DIY - Nursing Pads Tutorial

I have heard a lot about these babies from my mommy friends. Nursing pads are for breastfeeding women and are to help prevent.....ahem...'leaking' of the breast milk and stains on your clothes. I thought to myself what a great little craft to make from my scrap fabrics to include in my gift closet, with all my other goodies that I have been storing up. When I went to research sizes online I realized how BORING the store bought ones are. We all know that as women, we never like to have boring items in our wardrobe. We like our things to be cute, stylish and functional! I had plenty of charm squares left over from some place-mats that I made over the summer so I thought I would use up those.

DIY Nursing Pads:

What you need:
Enough fabric scraps for (8) 3.5" Circles
Cotton Batting (Not polyester....it doesn't breathe and it is not absorbent, which is the whole point!)
Thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine

Directions:

1. Trace a circle onto the back side of your fabric and your batting. I researched sizes online and I read that they varied from 3"-9" in diameter. I chose to make mine 3.5" diameter circles because I thought that would be significant coverage and still be able to conceal them inside a nursing bra. (I used a peanut butter jar lid for my template!) If you need to adjust your sizes, make sure they're large enough to provide sufficient coverage and not so large that they stick out of your nursing bra. You should end up with (8) fabric circles and (4) batting circles.

2. Cut out your circles. Note:  I didn't have enough of the polka dots or the green pattern to do a matching one, so I made a reversible one!

3. Once cut take (2) fabrics and sandwich a batting circle in the middle with your fabrics facing right sides out. Pin in place.

4. My machine doesn't have a surging option, but if yours does, serge around the entire edge of the circle. If you don't, like me, zig zag stitch around the edge. My machine's zig zag foot had a little guide on it so get a nice even seam all around. This is to prevent your fabric from fraying. Press with an iron and use!

These are washable and re-useable and oh so cute. Better than those plain boring beige ones that you can get in the store! Try it out for yourself! Happy Crafting!