Making reusable makeup remover pads
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This year I am resolved to find more ways to live sustainably. Last year I tried hard to eliminate plastic from our household, but if I am honest, not really hard enough. On New Years Day, I watched the documentary ‘A plastic Ocean’, it was just shocking. I feel outraged that governments don’t do more to tackle this problem, but they don’t want to or can’t. One of the most hard hitting lines was “We throw plastic packaging away…there is NO AWAY”. All the plastic every produced is somewhere in the world and that is a lot of plastic! In the end, it is up to individuals to explore ways to stop using plastic and I am now on a mission. I have begun the year with organising a Milkman. It is so strange isn’t it…you don’t put milk bottles on the doorstep for 20 years and then you do and it feels so familiar and part of home comforts that you wonder why we took the plastic route for so long. This has already made a startling difference to my plastics recycling bag. What is more, the milkman delivers sourdough bread and this weekend we will try the yogurts in glass jars that will be collected too. I know that it sometimes feels like these are expensive options but my approach this year is to cut out something that is not so healthy to compensate. These are only small steps of course, but if I can build it up over the year, I feel that by the end of December I will have made some significant progress.
To make a start, I am bought a beautiful dedicated notebook from ‘Choosing Keeping’ to help inspire me on the way. Here I will note down ideas, websites, projects to make and progress reports. It is a good way to keep my thoughts together …somehow everything seems more real when you write it down. I am using Niki Brantark’s gorgeous book to help me, not just with ‘plastics’ but other elements that I feel I could do with sorting out. Decluttering, reorganising and finding my way to my own style of living. Today, for example, I went to Sainsbury’s for the weekly grocery shop. I looked at all the things I bought and noted down what I bought that was wrapped in plastic (almost everything) and which ones I thought I could find alternatives for or could maybe consider just doing without. It is going to be challenging, but it is absolutely worth the time and effort.
I also have a huge stash of fabric and need to work on some more dressmaking projects and other small ideas which can help with sustainable living. One such little project has been so much fun to work on this week and I am completely thrilled with the results. Reusable (and completely gorgeous) make up remover pads.
They are super simple to make and a terrific way to use up scraps of fabric. Having just finished a big quilt project, I have an alarming amount of these gorgeous Amy Butler prints, so this is a start. I watched a bunch of videos and read a few blog postings on the subject and discovered that probably the best fabric for the base is flannel. I bought a metre from empress mills (link below) and it is just super soft and a dense enough weave that it should wear perfectly well for this. If you want to make this project, then I really suggest that buying the pot first is a good idea. I happened to find this gorgeous little glass jar in our local department store (but it is available at the link below) and it was just exactly right for this project. Once you have the jar or container, you can work out the size of the pads you need. I am not a great one for make up, but I do like a little face powder and blusher, eye shadow and mascara. I used a wooden button that was the right size for my template and simply drew around the fabric and cut out the circles. Remember you will have a small seam allowance as well.
Cut out all your circles - flannel and print fabric. Then place them in pairs and pin, right sides together. The pin is quite important as the fabric can slip as you turn it around the circumference as you sew. Sew with a small seam allowance - I used about 1/8th of an inch. Leave a gap for turning.
You might feel you need to lift the presser foot at intervals to create the circle, but the main thing is to stitch slowly so that you don’t distort the shape. Leave a small gap for turning your pad right side out.
Remove the pin, turn right side out and press the open edge inwards neatly ready for the final stitch.
For the final touch, a little laundry bag is a good idea. As they will have liquid on them, you need the bag to be airy so that they can dry naturally until you are ready to launder them. I used a nylon laundry bag that came in a pack and cut it up to make several small drawstring bags. These you can hook up in your bathroom and collect a weeks worth of pads and then just tie it up and pop it in the washing machine…easy as that.
This whole thing makes a charming gift too and of course you can coordinate the fabrics to go with a bathroom decor or with a specific person in mind. Although these cannot be used for nail varnish remover, they are perfect for applying toner and with gentle make up remover lotion.
Hope you enjoy this little project and a its a tiny way to help the environment.
