The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing absorbent articles having an absorbent core (18,20,22) enclosed between casing sheets (16,24) and elastic elements (26-28) located in a front part and/or rear part of the article, comprising the steps of laying a row of absorbent cores (18,20,22) on a first web (16) of casing material running in a machine direction with the longitudinal direction of the cores being extended in the machine direction, applying a second web (24) of casing material onto the web containing the row of absorbent cores, applying elastic elements (26-28) to one of said webs before it contacts said row of absorbent cores, thereby forming a row of connected absorbent article blanks, and thereafter cutting individual absorbent articles out of the row of article blanks. According to the invention the absorbent cores (26-28) are laid onto the first web (16) with their front ends turned against each other and respective elastic elements (26-28) are applied with a length in the longitudinal direction twice the length of the respective elastic element in the front and/or rear part of the article.