When I was looking around at patterns and links for all things cloth pad related, I couldn't seem to find anything about the costings for making your own. Since I plan to sell them for profit, knowing how much they cost to make is important. I'm not sure I've got it quite figured out yet, but here's what I have so far, in case it helps someone.
The base has two layers of flannel (or flannelette as it's sometimes called, or winceyette or brushed cotton!). There's also a layer that backs the topper piece. I was able to cut enough pieces (top, bottom and base of topper) from one metre to make 9 pads. That was 9 assorted size pads, so I can't say how many regulars or XLs etc you could make from a metre. The flannel I bought was £3.60 per metre, making each pad cost £0.40. If you picked a fancy quilters flannel or designer/organic flannel then it would be more like £12 per metre. That would almost triple the cost per pad.
For the topper I used a printed flannel that was £1.75 for a FQ. From that I was able to cut 10 toppers (assorted sizes again). That made it £0.18 per pad. Some FQs are around £4.50, so that would be £0.45 per pad.
Next Zorb. The Zorb I bought was £5.00 for a FQ. From that I cut 12 layers. You can cut more inner layers because they don't need a seam allowance. That made it £0.42 per layer. Some pads will have two layers so that would be £0.84 per pad. I didn't have enough pattern pieces to take this photo so I laid out a bunch of toppers. The larger sizes require two layers, so if I cut all these out I'd only have enough to make three of the larger sizes, rather than the six I've laid out.
Snaps work out at £0.05 per set. A set consists of the snap and the socket. Sometimes people add two sockets for extra adjustment, so that would add another £0.03 (2.5p really but I rounded it up).
PUL I haven't really been able to work out yet. It costs £3.50 for a FQ (if you were making a set for yourself you might want to go for a full metre so you can make a wet bag or some pad wrappers). I've laid these pattern pieces out on my FQ of Zorb (I only have four of them). I'd estimate that you could cut five pads from your FQ. They need to have space around them for a seam allowance. There might be a better way to lay them out but they don't seem to tessellate together very well. That would be £0.70 per pad, based on being able to cut 5 pads.
So far it's costing £1.78 for one pad with one layer of Zorb and two snap settings and £2.20 for a two layer pad. If you had one metre of flannel and one metre of PUL, as well as your FQs of topper fabric and Zorb you'd be able to make 3 double layer pads and 6 single layer ones. You'd have enough PUL left over for another set and some pad wrappers or a wet bag.
If you're making a set for yourself I'd recommend:
x2 metres of flannel
x1 metre of PUL
x2 FQs of Zorb
x2 FQs of printed flannel
x1 bag of 50 sets of snaps
That would give you:
6 night/maxi pads
12 pads in a mixture of regular and long size
Left over PUL for wet bag or pad wrappers
This isn't including the cost of a pattern if you bought one, or thread. You might need several colours of thread if you wanted to top stitch in colours that matched your fabrics. (I highly recommend this! For one it looks better, and two it hides any wonky stitching.) You might also want to buy labels to mark the different sizes. If you're making things to sell you'd need to figure in the cost of pre-washing the fabric, electricity, needles, wear and tear on your machines, Etsy fees, payment processing fees, postage cost (stamps, mailers, paper and printer ink, labels and any other packaging), advertising etc. Unless you managed to get all your fabric locally then there's also the delivery costs of that too. If you want your pads to be attractive to customers then you'll probably need to go with designer or organic fabrics, which will dramatically increase your production costs. This is seeming less and less like a money making enterprise... But if you're making them for yourself there are substantial savings to be made.
These are just the costings for this type of pattern though (it's usually known as an exposed core pad). I'd think it would use more fabric than normal all-in-one type pads. If you're making all in-one-pads, like the Luna Wolf pad for example, I think you could probably go with being able to get 5 cuts per FQ (like in my pattern pieces on the PUL photo). I haven't tried this though, so you might be able to get more or less. The pattern looks like it'll be easier to squash up together, and the seam allowance is already included, so you might get more. I'd use 5 as a guideline though. With this type of pattern you won't need the extra topper fabric since you won't be making those. You could even back your pads with PUL instead of hiding it between two layers, which would save fabric. People say that those type of pads can slip around, but I'd imagine if you wear tight enough underwear it shouldn't be a problem. Backing pads with fleece also seems to be popular. The fleece is used in place of the PUL. It's generally much cheaper than PUL, so that would cut your costs down even more if you wanted to use that.
Here's some of the ones I had already made mixed with some I just finished. I'm keeping the cat print ones for myself. I only have four of them, so I'll need to make some more. Anyway, I hope this helps someone! My next task is to time how long it takes to cut, sew and snap one pad. I don't think it takes long, but I thought that it was something that would be important to know if you were going to be running a business.
The base has two layers of flannel (or flannelette as it's sometimes called, or winceyette or brushed cotton!). There's also a layer that backs the topper piece. I was able to cut enough pieces (top, bottom and base of topper) from one metre to make 9 pads. That was 9 assorted size pads, so I can't say how many regulars or XLs etc you could make from a metre. The flannel I bought was £3.60 per metre, making each pad cost £0.40. If you picked a fancy quilters flannel or designer/organic flannel then it would be more like £12 per metre. That would almost triple the cost per pad.
For the topper I used a printed flannel that was £1.75 for a FQ. From that I was able to cut 10 toppers (assorted sizes again). That made it £0.18 per pad. Some FQs are around £4.50, so that would be £0.45 per pad.
Next Zorb. The Zorb I bought was £5.00 for a FQ. From that I cut 12 layers. You can cut more inner layers because they don't need a seam allowance. That made it £0.42 per layer. Some pads will have two layers so that would be £0.84 per pad. I didn't have enough pattern pieces to take this photo so I laid out a bunch of toppers. The larger sizes require two layers, so if I cut all these out I'd only have enough to make three of the larger sizes, rather than the six I've laid out.
Snaps work out at £0.05 per set. A set consists of the snap and the socket. Sometimes people add two sockets for extra adjustment, so that would add another £0.03 (2.5p really but I rounded it up).
PUL I haven't really been able to work out yet. It costs £3.50 for a FQ (if you were making a set for yourself you might want to go for a full metre so you can make a wet bag or some pad wrappers). I've laid these pattern pieces out on my FQ of Zorb (I only have four of them). I'd estimate that you could cut five pads from your FQ. They need to have space around them for a seam allowance. There might be a better way to lay them out but they don't seem to tessellate together very well. That would be £0.70 per pad, based on being able to cut 5 pads.
So far it's costing £1.78 for one pad with one layer of Zorb and two snap settings and £2.20 for a two layer pad. If you had one metre of flannel and one metre of PUL, as well as your FQs of topper fabric and Zorb you'd be able to make 3 double layer pads and 6 single layer ones. You'd have enough PUL left over for another set and some pad wrappers or a wet bag.
If you're making a set for yourself I'd recommend:
x2 metres of flannel
x1 metre of PUL
x2 FQs of Zorb
x2 FQs of printed flannel
x1 bag of 50 sets of snaps
That would give you:
6 night/maxi pads
12 pads in a mixture of regular and long size
Left over PUL for wet bag or pad wrappers
I think this would be sufficient to allow a good couple of days between washing. The total for this would be £34.64. Using fancier flannel at £12 a metre and FQs costing £4.50 each works out at £56.94. That seems costly, but I read somewhere that disposable pads or tampons cost around $90 a year. I don't remember if that was US, Australian, Canadian or another country's dollars, but it seems like £56.94 is a saving after all. I just found a set of 8 Eco-Femme pads online for £44.75. You can make 18 for your £56.94, so making your own definitely saves you money. If they last several years then the savings get even better.
These are just the costings for this type of pattern though (it's usually known as an exposed core pad). I'd think it would use more fabric than normal all-in-one type pads. If you're making all in-one-pads, like the Luna Wolf pad for example, I think you could probably go with being able to get 5 cuts per FQ (like in my pattern pieces on the PUL photo). I haven't tried this though, so you might be able to get more or less. The pattern looks like it'll be easier to squash up together, and the seam allowance is already included, so you might get more. I'd use 5 as a guideline though. With this type of pattern you won't need the extra topper fabric since you won't be making those. You could even back your pads with PUL instead of hiding it between two layers, which would save fabric. People say that those type of pads can slip around, but I'd imagine if you wear tight enough underwear it shouldn't be a problem. Backing pads with fleece also seems to be popular. The fleece is used in place of the PUL. It's generally much cheaper than PUL, so that would cut your costs down even more if you wanted to use that.
Here's some of the ones I had already made mixed with some I just finished. I'm keeping the cat print ones for myself. I only have four of them, so I'll need to make some more. Anyway, I hope this helps someone! My next task is to time how long it takes to cut, sew and snap one pad. I don't think it takes long, but I thought that it was something that would be important to know if you were going to be running a business.
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