Cloth Menstrual Pads - Patterns & Tutorials
Many patterns and tutorials are available free online, others are offered for sale by their designers, sometimes with instant download, some by mail. And if sewing doesn't appeal to you, there's the simple option of folding up a small baby muslin, a good cotton facecloth or similar pre-edged fabric and wearing that in close-fitting underwear. They'll wash and dry like a dream! (Tip: don't wear microfibre terry directly against the skin - because it's so absorbent it's very drying.)
Adahy's Cloth Pad Patterns - Patterns and tutorials for "LunaPad" style pads with liner, plus circle pads and pantyliners. Also a tutorial on how to use the Dritz snap setter tool.
AlterEco's Fast-Drying, Folding Winged Pad - AlterEco's own homegrown pattern for fast-drying, folding winged pads and stacking liners, for giving to good causes. The emphasis is on flexibility and speed of washing/drying/reuse for the recipient. Basic instructions with photo guide and templates.
Clothpads.org - DIY - Patterns and photo-tutorials for many styles of pad, with tips on construction and fabric choices. Check out the rest of the site for loads more on menstrual alternatives, too!
County Cloth Creations' DIY Postpartum Pad Tutorial - This tutorial goes step by step through creating budget postpartum pads.
Diapersewing.com - Cloth Menstrual Pads - Tutorial with pictures, making a flexible pocket-and-liner pad with wings.
HealthHomeHappy.com - Make a Cloth Menstrual Pad - Blogger's guide to sewing winged all-in-one cloth pads, with fabric tips and detailed photographs.
Hillbilly Housewife - Homemade Sanitary Pads - Tutorial for making and caring for a simple pocket pad, with fabric tips and some 'no sew' alternative ideas.
Ice Moon Studios (link opens PDF file) - Clear serged/zigzag edged pocket and liner pattern. Ready-made pads available from artisan's Etsy store, where a set of 5 pockets + 5 liners works out at $3.95 a pad.
Kiki Cloth Pads Sewing Pattern - $6.99 (USD) pattern download from Etsy. Regular, Petite and Overnight. PDF format (download and print).
Kayla's Cloth Kits Mama Pad Pattern - Downloadable pattern for all-in-one and all-in-two cloth pad systems. $3.
Lilydg - How to Make A Foldable All-in-One Cloth Pad - Livejournal post with clear, text-only guide to sewing a folding pad. Hand sewn, adaptable for machine users.
Many Moons' Pocket Pad Pattern - Eco-product seller Many Moons offer a pocket-style pad tutorial with patterns and fabric tips. Menstrual and other eco-alternative products available to buy. Also organic cotton flannel to buy by the yard.
Merry Menses - Put a Sock in It reusable cloth pad tutorial - Detailed photo tutorial with pattern. Makes a nice pocket and top-sitting liner system with wings, with plenty of ideas on how to customise to individual preferences.
Millennium Ark: Making Sanitary Napkins - Pattern and detailed instructions for an all-in-one pad with tab wings. Care instructions.
Modest Handmaidens Mercantile - Christian cottage industry and ministry. Their Natural Living Alternatives section offers two cloth menstrual pad patterns, the winged Princess Pad Pattern for $10 and their own Mamas and Maidens pocket-and-liner system for $11.
NearSea Naturals - At $9.95 there's "Kristin's Cloth Pads" pattern, a sturdy and soft-looking pocket and folding liner system. Also "Personal Things" with several intimate and menstrual items. They also stock a range of unusual, luxury organic prints/colourgrown cotton and other eco fabrics useful for pad making.
New Conceptions - $12.95 for the "Personal Things" pattern, which includes nursing and menstrual pads and a tote bag. Page has fabric suggestions, yardage.
NZ Wools - Knitted Mama Pad - A pattern for a knitted pocket style pad, by Kelly-Jo Sweeney.
One Piece DIY Cloth Menstrual Pads Tutorial by SedrasMom - Easy folding pad tutorial with photos, sandwiching absorbent fabric between two layers of flannel then adding wings.
Pauline's Free Cloth Menstrual Pads Sewing Pattern - Building on Jan Andrea's all-in-one pattern, Pauline's pattern makes a few things easier and comes with a detailed text and photo tutorial. Tips on setting snaps by the hammer method, and on creating/customising your own pad pattern.
Pads For The Curvy Gal Tutorial - Photo tutorial making long, large flared night pads with wings, for severe flooding problems and leaks.
Sew Green - Cloth Pads - Nice easy photo tutorial on making a pocket pad and folding liner.
SleepingBaby.net - Instructions For Cloth Menstrual Pads - Detailed instructions by Jan Andrea for making an all-in-one winged pad, with a pattern that tessalates to avoid fabric waste when cutting. Further down the page there are details of Shawn Michelle's fold-out winged pads.
Tiny Birds - Pattern for a turned and topstitched pocket system that has both absorbency sewn in and room to add more as needed. Detailed photo tutorial.
TLC Pads - Range of pads here includes budget 'sew it yourself' kits ready for you to make up. US, international shipping policy unknown.
TriCountyCloth - Mainly diaper and nursing items, but also stocks a few wingless and winged menstrual/incontinence pads, and a sew-it-yourself kit with precut fabrics. Sells via Ebay, Etsy and tccbaby.com with Hyenacart coming soon (menstrual pad stock varies by store).