Search This Blog

Monday, September 26, 2011

Just for Us Ladies ~ Making the Monthly Cycle A Little Better

About a month ago we opened a tester program ~ our first "large scale" product testing for a new item. The items is our mama cloths or cloth menstrual pads. It is something I learned about a year ago now and after much debate finally decided I would take a try at making some and developing a good pattern and product.

I have made and still make reusable nursing pads and cannot tell you the emense amount of money we saved with those (I had over active let down and leaked terribly sometimes), so why not continue the "green" process with reusable pads.

Our pads are a 100% organic bamboo flannel top and backing (which is OH SO SOFT), had a bamboo batting core and a layer of PUL. Fabrics were prewashed in Tide (the free and clear ~ no dyes or perfumes detergent). And then sewn together with 100% polyester thread. The core is sewn to the top layer of flannel around the outside edge of the core and then down the center of the core. This is to prevent bunching. They are finished with a snap to secure them around the underwear. The snaps are placed roughly the center of each wing.

The tester pads are recommended (in my opinion) for light-regular flow days. I would not recommend the tester mama cloths for overnight use, but they may work just fine for heavy flow days. I would love it if there is one of our testers out there willing to try them on heavy flow days and overnight.

They should be machine wash cold and then air or line dry. They can be machine dried on a very low setting though. With each order is a sample of Ruby Moon's Moonlight Pomengrante Mama Cloth Detergent. We look forward to working with Lyndsay at Ruby Moon to provide our mama cloth orders with a sample of her detergent and maybe even one day wholesale her detergent with our mama cloths ~ should the testers be a success.

We will look at selling them in sets ~ should the testers be a success (keeping that in mind here). The sets would be a 3, 5 and 7 pad set with a wet bag and sample of Ruby Moon's mama cloth detergent.

To all our testers ~ please remember to leave us feedback here on our blog. We would love to know what you think (both good and bad) in a respectful manner ofcourse. We would also love your suggestions for improvement should you feel they need some in one area or another.

Thank you so much once again to all those who signed-up to test our mama cloths and for patiently waiting for their arrival.

For all those interested ~ keep your eyes posted for the reviews on our items. We will accept orders once we start receiving some feedback to know if and where we need to make changes/adjustments. As I did make this pattern myself.





Have a wonderful day,
The Kidds
Baby-Bug Boutique

12 comments:

  1. Jessica Kidd/Baby-Bug BoutiqueOctober 27, 2011 at 4:27 AM

    One of the first things that will be changed in our mama cloths are the snaps ~ I will be changing them to the plastic snaps you typically see with cloth diapers, but I think those will be easier on making our mama cloths and overall produce a better product. It wasn't until I finished them I realized these snaps weren't up to my standard on how I would like them to turn out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have used my pads only once and it was on light days. I found them to be super comfortable and soft. I had no problems with the snaps, but plastic would be good, too. I didn't use for overnight, but I might on a lower flow night. I think they would hold up just fine! My only issue was staining after washing. I used the awesome Ruby Moon (thank you!!!), but because the fabric is an off white, it stained for me. I rinsed before putting in my wetbag. Maybe try some pattern or darker fabric. Other than that, I am super happy with my pads. Thank you so much for letting me be a tester.
    Debbie M

    dmorettii1967 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jessica Kidd/Baby-Bug BoutiqueOctober 30, 2011 at 7:56 PM

    Debbie ~ THANK YOU SO MUCH for your review! I just did a happy dance reading it...LOL. Did you use peroxide when you rinsed? I know on the rescue squad we always used peroxide on our stuff if we got blood on us to get it out until we could wash at the station ~ works really well. But I am looking into patterned/darker material, just not so many choice in the organic bamboo flannel without having to increase the pricing. I am so glad they woeks great for you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. When mine arrived I was pretty excited. I've been hearing about them for a couple years, but never made the jump to give them a try. I think the only thing I was most concerned about was the color, I agree, I want some options for color *which I see is available now* :) My 2nd biggest concern was missing the security of a sticker ... I was happy with the way they stay in place though. I tried right away with a heavy day, no issue whatsoever, I also used one for overnight. They are fantastic! They are soft, and I can hardly tell I'm wearing them, the shape and size is great, and I am converted.. I really do like these a lot. Will be trying out the detergent today, and keep the peroxide trick in mind. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jessica Kidd/Baby-Bug BoutiqueOctober 31, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    Awesome! The only unfortunate part with the flannel is that is only comes in the off-white color and a couple prints, but they are child prints (cupcakes and tres chic). I am working on finding colored flannel, but I did find the Organic Bamboo Velour which comes in several colors and is even softer than the flannel, only downside to the velour though is it is more expensive.

    Fantastic that they worked well for you and good to know even overnight and heavy days! That is exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  6. the peroxide worked great ! i had one that i was worried stained. but I soaked in peroxide, then cold water, and used the detergent and was able to get it nice and white again :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for letting me be a tester. My only issue was that it stained(I will be trying the above tricks to see how they work).loved the Ruby Moon! I love how comfy they are!! I hardly notice them. I was a little nervous at first, but I had NO leaking!! I did try them overnight and they worked great(still no leaking). Another perk? I had a shorter period by about 2 days!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for letting be a tester. I've had a chance to use your mama cloths a couple of times now and so far they have work fine but are not as comfortable as some of the others that I use. After washing and drying, they really started to bunch up and that made it a bit uncomfortable and awkward. I wish they would lay flat more. I thought the length was great but the snaps needs a bit more room so the panties don't scrunch up so much in between.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had the same issue with shrinkage. After laundering they became lumpy. I did not have leakage issues using mine, and still was fairly thin. Mine were a bit narrow for most of panties- but that also kept them from moving. I use peroxide quit a bit already, so no issues with staining =) Luckily you are changing the snaps, at least one of mine had the prongs miss the other half of the snaps, and so was hanging free to snag.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jessica Kidd/Baby-Bug BoutiqueNovember 26, 2011 at 6:28 PM

    Cyndi and Roseanne ~ that is interesting on the shrinking, everything was prewashed so it shouldn't have shrunk anymore, but I am very sorry that they did.

    The flannel is definitely not as soft as the bamboo velour is (which I am thinking I will be switching entirely too since it is colored as well).

    Yes, snaps are definitely being changed, and I LOVE the new snaps so much better (and they stayed snapped better too!).

    The JoAnn I purchased the PUL from changed what they carried so I think some of the shrinking/shape issues may be from that. They went to a thinner PUL for a time, and luckily it's barrier properties were still great, but I am thinking it doesn't hold up as well, by reading these postings and remembering when I made your all's in comparison to the first and later ones.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks BabyBug for letting me be a tester! I have considered mama cloth for a while but this was my first experience with it. My favourite thing was how comfy I found them - much softer than disposables and unlike disposables, I didn't feel like I was wearing a diaper. I also liked that they were small and thin, not big and bulky as I had imagined they may be.
    I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about one snap at first, but they actually stayed in place just fine. I have a very light cycle, so was able to use them overnight with no problems whatsoever.
    The only recommendation I would make is (again) to offer more colours - to mask staining. I would also suggest having different absorbancies available/ or different sizes??
    Overall, I was very impressed!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for providing such a valuable information and thanks for sharing this matter.

    ReplyDelete