The urge to blog...

I'm having an urge to blog, though I'm not sure why. Instead of starting yet another blog with my random thoughts (I've done this at least 3 times before and never lasted more than a month), I thought I'd just update this one.

So, I'm here to tell you a story. Someone posted a poll somewhere, asking why you use cloth - the options being: Cost; Environment; Health; Small business support; They're cuter; Another reason. I ticked all the boxes and then thought a bit about why I do use cloth and thought that maybe people who buy my cloth pads, might want to know why/how I got to be making them.

We go back to around August 2006. I'm working as a graphic designer and sewing lots of bags for bands etc. I stumbled across www.georgielove.com.au and enquire about selling some of my things there. I then realise I don't make enough to sell there, but the lovely Sally who runs Georgie Love, pointed me in the direction of www.etsy.com. Wow!!!! So many talented people on there!

I spent a few days trawling the site and seeing lots of new things. One of the new things I saw was cloth pads. I'd never seen them before and immediately thought yuck! Then a couple of days later, the idea started to grow on me. I'd bought some disposable pantyliners not long before that and thought they were a complete waste - I might as well have glued a tissue to my knickers. So I thought I'd make a cloth liner and see how it went. A liner couldn't be too yuck. So I grabbed the closest fabric - a poly/cotton blend print, and an old towel, cut them out, zig zagged around the edge, sewed a buttonhole and a button on and there I had a liner. I tried it and ohhhh wow it was comfortable! So I made a couple more.

I then did a bit more research and started learning about how bad disposable pads can be - the chemicals, the tonnes of landfill etc. I also started learning about different fabrics etc for pads.

I made a few more and really started liking the idea. I then put a few of what I'd made on ebay, thinking they wouldn't sell, but they did! So I put more on there and they sold too. I also put some on etsy. At this point, other than the people selling on etsy, I didn't know of anyone making pads, or anyone using them.

Somehow in amongst all this, I got in contact with Obsidian Star - another pad maker and a fountain of knowledge! Obsi is unlike many others and always more than willing to share info about making pads and explained many things (wicking, PUL etc) to me and I owe her big thanks!

Eventually, one of my customers pointed me in the direction of OzeBaby and Nappycino. This is where things started moving quickly. I set up a store on OzeBaby and fell head first into the cloth community at Nappycino, which is one of the places all the cloth users had been hiding!

Very shortly after this, I wasn't happy enough with my pads, so I modified them and they quickly evolved into the turned and top stitched pads you see today. I got a few wholesale customers and haven't looked back since.

I've been lucky that I haven't had to work hard to sell my pads - it has just happened by itself. But if I did have to work to sell them, I'd tell people why I use them - and this is where we get back to the reasons listed at the start of this post. First and foremost, they are comfortable. Then there are all the other benefits - cost, not contributing to landfill, no nasty chemicals etc. But I don't want to turn this into a speech, so I won't say more than that about those issues.

I still find it kind of funny that it's only a little over a year since I started this. I have since quit my design job and am sewing full time. I'm having a hard time keeping up with demand, not to mention all the other things I want to sew. It's amazing how much has changed in such a short time. I didn't know this world existed and now it's hard to think of life without it.