The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an absorbent article in the form of a pants-type diaper or a sanitary panty, starting from a flat blank (A-C) which includes an elongated absorbent body (5) enclosed between two casing sheets (2, 9) which at opposing front and rear end parts of the absorbent body have side parts (19, 20 and 21, 22 respectively) which extend laterally beyond the body on both sides thereof, said method comprising the step of folding the blank around a transverse axis so that the end edges (16, 17) of the side parts lie edge-to-edge. According to the invention, at least one folded band (13) of flexible material is placed between each pair of front and rear side parts (19, 21 and 20, 22 respectively) which lie opposite one another in the folded state of the blank, and the free ends of the bands are fastened to adjacent side parts. The invention also relates to an article manufactured in accordance with the method.