DIY: Homemade Facepads

I've been slowly working on reducing what we throw away, thinking about what fills our trash can and elminating as much as I can.  Unfortunately a large portion is packaging and that's a hard thing to reduce.  It's possible but takes some extra work.  So I'm starting with the "easier" things.  I've written before about cloth diapering and making cloth wipes.  We don't buy paper towels, paper napkins, disposable plates/bowls/silverware, or small baggies/ziplocs.  I'd much rather spend a little more for reusable items than one-time use (like cloth napkins or using rags instead of paper towels).

Since switching to mostly cloth wipes, the thing taking up the most space in our bathroom trash was disposable face wash pads.  I could do something about that.  I still consider myself a pretty beginner sewer but these were easy enough, even for me.  It took a few nap times to get the pieces all cut and sewed but those hours (and about $5 in fabric) are worth it save on some trash.  This might sound involved but I promise, it's really not.

Homemade Face Pads
What you will need:
-flannel fabric (I bought 1/2 yard each of two fabrics and have leftovers of both)
-batting (bought 1/2 yard and have leftovers)
-thread
-scissors
-sewing machine
-pins

Here we go!

1) Start by cutting out 3inch squares of all fabrics.  These will be three layers - a top flannel, an interior batting, and a bottom flannel.  I didn't have a super great cutting method: cutting out a 3inch square of cardboard and tracing around it before cutting out.  My squares weren't perfect but they worked.  I had 30+ of each fabric.

2) Layer the fabrics as shown:
   top layer, pattern in
   bottom layer (pattern facing top pattern, if there is one)
   batting

Pin.

I really struggled with this until I started to think about the batting and bottom layer as one piece.  You will flip these right side out as if they are one piece.

3)  Start sewing about 1/4-1/2 inch on one side and continue almost all the way around the square (remember, you want your pattern facing in here!),  You need to leave a big enough hole to flip right side out.  I also found it was easier to do the finishing stitches if my hole was in the middle of one of the sides instead in a corner.

Snip the corners, making sure not to cut through the stitching!

4) This will leave you with all three fabrics sewn together and read to be flipped!

5) Flip right side out, treating the batting and back layer as one (you'll flip between the two flannel layers). 

Turn out the corners as best as you can.

6) Finish with a 1/4 inch stitch all the way around, making sure the unsewn hole (from the flipping) is tucked in and sewn.  You shouldn't be able to tell where this was after this sewing.

7) Ta-Da!  That's it!

This took about an hour to cut out all the fabrics and maybe another hour and a half to two hours to sew everything together.  Really, not a bad time commitment for something I hope to use for many years!!

I'm planning a whole series this week on homemade beauty related things, mostly face washing related.  Next up is what I use with these pads to wash my face every night.  Get excited.

Source (with some modifications): Quiddity Quilts