foot and needle for a cleaner line of stitching.

Once you've come back to your markings for your turning opening, backstitch and then stitch forward a few times to secure the stitching at the opening. You want the opening to be a few inches long.  (This is where I went a little too far, and my opening was only about an inch and a half long.  It was like giving birth trying to turn this sucker right side out.)

Now that you're done sewing the pad together, it's super important to remember all of your clipping.  This is the other super time-saving part of this technique.  In the past, when I was cutting my pads out on the pattern line and following a seam allowance, it left a lot of bulk in the seams that I had to clip a lot of notches out of at the curves, and the finished seams were still bulky after topstitching.  This saves you the time of clipping all of those notches, and creates a trimmer pad.

Using your sharp sewing scissors, clip away the excess fabric around the outside of the stitching.  Only leave 1/8" of fabric outside the stitching line.  Make a snip at every inside corner (like where the wing meets the body of the pad), and clip off all of the outside corners (like the corner of the wing tab).  Get right up next to the stitching on the corners, but make sure you don't cut your stitches.  Leave about 3/8" of fabric at the turning opening, so that when you topstitch, there's enough fabric there to secure the opening closed.

Okay, in the above picture, I just want you to see how all of the clipping and cutting should look.  The turning opening has a 1/2" to 3/8" wide tab of fabric for when you turn and topstitch.  The whole perimeter of the pad (except the turning tab) has been cut back to 1/8" away from the stitching.  All of the inside corners have been snipped, right down into the corner and right up to the stitching.  All of the outside corners have been clipped off.

Now you'll turn your pad right side out.  I find it easiest to start at the end of the pad that's farthest from the turning hole, tuck that in towards the hole, and push it through, then the same with the wings.  The rest usually follows pretty easily.  Unless you made your hole too small.  Like I did.

Once the pad is right-side-out, you'll notice that it's not very crisp looking.  Use a pointy tool, with a dull tip (I use a big, blunt ended knitting needle) to push and poke out the corners and seams.  I run the knitting needle all the way around the inside of the pad, right up against the seam, to really make sure all of the fabric is where it should be, before I iron or topstitch.  Tuck in the turning tab, and pin it in place if needed.

At this point, I like to iron the pad.  This isn't a have-to-do kind of thing, but if you want to take your work up a notch, it's a good idea.  My goal when ironing is to make sure that the topper fabric and backer fabric meet up nicely at the seam, without overlapping.  I don't want the backer showing at the top of the pad or the topper showing at the back, if I can help it.

*Because the suedecloth was so squirrely, I couldn't for the life of me get the topper and backer to line up the way I wanted, but I decided to be satisfied with it, since it's not for sale or anything.

When you're ready to topstitch, you'll place your pad under the presser foot, positioned so that there's about 1/8" between your needle and the edge of the pad.  (1/8" seam allowance.)  Look at your presser foot and see where the edge of the pad is touching the foot.  As you work around the pad, make sure that you are guiding it so that the edge of the pad is always touching that spot on your foot.  Don't pay attention to the needle, just keep the edge of the pad aligned with that spot.  This will ensure a nice, even topstitch.  I like to start stitching right before the turning opening, and stitch that closed the very first thing.  As you work, use your fingers to pinch and roll the seam as needed, to make sure that the topper and backer fabrics like up properly.  Remember to backstitch a few stitches when you start and stop.  When you get to the end, remove the pad from your machine and clip off any remaining threads.

And now that your sewing is finished, all that's left is adding the snaps!  I like to fold the wings behind the pad and make sure they'll be nice and snug, and then poke the hole for the snaps through both wings at the same time.  That helps me make sure they'll line up right where I want them.

And your pad is finsihed!  

When I first tried these things, I was a little daunted.  I was focusing so much on everything, that it didn't seem like it would save any time.  But after making just a few pads this way, I am completely amazed at how much faster it is.  I can make twice as many pads in the same amount of time, because I'm not carefully cutting out all of the individual pieces, clipping jillions of notches, or navigating tricky seam allowances.  And it has really saved my hands, because I'm not using scissors so darn much any more.  Hopefully this will be a big help for you too!

Pad Making: Speed Serged Pads

I made some serged pads today, using the Nessie Pads pattern that I found on Etsy. I applied some of the tricks I've learned in order to make the process faster, and they were a big help. This method of pad assembly eliminates a lot of cutting and pinning and things that eat up a lot of time. It also produces a clean finished pad, whether you're using these techniques for serging or for the turn and topstitch method on your sewing machine. Here I'll just be focusing on serged pads, but I'll talk about using these tricks for a sewn pad in a future post. I made and photographed two pads at the same time here, so the topper color switches around throughout the post.

Start by tracing your pattern onto the right side of your topper fabric.  (I'm using cotton velour here, so I'm tracing onto the fuzzy side.)

Next, using a rotary cutter, just rough cut around the shape you've just traced, leaving some excess fabric around the edges.

Create your core, using your preferred method and materials. (See my previous post for the speed method I like to use.)  Center the finished core on the wrong side of the topper fabric.  So, on my cotton velour, that's I'm putting the core on the smooth side of the fabric instead of the fuzzy side.

As you can see, if you've used a light colored topper fabric and a washable crayola marker like I did, you can see the line of the pad topper through the back of the fabric. You'll center the core within that line, with the core material you want closest to your body facing down and touching your topper fabric.  My core is a layer of Zorb 2 and a layer of diaper flannel.  I wanted the Zorb closest to my body, so I put my core on the topper fabric with the Zorb facing down and the flannel facing up.

Pin the core in place.  You can use as many pins as you feel like you need to keep it secure. 

(If you can't see the line through the topper fabric, lay the core centered on the right side and use pins to mark the fabric along the outline of the core. Flip the fabric over and pin the core in place inside the pin guides you've created.)

Moving to a sewing machine, stitch the core to the topper. I like to start by sewing a channel down the center of the core, beginning and ending about an inch from each end of the core. You can use any stitch you'd like for this part, but remember these stitches will show on the top of finished pad.

Now stitch along the side of the core, making sure your stitches run nice and close to the edge of the core to keep it from bunching and shifting in the finished pad. I prefer a wavy line or a zigzag stitch here, because it seems to secure everything just a little better.  And I think it's pretty.

A walking foot works best for this, since you're working with differing fabric thicknesses. It's also a gem when working with knit fabrics, like the cotton velour, Zorb 2, and windpro fleece I'm using in this pad. 

Make sure you lift and lower the presser foot every few stitches as you come around the curves, or your pad and walking foot will not be your friends.  Your core will shift and stretch and pucker some, and you won't get a nice, smooth, centered core when you're finished.

Once the core is attached to the topper, you'll make pad a sandwich that looks like this: 

*Backer fabric, right side facing down. (The part that will touch your underwear needs to be touching your work surface.

*Core fabric

*Topper fabric (with the core attached to it), right side facing up. The side with the core will be
placed on the backer, and the side that will touch your skin will be facing up, where you can see and touch it.

Using your rough-cut topper piece as a guide, rough cut the backer fabric with a rotary cutter to basically match.

 

It doesn't need to be perfect!

 

Pin or clip the pieces together along the outside edge to keep them from shifting while you serge. I prefer clips because I don't have to worry about accidentally sending a pin under my serger blade and ruining the blade. It's totally something I would do.

 

Beginning at the wing, start serging with your blade and needles pointed in the direction of your traced line.

 

Continue serging, making sure that your blade is consistently cutting right on the traced line. Go slowly, and take care around the curves.  Since you're doing this on a serger, you won't be able to lift and lower the presser foot to navigate the curves like you would with a sewing machine.  So you will have to tug and shift and maneuver the pad here.  That's why the clips come in handy.

 

Another great thing about using clips here, is that as you serge towards and past them, they'll just fall away in the scraps without interfering with your work space or machine. And then you can just collect them all at the end, instead of pausing every few inches to pull out a pin.

 

Once you've come full circle back to the start of your stitching, overlap your stitches by about an inch, then turn your work at a 90 degree angle, and take two stitches off the side of the pad. Lift the presser foot and slide the pad backwards until the stitches slide off of the stirch finger. Flip the pad over and slide it back under the presser foot, lining it back up right in front of the needles and next to the blade. Serge for another inch or so (right back on top of the stitches you just made) to lock all the stitching in place.  Now you can clip the threads close to the pad without them coming unraveled.

(If that's too confusing, you can watch the video a few posts back about serged washcloths for a demo.  You can skip to about 5:05 in the video if you just want to see finishing off with the serger, instead of watching the entire video.)

 

Now you'll apply the snaps. You might want to fold the wings back, and wiggle them back and forth a bit to make sure that the pad looks symmetrical on the top, before deciding where to place the snaps.  It's possible on a wrap-style pad to place the snaps in a way that make the ends look uneven or pinched, so just shift the overlapped wings back and forth until it looks right from the top.   I like to make sure that the wing where I started serging hides behind the other wing, just so the weird threads don't show, for a prettier finish.

 

Once the snaps are fastened on, your pad is done!

Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy. And no cutting cramps.

Pad Making: Speed Cores

One of the biggest pains of pad-making, is all of the cutting you do. Piece after piece after piece. But as I've reviewed and tried different patterns and techniques, and tried some new things, I've stumbled onto a way to eliminate most of the cutting. That's a lifesaver on the hands! Today I'll show you the speed method for cutting and sewing cores.

You'll want to start by using a water soluble marker to trace your core pattern onto just one layer of your core material- the layer that you'll have on top or bottom of your core sandwich. I'm using a crayola washable marker, and my top layer here is just some white, double napped diaper flannel. I'm tracing my pattern piece near the edge of the fabric, right on the roll of flannel.

Next, using a rotary cutter, roughly cut out around the piece you just traced, in a rectangle shape.

Now, place that rectangle on your next layer or two of core fabric. Again with your rotary cutter, cut out your next layers of core material (as many as you'll need), in pretty much the same shape as the first piece you cut. 

There's no need to be precise for the cutting part. Just make sure each layer of core is big enough to accommodate the shape you've traced on that top piece. And sandwich the pieces all together, making sure the traced part fits inside each piece in the stack. (My sandwich is that layer of diaper flannel and a layer of Zorb 2 with dimples, which is nice and floppy. You can do as many layers as you want, of whatever you'd like, but I wanted a thinner, moderate absorbency pad core.)

Pin or clip your stack, just to make sure things don't shift around on you as you sew. 

 

Since I'm working with a combination of woven and knit fabrics, and cores can be thick, I'm using a walking foot. I highly recommend using a walking foot for any part of the pad assembly process. It will make a huge difference in ease of sewing, and the quality of your finished product.

Next, set your machine to a zigzag stitch. The stitch can be as tight or open as you'd like. This part will be hidden in the pad, and we are just trying to secure it and keep it clean. Place your sandwich under the presser foot, with the traced line on the fabric facing up. Make sure that your stitching will fall just inside the line that you traced on the fabric.  Find a spot on your presser foot, and just make sure that the line travels along at that spot consistently.  

And now stitch around the core, keeping your stitching just inside that traced line. Make sure you lift and lower your presser foot as much as you need when you're coming around the curves, instead of pushing and pulling your fabric around. That will keep your sandwich from bunching and puckering. And if you tug and push the fabric, it will fight with your walking foot and warp the fabric. 

*Just remember too, that when using a walking foot, you don't want to back stitch. A walking foot isn't made for that, and can cause mechanical problems in your machine if you do it.

Once you've stitched the core, it's time to cut it out. Since you're cutting through several layers, use a pair of good, sharp scissors. Cut just outside your stitches, along the traced line. Don't cut your stitches!

Cut all the way around your core until it's free of its rectangular prison.

And you're done! One nice, flat, even core that you only had to cut once. 

This has been a huge time and energy saver for me, and especially when working with stretchier core materials like Zorb 2, which tend to stretch and warp, it really helps produce a nice flat core that's easy to center with every layer exactly the same shape, and this core won't interfere with your pad stitching and distort the shape of your finished pad.

Pattern Review: Nessie Pads Pattern

As I get closer to my due date (just a few weeks now), I've felt a push to finish building up my pad stash as quickly as possible.  This seems like the perfect time to delve into the world of serged pads.  It seemed a lot faster to serge a pad than to bother with all of the clipping and turning and top stitching.  I wanted to test this theory.  I've seen tons of great reviews of the pads from Homestead Emporium, but due to US legal red tape, they don't ship their pads from Canada to my area.  One day I hope to be able to figure out how to recreate something similar, but in the mean time, I needed to learn how to make any kind of serged pad.  I gave it a go with my Mamma Can Do It pattern, and they turned out fine, but lopsided.  And left me feeling like I have no control over my serger.  ... Probably because I don't.  So I searched on Etsy and found this pattern and decided to give it a try.

The Shop: Nessie's Boutique

The Pattern:  Nessie Pads Cloth Pad

 

  

 This instant download pattern comes with 11 pages of clear, color photos, assembly instructions, suggestions, and pattern pieces.  It includes patterns for a liner size, a light/moderate size,  and a moderate/heavy size.  The description and pattern don't state anywhere what the lengths of these pads are.  So since I'll be using this for postpartum, I just chose the biggest one to print out and hoped for the best.  (I didn't want to print and measure them all.)  The larger, moderate/heavy pad works up to be about 10.5" long, but I haven't bothered to print and measure the other sizes yet.

 

 The instructions are pretty clear and straight-forward.  I thought it was interesting that the designer basically repeated the same set of assembly instructions and photos 3 times, once for each size of pad included in the pattern bundle, when it seemed like it could have been stated just once.   It wasn't a problem at all, and there were slight variations, but it just seemed repetitive.

She also includes good suggestions and guidance for fabric selection. 

This pattern was designed to create an "exposed core" style pad, with the exposed core being serged as well.  All of the instructions in the pattern are for that style of pad.  It does have several other suggestions for changing up the style, but none of those suggestions come with any instruction.  You're just left to figure out the assembly for those on your own.  

I personally didn't like the idea of a serged, exposed core for my personal use.  I typically use Zorb in my cores, and I don't like the idea of any bits of fluff escaping out of my core materials when I'm using the pad.  I also didn't feel like a serged exposed core would give my pad the "finished" look that I like.  I think that a turned and topstitched exposed core would be nice on this pad, but the pattern just isn't designed for that.  So I decided to go with an internal core.  It took some work to figure out how to center the core on the back of the topper, and then I just needed to think it through for the total assembly.  Not a big deal, but a little inconvenient the first time.

 

When all was said and done, I actually really liked the way this pattern.  It was honestly the only serged pattern I could find on Etsy, but it worked out well because it turned out to be a good one to learn on.  Even with the bits that weren't ideal, it was really easy to make, and took just 20 minutes from the time I printed the pattern, to completion of the pad.  It's a great width, approximately 2.75" to 3" wide, depending on the materials you use.  Once snapped, the finished pad is straight, with no flare.  I did wish a bit for a longer length in the moderate/heavy pad, because a pad this length doesn't seem quite long enough for overnight use.

 

 I ended up making 3 pads in about an hour and a half, and that included stopping to take photos for some more blog posts.  They didn't turn out perfectly, but the pattern was good enough that I was able to make them with confidence and feel good about how they turned out.

I do wish for more serged patterns now!  Having tried this pattern,  I'd like to find some with more lengths, and I prefer a pad with some flare at the ends, so I'd like to find patterns with more shape and length variety.  But this was a good starting place, a good first serged pad, and it will be functional, even beyond postpartum.