Happy Holidays

I have been concentrating on building a new website these last couple of months. It has been a BIG learning curve getting to grips with how to display all the content I wish to display and to actually get it in the right places! I am not an IT expert, and my tech support have been very aware of this!
Bless their patient souls. The main benefits you will find is that it will be easier to navigate on mobile and a little more streamlined overall. If you do notice any hiccups, please do let me know.

You will have to excuse me while we change in front of you. If you have tried to visit www.clothcycle.com.au in the last couple of days, the site will be displaying an oopsey page. It is all not quite ironed out yet, hopefully it will be displaying the brand spanking new website in the next couple days. In the meantime if you do wish to visit the site it is available via this link:
Clothcycle Site and also I continue to offer stock at the Cloth Pad Shop

As I reflect on the past year I realise that the focus of my work is turning to using materials which I love working with. When I first started making pads I concentrated on providing a wide variety of fabrics based on what customers were requesting. I have realised with time that I can not please all customers as there is such a diverse personal preference in pads. I am naturally choosing fabrics which suit the style of pads that I make. Again it is also about offering pads which I think are made from quality fabrics offering comfort and superior absorbency overall. As a bonus I am finding much pleasure in creating hand dyed velours.

Thanks to Tamsin for encouraging me in this creative venture :) 

There have been some new additions to the site and I have also restocked the bamboo beautiful trio set. Here are some of the new pads.

 

There are only a few Eco Femme Pantyliner 3 packs left in stock in the 2 stores - but don't worry there will be another shipment arriving soon!

The Cloth Pad Shop will be closed in the beginning week of Jan 15. www.clothcycle.com.au will be open during this time with shipment of orders delayed to the week of the 12th Jan 15.

Wishing you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas

Light Pads

Introducing the Light Pad, PUL. This pad is discrete, stable and has a leak proof inner layer. The design of this pad has a very low profile, whilst still being absorbent, as it is constructed from 2 layers of bamboo - one layer of hand dyed velour and one layer of super heavy bamboo fleece.

The stability comes from the backing layer which is made from bamboo fleece with a lining of PUL. The texture of the fleece prevents shifting of the pad as it tends to grip the gusset fabric of your underwear.

These pads are great if you do suffer from the occasional sneeze peeze, you are pregnant or experiencing increased discharge or looking for a pad for an internal product back up. 

Each pad is unique, as the bamboo velour has been hand dyed with procion fibre reactive dyes. You will notice in the product items that another image is added which has a composite view. This is not the pad you will receive (unless you purchase the original, shown in the images here) but is given to provide an example of how your pad looks closed together with an example view of the back.

There are 5 currently in stock which are listed at www.clothcycle.com.au and the Cloth Pad Shop

Big pads are back in.

Hey everyone. BIG pads are back in! There are 4 across the stores, one at The Cloth Pad Shop and 3 at www.clothcycle.com.au

Cloth Pad Review

I have been honoured with the most beautiful review of my handcrafts from two lovely young women, Terra and Bryn ♥



Terra and Bryn have a youtube channel Period Attire where they discuss and review cloth pads. Great informative channel about cloth pads, and it also gives a teenagers perspective of using reusables (I so wish that I had found cloth pads when I was younger). Go subscribe! Terra also makes her own gorgeous cloth pads which she sells here

Cloth Pad stocking time soonish.

I have been busy busy working on stocking the shop. I will be announcing the time and day of the stocking via the newsletter, so if you want to be first to see the lovelies please do subscribe! .. my emails are few and far between, so promise there will be no spamming of inboxes :)

Subscribe to our mailing list

Here is a sneak peek of one of the new items!

Welcome to Australia Eco Femme!

Eco Femme is a women's empowerment project which has risen from rural India and is reaching the world via the Auroville Village Action Group and the Gift a Pad Program. Kathy Walking is the Co-founder of Ecofemme-org which formed in 2009.

Kathy discovered cloth pads while visiting family in Australia. She found them more comfortable to wear and also this was so much easier than having to find a place to bury disposable pads. 

The use of disposable hygiene products is a considerable waste management issue. Provision of access to appropriate and affordable sanitary hygiene products is at the forefront of Eco Femme's work. Eco Femme is determined to counter the current trend towards disposable use in India. Currently 12% of the menstruating population in India uses disposable products. This percentage is likely to grow as multi-nationals recognize India as the largest growing market for these products and are marketing them across the country as the modern convenient solution.

"If every woman of reproductive age in India started to use disposable sanitary napkins, it is estimated that waste from 59 billion pads would be generated each year!"¹

During her life time one woman will consume ~125-150kg of sanitary products. To gauge some idea of quantities, in South Australia alone 1200-1700 tonnes of feminine hygiene waste is disposed into landfills in a single year². Disposable feminine waste is plastic laden and takes 500-800 years to degrade³.

Social Enterprise

Eco femme work in partnership with Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG); a non-governmental organization that focuses on community development. AVAG works with and trains women Self Help Groups www.villageaction.org. 24 women have been fully trained in stitching and then further trained to form their own independent enterprise. Eco Femme currently provides the equivalent of 7 full time jobs. Participants are paid fair wages on a piece by piece basis. The Eco Femme Project is a social enterprise which follows fair trade principles with its employees and tailors.

Gift a Pad Program

Gift a Pad Program Kit

Each cloth pad purchased by the International community provides a pad for a young woman in India. This initiative is targeted at adolescents of age 10-19 from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Donations are gifted as a 4 pad set during and in addition to an education program. The seminar topics cover menstrual and reproductive health, and information about the proper use and care of cloth pads. 

The Eco Femme Range

Eco Femme pads are made from cotton flannel and have unbleached cotton flannel cores. All pads are PUL lined (hidden) for leak protection, excepting non-PUL pantyliners. The range includes:

• Pantyliners (3 pack), available with PUL lining or non PUL
• Day Pad
• Day Pad Plus
• Night Pads
• Travel Packs
• Make your own stitching kits (3 pack)

Eco Femme Pads are now available for purchase here

Click the video link to learn more about Eco Femme

References:
1. http://www.indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetails.asp?id=1567
2. www.zerowaste.sa.gov.au
3. http://recycling.about.com/od/Resources/fl/How-Long-Does-It-Take-Garbage-to-Decompose.htm

How to choose the right cloth pad for You

First things first - ***Congratulations*** on considering and making the switch to cloth pads! You have joined a growing number of women who find using reusables a better choice.

When you are first starting out using cloth pads it can be very confusing with the many choices out there. How do you make the right choice for you? Unfortunately the answer is there is no right choice as cloth pads are like clothing, there is not a one size fits all. Some like a favourite "brand" of cloth pads and others like to have a large variety of pads from different sellers. There are a few steps you can take in helping you choose when you are first starting out:

• Read reviews; reading reviews that have been left on the sellers site is helpful. Reviews that are written on blogs can also be informative, but please bear in mind that the blogger has often received a free or heavily discounted product, not always - but more often than not.
• Consider your budget, it is not desirable to buy an instant stash of pads - as if you find they are not what you were hoping for you have wasted your money, even if you received a bulk order discount.
• Start slowly, buying one or two pads from sellers you are interested in before committing to a large order. Wear the pads for one or two cycles to see if the fit and feel is right for you before purchasing more.
• Measure the width of your underwear and look for pads that approximate this in closed width. Typical preferred widths are anywhere between 6.5cm to 8cm, or 2.5-3.0", most wider widths tend to be on longer, or heavy flow pads. If the seller does not list the closed width of the pad, ask them what their pads closed width is. The closed width is the area in black as shown:
   

New products at Clothcycle

I have not written a blog post in so long, mainly because my new website ate my blog! Long story, not worth telling. But here I am again now rambling about my handcrafting :D

Recently I have had some fun with dyeing using procion fibre reactive dyes. I am by no means an expert but have created some beautiful (I think) works using various different techniques. I have tried ice dyeing in the past, but found it quite hard not living in a cold climate with accessible snow. I kicked myself for not taking our Eskie up to Lake Mountain the other week! So instead of ice dye I used some tye dyeing and shibori style techniques.

My site is now stocked with some of the latest creations using the beautiful hand dyed bamboo flannel. I have also made a few little wetbags, these have been sold out for some time now, simply because I have not had much time to re-stock.

32cm Cadence Bamboo Flannel Fantail

Australiana Wetbag

I am also about to launch a new Giveaway. Stay tuned... that is a little weird to say as I lost all my followers when my last blog was eaten ... time to start again! ;)