Reusable make up pads
Just a quick one today, as I wanted to share some reusable make up pads I made recently. I entered these into the Refashioners 2023, an annual competition held by Portia Lawrie. I will talk about my main entry in another post, but I was very lucky to win a Pfaff overlocker for my two entries! Once I’ve got it unpacked and set up properly, I plan to take some photos and write a blog post about my new machine, but in the meantime thanks so much to both Portia and Pfaff for this incredible prize.
These 4 reusable pads were the work of around 20 minutes. I used scraps of wool for the batting (leftovers from a quilting project and originally sourced from a vintage wool blanket) and brushed cotton remnants from an old pair of pyjama bottoms. I drew around a ramekin dish to create one layer of batting and two layers of brushed cotton. Placing the two layers of brushed cotton right sides together, with the batting lying against the wrong side of one of the cotton layers, I sewed three quarters of the way around the outside edge. I snipped the hem, to allow it to curve nicely once it was turned right sides out, then pressed the pad to push the unsewn length of hem to the inside. I then added two lines of topstitching, partly for security and partly for aesthetics.
I don’t wear a lot of make up, so 4 pads will probably do me for a while. The beauty of this wee project, is you could whip up another batch in no time. I like the idea of making little bundles of them as gifts, you could present them neatly stacked and tied with ribbon, or inside a recycled jam jar. This batch have a slightly squared-off edge, where the folded-in hem is topstitched in place, but I think with practice I could create a more circular shape. Ultimately, the aim of this project was to have something usable, rather than perfect. I put them in a normal washing machine cycle and dry them with the rest of my clothes, they’re so small the additional electricity or washing powder is negligible. Let me know in the comments if you try this project! It’s a great little stash bust, to use up scraps and remnants into something functional.