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This type of pad consists of an empty "case", "envelope" or "pocket" in the standard pad shape, with absorbent inserts that you place inside the pad as its core. You can have these inserts as a basic oblong shape, winged or a rectangle of cloth that you fold to place inside.
You can add waterproofing to this by making the backing from PUL or other waterproofing, or you can have a separate layer of waterproofing sewn to the backing, or you could back one of the inserts with PUL for waterproofing.
The advantage of this type of pad is that you can make several of the pocket parts and several inserts and use as many inserts as you need in the pad. So that rather than making yourself several light , medium and heavy absorbency pads, you could make sets of these and on light days use one insert, 2 inserts on medium days and 3 inserts on heavy days.
The inserts are generally faster drying too as there is less fabric in them than a standard AIO pad. If your inserts are foldup ones, they will be even faster drying. You would change the whole pad with this style of pad, you would not just replace the inserts. If you made the top layer of this pad from synthetic fleece you may find that you are able to replace the inserts and keep wearing the case, however generally you would change to a fresh pocket for your comfort and hygiene.
1). Cut
out your pocket case pieces - 1 top and 2 backs per case. You can
use 2 layers for the top if you wish, to give you more absorbency and make
the pocket a little more sturdy. If you wish to have waterproofing as the
backing, cut the back pieces from waterproofing. If you wish to put
waterproofing in the pad but have a separate backing, cut pieces of waterproofing
and backing fabrics using the back pattern. as with an AIO, a fleece
waterproofed pad should have the fleece exposed, not covered up.
So you should have 1-2 top pieces, and a set of 2 back pieces (additional
set if hiding your PUL)
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2). Fold a small amount of the straight edge of the backs over, and then again (so the folded part is on the wrong side and the edge is inside the folds) and sew down to make a neat edge. If having waterproofing and backing, lay the waterproof piece, (either side up) on the wrong side of the back pieces before you fold. If overlocking/serging, you can just use that to finish the edge. |
| 3). Place the top piece right side up, and the 2 back pieces right side down so that the back pieces overlap and fit ontop of the top piece. Sew around these (without leaving a gap to turn them as you would the other styles of pad) with a straight stitch and then a zig zag (which stops the edges fraying). Use the pocket opening to turn it out the right way. |  |
So you
should have something that looks like this:
4). You can topstitch this to give it a neat finish (Stitch close to the edge of the pad all the way around.)
5). To make the inserts it is easiest to just overlock or zigzag around the edges of them. Either make them in a shape to just fit in the centre of the pad 9either straight or contoured to make a narrower crotch if your pattern has a wider front and back), or make winged ones that can fill into the wings. Or use a rectangle a bit shorter than the length of the pad, by 2 or 3 times as wide as you'd like the crotch to be (depending on if you want it to bi-fold or tri-fold)... you could even make it from 2 layers of flannel wide enough to fold in half, then tri-fold... to give a very quick drying insert that ends up with a lot of absorbency.
Absorbency recommendations
Oblong Inserts - I would recommend an oblong insert be 1-2 layers of hemp/cotton/bamboo terry/fleece, as then on its own its a light to medium absorbency, and with two you've boosted up to heavy.Fold up booster - I would make a 2 layer, trifold insert from flannelette for a light absorbency, a 1 layer bifold or trifold hemp/bamboo for medium and for heavy, something that will give around 4 layers equivilent of cotton/hemp terry (eg a 1 layer trifold, or a 2 layer bifold)