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DIY: Pee Rag (Ladies Hygiene outside)


Learn how to make this easy and extremely useful piece of gear: a pee rag! After you go, you can clean yourself with this rag, and give your rag a rinse off. It will hang on your backpack and dry as you trek, and will be ready for you to use again the next time you need to go. At the end of your trip, you can take it home and throw it in the wash, ready to use for your next adventure!

Plus, you don’t have to worry about burying toilet paper, or even leaving toilet paper if you are trying to leave no trace.

This makes an awesome gift for any outside wilderness type ladies you might know. You know… when people start to build up their gear it can be expensive at first, and some of those little things that may seem minor may not make it into the collection.

Difficulty: Beginner

This is a great beginner project as it is super fast to make. If you have all your tools and materials laid out, it could be 10 minutes or less.

You don’t really need a pattern for this. It would just be a square. So you can go get an 8″ x 8″ piece of origami paper if you’d like, or you can just measure directly on the fabric and cut that size.

Tools:

  • Sewing Machine (threaded)
  • Serger (optional)
  • Fabric Scissors
  • Snap joiner tool
  • Fabric Chalk or Pencil
  • Ruler

Materials:

  • A light to mid weight fabric made from natural fibers. See Fabric choice discussion below to dive a bit into this.
  • 16″ length – of 1/2” Grosgrain Ribbon
  • Kam Snaps (or equivalent plastic snaps)

Design:

This rag is designed to hang from the back of your backpack while also keeping the part that touches your skin not exposed to other things, less likely to touch dirt. With the grosgrain suspending the rag from the middle, it holds the cloth in a position to dry the easiest: it is not folded over on itself creating space for wet spots, and it is angled in a way that the water can drip down.

It utilizes snaps as they are a nice blend of being light weight but also effective in their closure. This will make for easy use access without adding much extra weight.

The grosgrain edges are sealed for integrity in craftsmanship. Though you cannot see this part, it is finished well, extending the life of your gear. The sealed edges also can sometimes be a bit harder or sharp, and with this design none of them are exposed. This is to minimize any risk that the rag will snag something, or cut skin.


Directions:

Prepare all the materials

  1. Lay out your fabric. Using scissors or a rotary tool, cut your fabric into an 8″ x 8″ square.

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2. Find the center of your fabric square by folding the fabric square in half to form a rectangle, and then folding the rectangle in half again to create a square. Mark this center with chalk.

3. Cut your grosgrain ribbon at 16″. In a well ventilated space, Heat seal your grosgrain by lighting a candle, and holding the edges near the candle. Don’t actually touch the grosgrain to the candle- the heat will be enough. Watch the loose ends seal, and shrink. This step prevents your ribbon from fraying.

4. Mark your grosgrain with chalk at the following points:

5. If you are using a woven fabric, you will need to finish the edges so it does not fray. If you have a serger, serge these ends. If you do not have a serger, you can use a zig zag stitch on the edge with a standard sewing machine. If you are using a knitted fabric, you may not need to finish the edges if you see that they are not fraying.

6. Lay the fabric end of the grosgrain at the mid point of the fabric. The fabric end is marked in step 4. Then sew a straight stitch over the first marking closest to the end of the grosgrain.

7. Fold the grosgrain back over itself at this stitch.

8. Sew another straight stitch at the second marking (which is on the other side of the ribbon in this photo).

9. Fold the grosgrain ribbon back on itself again, and sew another straight stitch at the next marking.

Great, now the sewing is complete and the only thing left to do is to put on the snaps!

10. Fold the grosgrain ribbon over at the first mark, and once again over on the second mark. This should leave it so that the edge of the grosgrain is not visible, and rolled up in itself.

(Sorry for the photo being so dark!)

11. Place a male KAM snap through all 3 layers of this grosgrain. The snaps are usually sharp enough to pierce the layers, but if you find it difficult, try piercing one layer at a time.

12. There should be one more marking at 4 1/2” out from the folded grosgrain. Place your last snap here.

You are finished! Now go camping, and stay clean!

Discussion:

If you are using a knit fabric, you don’t need to finish the edges with serging or a zigzag, as they will not come apart that easily. You still can if you like the look of it. If you are using a woven material, you definitely want to finish the edges. Sometimes knit fabrics will curl, and that may make you want to finish the edges.

I do not recommend a rolled hem for the finished edges, as it will take longer to dry with the multiple layers.

You do not need to buy fabric specifically for this, you can use an old garment to make this. Something soft and not pilly, something reasonably light weight, so you can get yourself decently clean, and so that it will dry quickly.

I recommend a natural fabric for this such as wool or cotton, as they don’t seem to hold bad smells as much as synthetics such as polyester.

Should you use this rag for poop too? Well it is definitely up to you!

You can bring your compostable toilet paper for that if you’d like. Or you can make an extra big poo rag and give it a really good wash. Or you can change your diet so your poo’s come out super clean and you don’t mind using a rag. Totally up to you!


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