Swiffer wet-pad upcycle!

We have one of those Swiffer wet jets to mop the floor of our house. I only mop once or twice a week, but I vacuum everyday. (we finally got rid of our carpeting last summer! and personally my husband did a great job of laying the new floor.) anyways, I ran out of the Swiffer pads a week or so ago, so I haven't been able to mop all that well. I just threw a towel down on the floor, plopped the Swiffer on it and went to town. Worked pretty good too, except the towel would slip or get wadded under the mop as I cleaned. So I got on Pinterest and looked up a wet pad tutorial and I found one, actually, several. Its not hard, but I didn't want to have to go by everything needed for it. (Honestly I had all but the terrycloth/fleece to make it work.) So I went rummaging around and I came up with a way to up-cycle an old washcloth for this! Its rough looking but it WORKS!! And does it really need to be pristine looking for mopping your own floors? No, I didn't think so. I will make a second one that will look more polished, but this one is for me to use at home! Quick and simple. And I like that!

Supplies:
Old washcloth (or new)
Scissors
Pins
100% cotton batting
Elastic
Sewing machine with thread






1) Turn your swiffer upside down and check your washcloth to make sure its gonna fit your swiffer! I did this by laying it over the pad area wile it was folded in half. not all washcloths are created equal as you can see in the third picture below.

 See the white washcloth in the two pictures just above? It's the same washcloth just folded differently. Turns out the Pink one was perfect for this job!

2.) Cut the washcloth down the fold. (for this tutorial I didn't actually need to)

3.) lay out your 100% cotton batting and place half the washcloth on it. Use your scissors and cut the batting around the washcloth.

Now you have two halves of a washcloth and one of cotton batting. Why add the batting you ask? Well you don't have to. But I wanted the extra padding so that the Swiffer didn't scrape through the washcloth and scratch my floor. 

4.) Now layer them up!

5.) Put your swiffer on your pad and slide your elastic under and wrap over the pad area. Cut your elastic with a bit of overlap.

6.) Take your now trimmed elastic piece and fold in half.

7.) Cut the elastic in half.

8.) Put your swiffer back on your pad and line up your elastic. You do not want the elastic to cover the spray nozzle area. 

9.) When you have the elastic lined up, take the Swiffer off, slide the elastic down and pin in place.

10.) off to the sewing machine!! Do a straight stitch all the way around the edge of your pad. make sure to use your .25 inch seam allowance (I just line it up with the edge of my presser foot.)

11.) and there you have it! A double sided reusable up-cycled swiffer wet jet pad! I used my scissors and went around the edge and cleaned it up a bit.

12.) And here is my evidence of use! It worked really well and got the crud off the floor. I have found that for a particularly stubborn spot, I step on the Swiffer head and press down while scrubbing away at it. It works! I did this with the actual swiffer pads and this new one. Like I said, it ain't pretty but it was easy and it works! Took less then 15 minutes to make an no turning it inside out or folding over edges or anything! Truly simple and functional! I want at least 3 on hand so I have two more to make. I will make a "fancy" version as well and post that later! Have fun!