Nursing pads
You will need just a small amount of flannel in your choice of color. My preference is using gently used receiving blankets. As long as your nursing bra isn’t see-through, it doesn’t really matter whether you have cute little duckies or bears on your nursing pads, right?
You will need a minimum of 8 circles for each pair of pads. Be sure you wash any fabrics before cutting or else you are going to end up with little flannel coasters for your child’s tea set!! Once you’ve washed and dried your fabric cut your circles approximately 5″ in diameter. You can trace a bowl or cup to make it really easy 
).
Layer 4 circles together and straight stitch about 1/4″ from the edge. Then trim the edges even and zigzag around the very edge being sure to catch ALL the edges to prevent raveling.
Make another to match the first and … voila, you have a pair of nursing pads!
Contributed by Sue
Diaper Sewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0
I looked over some washable breast pads in a store today and noticed that the 4″ round pads were made with a dart from the edge to the center. This makes the pads contour to the shape of the breast (and the bra). Looks like it will make less bulk in the bra and a better appearance for Mom.
The dart was sewn separately in all the layers. Then they were zigzaged together around the edge. I am going to make some for my 2 pregnant daughters right away.
Wow 5″ seems so big to me, I’m small breasted and it more than covers my whole breast. I’m experimenting now on a better diameter for the AA to A size.
Hi there!!! I have a blog I am starting up called http://www.mamadiy.com, and I’d like to feature different mama’s tutorials and patterns on it to make a collection of really great diy resources!! I would like to feature this pattern on my blog, would that be okay with you? Do you have any pictures to share? Otherwise I would make the pads myself and put my own pictures up. Of course I will credit you and your awesome blog if you allow me to do this!!
thanks, please let me know!! My email addy is alicia@mamadiy.com
-alicia
I wonder… If you put a layer of rip-stop (or something waterproof) in the center, you could reduce the number of layers and make it thinner for summer wear.
My problem is that it’s really hot here in the summer and the heat trapped by washable pads (because they’re thicker) gives me heat rash.
I’ll try it and let you know.
Nutmeg and Nancy, what clever ideas. I’m just finishing up my 30th newborn size flannel prefold, thanks to this site’s pattern
At 36 weeks it’s time to think about nursing pads, and with Nancy’s idea I’ll hold put a flannel circle on over my bra and pin out a dart, leaving a little room for expansion when the milk comes in (and engorgement is over). But instead of leaving the dart takeup in, I’ll trim it out to make the pads even thinner, perhaps leaving the outside layer as is to avoid a bump. Since the layers will be sewn together they won’t ravel. Thanks Nutmeg for this site!