New Store – MotherMoonPads

“MotherMoonPads was born out of a passion for sewing, a desire to become more green (or “crunchy”), and a need to contribute to our household income while raising our children.

My name is Denelle, and I live in Medford, Oregon with my husband (Henry), my 16 year old daughter (Gwendolynne), my 5 year old son (Ezekiel), and my 3 year old daughter (Eleanor), MotherMoonPads is my full time job. If you’d like to “meet” me, you can visit me on Youtube!

I became a WAHM (Work At Home Mom) in June of 2007 when I was expecting my second child. I left my position as an accounting clerk and started a business called KeepYourBabyClose. I created hundreds of beautiful and functional baby carriers. Baby carriers were a gateway into a whole different world, one of Attachment Parenting and a desire to leave the world a better place than when I entered it. I discovered cloth diapers and mama cloth (and many other fabulous reusable products!).

Around October of 2008, I added a line of reusable cloth menstrual pads to my store. These became increasingly popular, and I discontinued making baby carriers. I closed my KeepYourBabyClose Etsy store, and opened MotherMoonPads where my main focus was on reusable cloth menstrual pads.  Since then, I have created more than 17,000 reusable cloth menstrual pads. I have sold on multiple websites (HyenaCart, eBay, Diaperswappers, ClothDiaperNation and others). Each reusable cloth pad is handmade by myself, and myself alone.

I take pride in each reusable cloth menstrual pad that I create. Every morning, Monday through Friday, I wake up, feed my children, and then sit down in my studio. I choose which fabrics will be turned into mama cloth for the day. I typically make 30-40 pads each day, depending on the absorbency. I only use the highest quality fabrics (which means no Walmart fabrics!) purchased from ethical sources. I love to sew with soft velours and super soft minky. I use fabrics that were made specifically to be ultra absorbent yet trim, like Zorb.

I believe that family is the most important thing in life. I am so blessed that I have the opportunity to raise my family while keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table. Every purchase that you make directly contributes to our family’s budget. I take pride in making things that will last. After all, isn’t that why you are buying reusable cloth menstrual pads in the first place? Rest assured that your MotherMoonPads are created with high quality products and an attention to detail, and will last you for many years to come.”

MotherMoonPads is now open on CPS US

http://mothermoonpads.clothpadshop.com

www.facebook.com/mothermoonpads

New store – These Little wagons

Cloth pad Shop welcomes an old store back with a new name. Formerly known as “Platinum Panties”, Kristie is back again with a new name and a great new line of pantyliners and pad storage bags! These great little bags make a pretty way to keep your pad stash organised.

“These Little wagons…run by a mom of 6 with an interest in pretty ways to celebrate our femininity while helping to reduce, reuse and recycle.  Most of my stash bags are made using upcycled or vintage fabrics and embellishments, another way to reuse and the perfect way to store your clean pads between cycles. Each bag is usually a one of a kind and capable of expanding to fit 20+ pads quite easily.  Buy something that was old and now new and love your planet.”

These Little Wagons is now open on CPS AU

http://theselittlewagons.clothpadshop.com

http://www.facebook.com/TheseLittleWagons

Autumn & Spring

We’ve got a special theme through the month of May, “Autumn & Spring”. Through the month, our stores will be adding new stock featuring this theme. So keep checking back through the month to see what else gets added!!!

Autumn & Spring on CPSAU & Autumn & Spring on CPSUS

Some of the themed products already available:

Wetproofing Cloth Pads – whats the juice?

(Article by Bec from Clothcycle)

A common question for those who are just starting to use cloth pads is what is the pros and cons of all the different methods of waterproofing a cloth pad and what are my options? I thought I would write a little bit about a few of the different options available and present some anecdotal findings of cloth pad users. I say anecdotal as cloth pads are about experience, each women’s experience is different, each women’s preference is different, each women’s flow is different!

Lets discuss pads with no waterproofing. A pad made with no waterproofing is good for those who prefer a totally natural or organic option and for those women who are sensitive to increased warmth in a pad. Any form of wet proofing will add a little bit of warmth.

Pros:

• Breathable and cool
• Pads can be made with entirely organic fabrics
• You got to know the flow to understand
• Good option for those wearing pads for cup back-up who need a little more protection from in between leaks than say a pantyliner

Cons:

• If you are not careful and change your pads regularly there will be a mess in your pants
• Not fantastic if you get stuck away from the house or bathroom for longer than expected, relies on you to change at regular intervals consistently

Another way to wetproof a cloth pad and remain organic if that is your preference is to use wool as a backing.

Pros:

• Natural fibre
• Breathable, cool
• Relatively trim layer
• Grips your underwear, so prevents sliding

Cons:

• Requires special care or wool can shrink and warp the pad
• May need lanolizing which could be difficult to maintain in all in one pads, may find that pad becomes less reliable over time
• Water resistant, heavy flow may pass through this barrier

A further way of adding wet resistance to a pad is to use polyester fleece, this fabric is 100% polyester.

Pros:

• Breathable
• Grips your underwear, so prevents sliding/shifting of the pad
• Reliable wet resistant layer for many women
• Dense polyester fleece provides good support/form for the pad

Cons:

•  Can add warmth to the pad
• Synthetic fabric
• Wide variation in quality or denseness of polyester fleece, the more dense the fleece the more water resistant
• Some women report that it does not provide reliable water resistance for heavy/gushing flow
• Depending on the dense nature of the fleece, may not lend enough support/form to the pad as a back
• Windpro or Windbloc polyester fleece is not manufactured in Australia, requires import or purchase from cloth pad maker outside Australia.

Another fabric used is PUL. “PUL” is an acronym for polyurethane laminate. PUL is made by laminating a layer polyurethane to a polyester interlock knit fabric or cotton fabric. PUL comes in different thickness of laminate, either 1 mil or 2mil.

Pros:

• Breathable
• Most reliable wet resistant layer, good if you are leaving the home
• Thin
• As it is reliable allows the pad maker to use less absorbing layers in some instances
• Polyester PUL is a pliable soft fabric
• As it is thin a backing layer can be used to provide grip for the pad. Backing fabric can also provide decorative layer.

Cons:

• Can add warmth to the pad
• Synthetic fabric
• Variation in quality of PUL or thickness, thicker PULs make for a thicker/stiff pad
• Can slip/slide if not placed behind base fabric (this is not always the case depending on the style of pad or type of PUL used)
• Cotton PUL relatively stiff fabric not generally used
• Can be difficult to sew for inexperienced sewer due to slide of laminate layer.

(image from Dreamstime.com)

Gypsy Heart

Long time CPS store, A Little Monkey Business has changed its name to Gypsy Heart.

Why the name change?

“It was a little sad to say goodbye to the name “A Little Monkey Business” it has been my business name since January 2008. I felt that this name did not reflect the feel of my products anymore. The new name Gypsy Heart, Gypsy is representative of the fabrics and colours that i love so much. The heart, well I sew a little heart into most of the pads I sell.”

Gypsy Heart has a new facebook page to go along with the new name – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gypsyheart

Want to win a $50 gift voucher? — CLOSED

Picanini Modern Cloth is having a giveaway over here on my blog

What would you spend a $50 voucher on?

A Lunette cup perhaps?

Or some new pads?

Have you seen our new Ultima pad for Overnight/heavy/postpartum use? You could add a couple of these to your stash.

Picanini’s cloth pad shop store will be closing at the end of November for Christmas, and till then there is 25% off all regular/medium pads in the store.

Darkness Falls (Closed)

We’re having a special “Darkness Falls” theme on Cloth Pad Shop to celebrate Halloween.  Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll find stores adding more Dark themed pads to this themed category, so keep checking back for more.

http://au.clothpadshop.com/category/theme-darknessfalls

http://us.clothpadshop.com/category/theme-darknessfalls

In addition, we’re doing a giveaway of this set of Halloween themed pads!

Back of the pads

Top of the pads

The set includes:
(Click for bigger pictures)

  Broom pad by Noonee Wilga

Spider pad by Clothcycle

Spider Pad by Mandy Jane Creations

Bat Liner by Picanini

Pumpkin Liner by Obsidian Star

(As we are currently awaiting arrival of an additional pad from Caroline’s Creations, the prize may be added to by the end of the competition).

UPDATE – The winning entry was Jess!

I am a (new cloth user!!) and would love to increase my stash for when I finish breast feeding , plus my babies are cloth bottomed and I think I should be too !! Here’s my little poem! 

N – Naturally divine 

E – environmentally friendly

W – washing them is easy 

C – comfy ++

L – lots of styles to choose from 

O – oh so soft bamboo velour 

T – totally addictive (isn’t all cloth??

H- helpful to ones health 

U- über long and luscious 

S – super talented stay at home mums make them ( I like supporting the stay at home mummies) 

E – easy peasy to use and care for

R – ridiculous that I haven’t made the change sooner !!

 

Well done Jess!