Making Washable Underpads

Junior loves having the cool looking covered under pads which I posted about earlier.  I decided to try making a complete under pad from scratch.  My main reason for trying these was because I wanted to make mini under pads for each of his chairs(wheel chair, high/low chair, transport chair), I had enough material left for one large pad as well.

I looked around to find something waterproof for the bottom of the pads and discovered PUL(Polyurethane laminate fabric) material.  It is the waterproof material used as the liner for cloth diapers.  It is flexible and thin like regular material.  I will use cloth diaper material for the center layer for future large under pads but for these I used Zorb fabric.  It is a super absorbent material so is good for the small chair pads(more expensive then diaper material which is why I won't use it for future pads).  Though we rarely have a leak if we do this stuff will just soak it right up.
For the top layer I just used some flannel material in one of Junior's favorite patterns(this time it was Iron-Man because thats what was on sale).  I purchased the Zorb fabric from Amazon but our local fabric store had the PUL.

5/24/14 UPDATE: After a little research I discovered that though Zorb is super absorbent it also shrinks like crazy.  I would definitely not use this for the larger pads.  I think my smaller (wheelchair) pads will be okay as long as I don't put them in the dryer.  After pouring water over a small pad then ringing it out and hanging it to dry it is fine, so I think the shrinking that is talked about must be after placing in the dryer.  So I will be using terry cloth or the thin white diaper fabric from now on as our middle absorbent layer.  

I started by measuring and cutting the pieces to the size I wanted.  I then pinned the top and middle layers together and stitched them.  I started by stitching around the edge and then a couple seams across lengthwise and across the width(looks much like a quilt).
These are the top and middle layers after being stitched together.  This was my test run so as you can see the squares are not the same size.

I then pinned the PUL material face down on the patterned material.

Stitch around the edge of the material leaving a small opening so the material can be flipped right side out.  Do not stitch across the pad when you are attached the outer layer of PUL material only stitch around the edge.  Stitching across it will make it far more likely to leak.

carefully flip the material right side out and then make sure it is pushed into the correct shape.  I just put my hand in the "pocket" and pushed the corners out. 
Then fold in the material where you left the opening and stitch it closed.

Here is a small pad in Junior's wheelchair.  If your child is a "soaker" you will likely want to make the pad larger so it covers more of the wheelchair cushion.  As a friend put it, this is basically a flat cloth diaper.

 For his stroller/transport chair cushion I made the pad with a notch for the strap. Again you could make this larger if needed.

I made a large size pad for Junior's recliner or bed as well.  I made it the same way as the smaller pads just a lot bigger.

I will be using diaper cloth or terry cloth for the middle layer for my next pads and will update with how those turn out.  Diaper material is so thin I would need to use several layers so it may end up being more cost effective to use something like terry cloth.  

Another thing to consider is that when I poured water over the pad it puddled a bit before soaking in(we poured 8 ozs of water on the small chair pad and not a drop leaked through).  For Junior that is no biggie since he rarely leaks but if you have a child who soaks through you may want a different material for the top that pulls the fluid away more quickly.  Diaper material may work or terry cloth like I plan to use in the center.  You could just use 2 layers of terry cloth or several layers of diaper material instead of the flannel.  

I have not washed ours yet but plan to just put them in the washer and hang them to dry.