Reusable Swiffer Sweeper Pad Tutorial

reusable swiffer sweeper pad

Like I said earlier, I LOVE cleaning products, but have been trying to be a little GREENER when it comes to some of my favorites. I think my favorite cleaning product ever is the Swiffer Sweeper. I just hate buying the refill cloths for the sweeper all the time, and really wanted something I could wash and use over and over again, like the reusable Swiffer duster that I made. The tricky part was figuring out what would “grab” the crumbs and clean the floor the best. Leave it to a sock to save the day! Using a chenile sock and an old t-shirt, you can have your new (and your last!) Swiffer sweeper cloth in less than 30 minutes!

If you’re looking for more reusable product ideas, try our reusable cloth duster tutorial. And our homemade laundry detergent recipe is also a great one to keep on hand. For more extreme times, this post about 5 different face mask patterns to sew might come in handy as well.

Description:
This tutorial will guide you through the steps to make a reusable and washable Swiffer Sweeper pad using a chenille sock and some knit scraps. It is an easy project, perfect for a beginner or experienced sewer.

Materials:
chenille sock
knit scraps (old stretchy t-shirts work great) – can use other fabric with moderate amount of stretch

Directions:
1. Cut sock open along back, from top of sock to toe area. Make a small cut on each side of toe area to allow the chenille to lay flat.

2. Cut a rectangle approximately 6″ x 12″ from chenille. Depending on the size of your sock, you may have to stretch the chenille slightly to get a large enough rectangle, and that is okay. Your piece should be approximately 1.5″ larger than the Swiffer on all 4 sides.

3. From your t-shirt or knit fabric, cut one piece 6″ x 12″ and two 6″ x 8″ pieces.

4. Fold each 6″ x 8″ piece of knit in half, matching the 6″ sides. Align the 6″ sides with right side of the chenille piece 6″ sides. The folds will be towards the center of the chenille.

5. Place the 6″ x 12″ piece of knit over folded knit pieces, right sides together, aligning edges with folded knit pieces and chenille. Pin in place along all four sides (if you had to stretch your chenille to get a large enough rectangle in step 2, your top knit piece may be bunched slightly after pinning as is pictured — this will stretch out later).

6. Stitch around all four sides using a 1/2″ seam allowance, leaving a 3″ opening in the center of one of the 12″ sides.
7. Trim corners and turn fabric right side out.
8. To check fit, place one end of the Swiffer sweeper into one of the pockets you have created. Slide other end in to other pocket, stretching the knit around the sweeper. It should fit fairly snugly.
9. Remove sweeper pad. Fold raw edges of opening under 1/2″ and topstitch around entire pad, close to edge, and stitching opening closed. This can be extremely bulky to stitch through — I used the hand wheel rather than the foot pedal through those areas to reduce the chances of the thread breaking.
10. Slide the sweeper pad onto the Swiffer sweeper and get to work! Great job!

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78 Comments

  1. thanks for showing this, I’m sooo making a few!!! I think you could also cut apart a microfiber cleaning cloth too, and use that in place of the chenille, don’t you think?

    1. I think that’s an awesome idea. I think it would eliminate a lot of hand scrubbing ,especially when you don’t have a steam machine or scrubber on whatever type utensil they may be using. love your pad ideas and going to try to make one ASAP. Thanks and keep up the great work.

  2. Genius! Not only is it greener, but you save money, too. Those refills can get pretty expensive if you have kids! I can’t wait to make some ;)

  3. How come you get to be so smart! You are amazing! I’m just glad I can say I knew you before you were famous ;)

  4. Hi There! Stopping by from Marketing Mondays and I am so glad I found your blog! You have so great ans cute stuff! I am always looking forward to reading new blogs and if you get a chance you can swing by mine at http://www.miamamiah.com Have a great week and I look forward to blogging with you!

  5. YES! Microfiber towels work great for this, and really pick up the dust. You can still be green by using your old micro towels.

  6. Currently, I just use the velco part of the swiffer to stick on a microfiber rag but this looks a billion times better.

    thanks!

  7. (Visiting via One Pretty Thing) This is a great tutorial! I too hate buying refills for my swiffer and this is a great idea for how to save money! I’ll be making a good half dozen of these soon!

  8. Are they difficult to clean, I mean I know you just throw them in the wash, but do they really get clean or do you get stuck on gunk?

  9. N.: I was actually surprised at how easily it cleaned. After using it I folded it in half and rubbed it against itself (chenille against chenille) and then threw in the washer and it came out perfect!

  10. Wonderful! I was just think of making one (I’m out of the cloths and thought that would make a good project) and now I can use your tutorial. Super BIG thanks!!

  11. Seriously!? You are awesome! I’ll be featuring you AGAIN this Friday at Life On Purpose :o) What will she think of next…

  12. That is the neatest thing I’ve seen in a long long time….So COOL! I have to learn how to sew, and this seems like (I hope!) a simple enough project.
    And I agree with Anna – a microfiber cloth should work well too right?

  13. What a great idea! The Swiffer people may not like it – (because you don’t need to by their product)

  14. I love this idea!! I will be making some of these!! (I can’t believe I JUST threw away a pair of these socks cause they were worn out. I could have used the tops!

  15. Very nice. The pictures really helped me understand how to make it—my furry pets will appreciate you helping me keep the house cleaner

  16. Very clever! Loving it!

    Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday. Please join me next week for another great party. Don’t forget to stop by and enter my giveaway. I’ll announce the winner at next weeks party!

  17. I love this idea. I use my swiffer sweep and vac all the time! This would work on it too!

    Thanks for linking up to Make it Yours Day at My Backyard Eden!

  18. So clever. It made me think of a fleece shirt I have that needs to GO because it’s covered in lint and pills and cat fur all the time; bet it would pick up dust really well!

  19. Thank you so much!! I’m think Terry cloth towels with a ribbing could work as well! Once our addition is done I’m going to have to learn to take care of 1000sf of hardwood floors and this will help!

  20. I got a sewing machine for my birthday and this was the first project I made! It turned out pretty good, certainly not as beautiful as yours though! I can’t wait to make something else! Thanks for the tutorial!

  21. This is great!! I have a swiffer that one of the little spots where you push the cloth into is broken and it only holds three of the corners. this will work better and I don’t have to throw away my swiffer!! yay, double green.

  22. I love this idea…I had all the stuff to make it and it took me like 10minutes to do! Yay. Thanks so much for the tutorial!

  23. Hi Abby, I finally got around to making one of these today… my floors were so dusty and they don’t make the pads for the giant swiffer anymore. This is working great! I didn’t use a chenille sock, I used some minky fabric that I already had on hand.

  24. brillant!!!!! i have some microfiber cloths i can make this with. i’ve been known to get on my hand and knees with micorfiber cloths to clean the floor-now i can try this!

  25. Guess what??? i have been wanting to sit down and make my own handmade refill cloth this time and had decided not to buy from store…this tutorial is like godsend..thank you.

  26. I have been making and selling washable refills for swiffers out of fleece for years. People love them. They are good to use on tile, hardwood floors, linoleum, etc. I also make refills for the swiffer dusters. Go Green!
    Dianna

  27. For Heather: I make reusable pads for the Mr. Clean Magic reach. From the dollar tree purchase a microfiber cloth that has one side that is made of nylon scrubbie material, one side is microfiber. Use either a Mr. Clean pad or the Mr. Clean pad holder on the tool for your pattern to get the shape. I then sew elastic all the way around the edge. This can be used on either side. I usually clean with the scrubbie side first. Then I take it off, turn it to the other side and wipe down with the microfiber side. I clean houses and and always carry this with me. It works great on shower walls and down in the tubs. Sure keeps me from bending and reaching so much. If you need any more information on how to make these please ask.
    I also make mopping pads from recycled terry cloth towels. Sure saves me alot of money on cleaning supplies and they work great!

  28. I made several of these using microfiber cloths where you used chenille, they really work well!

    I got my microfiber cloths in the automotive department at Target on sale, 14 for $4.99. They were big enough that I could cut them in half for this project, so each reusable pad ended up costing me only 18 cents!

  29. I was wondering if this worked wet I use my swiffer dry and spray vingear on the floor for spot mopping (I have a 3yr old) Do you think this will hold up to that??

  30. This is so great! I’m in the middle of making these and I think they’ll turn out awesome. My swiffer is curved on the sides so hopefully it will still work. Awesome tutorial.

  31. Hello!
    Great blog with awesome ideas! My heart goes pitter-patter with more future projects! What a great simple,solution to this problem. Plus- Sharon T I am forever grateful for the reply comment about the Mr Clean magic reach refills. I knew that I wanted to make a reusable pad but could not figure out how to get the “scrubbie” part on the fabric. Dollar Tree- who knew?! Keep the great ideas coming! Jennifer in IA

  32. I tried filling the swifter mop bottle with my green floor cleaner. ( I used a turkey basting syringe) but for some reason and I am thinking maybe the green floor cleaner was toxic, every time I went to get the syringe, it had shattered. Now I use a spray bottle with the green mixed with water and the wet swifter to do my floors. I am quite sure that these pads will do just fine for the wet swifter….I was using velcro to hold the old towels,rags, etc on the wet mop..thanks for the great suggestions…I already made some swifter dusters..love it.

  33. I recently got a Bissell steamboost that works with throwaway fragranced sheets. I kept looking and looking at the steamboost and finally came up with an idea. To get fragrance into this machine (and some of the Swiffers too) I sewed up an envelope style piece that would slide in between the pad as mentioned above (or a 9″ washcloth that would go into the slits at the top of the machine with the envelope in between the washcloth and the bottom of the cleaner. Make the envelope made out of beige muslin to be a bit smaller than the base, shape it like an envelope and use velcro strips to keep it closed. To get the fragrance put some Purex crystals or Downy Unstopables in the envelope, seal it up with the velcro and put it in between the washcloth or the duster (this will work better with a steamer than a dry mop. that way it melts the crystals with the steam. I tried it and it works very well. The washcloth, swiffer mop and the muslin all wash in the machine.

  34. Pingback: Reusable Swiffer Sweeper Pad Tutorial | The Crafty Frugalista
  35. I am going to refinish my slate entry way and when done, I can’t wash or rinse the mop head, it has to be thrown out. Well, I hate to buy things and then throw them out so your idea worked wonderfully. I made the Swiffer pad out of scraps and now I don’t mind throwing it out when I’m done.
    thanks so much…..

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  41. Thank you so much, I will be making these for sure and even as gifts. People appreciate economical and bright ideas. I just loved it all. Well done and easy to understand.. Thanks..xo

  42. Pingback: Living Paper-Free and Loving It: 15 Tips for Creating a Paperless Home | Frugally Sustainable
  43. I need a wonderful idea like this for my wet one. I cant stand throwing things out. This is great but cant figure out how to use with the squirters. any suggestion.? thank you

  44. Thank you so much for posting this tutorial. Great Idea, just got done putting one together with some pretty fabric
    I had in my stash. I used it right away and the results were awesome. I am too cheap to buy the swiffer pads so I would just use a rag pushed down in the holes, this is a hundred times better. Thanks so much for sharing:)

  45. Has anyone tried making these with old bathroom towels? Do they work as well as the chenille socks? I have worn/faded towels that aren’t pretty enough to be hanging in the bathroom, but would be fine for cleaning.

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