Oh, Swiffer! You are so convenient; why must you also be so wasteful? The thought of all of those pads ending up in the landfill has had me racked with Swiffer Guilt. Our Swiffer has been living in the closet for quite some time now, but we recently pulled it out again.

This time, though, things are going to be different, because this time I've got a handmade, reusable Swiffer pad made from scraps!

My handmade pad project borrowed heavily from this genius Instructables but is a bit more simplified. I made the one pictured above using my serger. If you don't have a serger, no problem! You can still whip up your own, reusable Swiffer diaper!

To complete this project, you will need: a piece of paper that's bigger than a Swiffer pad, a pen, a t-shirt that has seen better days, a sweater or yarn blanket that's past its prime, a sewing machine or serger, a pair of paper scissors, and a pair of fabric scissors.

1. Make Your Pattern - Loosely trace one of the disposable pads that came with your swiffer onto a piece of paper and cut it out.
2. Cut Your Fabric - Use the pattern you just made and cut out four pieces of t-shirt fabric and one piece of the sweater or blanket material. Layer everything together right side out with the yarn material on the outside.
3. Sewing, part 1 - If you're using a serger, just run all four sides through it with the blade down in the cutting position. (If you're using a regular sewing machine, set your zigzag stitch, and zigzag all the way around. Carefully trim any excess fabric, making sure not to cut the threads you just stitched.)
4. Sewing, part 2 - Sew a few rows of stitches horizontally and a few vertically using your regular sewing machine. This will stabilize all the layers of fabric. You can do this by hand, too, but the sewing makes this really quick!
5. Swiff away!

Now I just need to figure out how to refill the empty Wetjet cartridge with a green floor cleaner. This thread on Mothering has some good ideas for refilling the Wetjet. They mention drilling a hole, refilling with a funnel, and plugging the hole up with a cut up eraser. That sounds like a good one! The syringe idea they talk about sounds good, too, but I have no idea where I'd get a syringe. Have any of you had luck refilling the Wetjet cartridge?