Making san pro's cheaper.... UPDATE!! They're ready!!

K... I cant see how all these San pro pads cost soo much money.. A bamboo nappy nappy, maybe.. its a lot of fabric... and for the fitted's I make, theres alot of wastage!! Making hourglass shaped nappies, the part that gets cut out for the crotch leaves an oval shap in the material, not enough to fit my booster templates in though. I tend to make little baby toys out of the left overs, but theres only soooo many ickle hanging toys you can make!! All my slithers of fabric from my overlocker go into a big tub, and I use that for the stuffing. SO.........

I calculated the cost of a san pro pad last night, with a top layer of minkee galeto, and using two layers bamboo jersy fleece for its core... Total cost of materials including a snap.. 55p!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Calculated on the cost of price per square metre of the fabric, and the snap being 4p, and as it was a recurring figure, I rounded up to the nearest penny !!!

Using cloth should'nt be expensive. Even at the higher prices that some companies charge, you do save money in the long run, but the initial outlay should not be soooo huge! Looking this morning at a few sites.. imse etc.. 5-6 pounds for a single pad just seems unreal for the amount of material and the work. FOr anyone with an overlocker etc, you know how easy it is jsut to zip round a small shape.. and then pop a snap on.. a couple more minutes maybe..

SOoo... I want to make a few to get ppl to try them.... I would love to know.. what shapes ppl would most lilkey use, whether or not you'd want a PUL back or a fleece back or not.. and more importantly how much you think is a fair price to pay for these

I wish I had an overlocker; it's so much faff making sanpro with a normal sewing machine I prefer an hourglass shape, with thin wings and two snaps so I can adjust the tightness of the fastening. After being dubious about fleece backs, I've got a few and they're fab, I probably prefer them to PUL. Haven't tried wool backing yet. Happy to test

EDIT: Forgot to say, difficult to judge a fair price, I would probably buy a lot more if they were closer to £3 or £4 each rather than £6 or more.

Like the idea of minkee scrap pads, eco friendly and would look funky as long as they weren't uncomfortably bumpy to wear,

I'd love to try some.
I have a couple of teen ones to use with my moon cup. I'd like some regular pads and night ones too but as you say they are just too expensive I'd rather buy nappies.....lol

Mine are all hour glass shaped with wings and a snap.

I'd try both PUL and fleece backed. I think the ones I have are wool backed but the weenotions one is PUL backed.

I would know how much to charge for them as you say it does seem alot compared to material costs. I would probery buy more if they were #2.50-#3

I don't know, because as you said they work out so expensive in the beginning, I bought luna pads and then quickly knocked up some of my own pads to save money, but I don't have an overlocker, just machine. I prefer PUL backed so I can be confident they are not going to leak.

Hourglass shape would be my choice, also with wings and two snaps for adjusting... As Frances said, I really like the idea of minkee scrap pads, as that would really be an eco way of using up fabric remnants.

I am considering making my own, as I can't afford the ££££ most sites charge... But I would pay £3/£4 for one, and would def prefer to buy a set, where I could be confident of some savings.

And I would be happy to be a tester!

i was amazed at the cost of them too - dont know if you could make them for quite as little as you saythough, esp if using all new materials.

i made some with overlocked edges but as my overlocker is unpredicatable i then tried some turned and topstitched on my ordinary machine - i much prefer these.

only tried cotton based pul backed, but like a combination of fleece and cotton topped

Moved to WAHM grapevine

K, most of my fabrics come in a 100cm by 150cm width. soooo.. finding out the cost of the fabric... I pay the same amount per meter for the Minkee Gelato as I do the Bamboo fleece.. £12 a metre.. PUL is half the price. So price in materials for the san pro without a small layer of PUL is............

100cm*150cm = 15000 cm2 (total cm2 of fabric for a metre bought)
12/15000 = £.0008 per cm2

25cm*10cm = 250 cm2 ( total cm2 of the san pro as a rectangle before being an hour glass shape)
250cm2 x 3 ( layers) = 750cm2 ( total cm2 of all layers of san pro)

sooooo..... total cost of san pro in fabric... = .0008 x 750 = £.60
Plus a snap at 4p and lets say a 2p (which is more than enough, on a poly 120 10000 metre reel @ 1.90 a reel)

OK, I was out by pennies.. Last nights san pro with a gelato minkee top and two layers of bamboo fleece and a single popper cost in materials.. £0.68!!!!!!

Yes labour on top.. but how can they charge £5 quid on top for putting something that small together!!

sure for just materials but there's the running costs, plus having the equipment and also expertise and time... Yes £5 may seem like a lot for labour costs but the ones i've paid £6 for are hand dyed too which adds more time and dye costs too...

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