Thanks everyone for playing the raffle! The winner is comment #10. Congrats Michelle!

I'd forgotten how much fun raffles are. I'll do one again soon =)

My new sewing room is not quite ready for the photo shoot that I had promised, so in the meantime here's another gratuitous chicken picture. Sweetpea and Me

It's been a while since I posted a blog entry. Well, a lot has been going on around here. I've been quiet, but busy =) My husband, our cats and I just moved to an urban farm! With chickens! I'm still setting up the sewing room, but as soon as that's ready there will be pictures. For now, here's a picture that my husband took of the chickens.

While I'm at it, I might as well make this a raffle post, right? The prize is $10 store credit as usual and the topic is... something fun this time.

Years ago, before any of us were married or had kids, my three sisters and I used to go down to the local bingo hall for a good time. It was always hilarious, I don't even know why. We usually had to go sit in the back because we laughed so much. We never won. The bingo hall is long gone now, but I was reminded of it when I came across a UK-based online bingo site called Cheeky Bingo. I can't play, being in the US, but it looks like it would be fun. I might try it when we travel in the UK in the future.

What's something you used to do for fun that you haven't had a chance to do in a while? Answer in the comments to be entered in the raffle! A winner will be randomly drawn on March 31 using this random number picker. One comment per person will be counted. The prize is $10 Store Credit.

I've never done much marketing or advertising. Most of my customers find me by word of mouth thanks to other happy customers. I am very grateful to those of you who have been spreading the word, and I've finally come up with a way to reward you :-)

At the bottom of this blog post are some links you can use when you tell people about Amy's Rag Bag. You will receive $5 in store credit for posting the links, and then another $5 credit every time a new customer follows your link to place an order. Please follow the instructions below to get started.

How to Earn Referral Rewards

1. Copy and paste the code for one of the links below to your website or blog.
2. If you have ever ordered at amysragbag.com, you should have an existing account. (Let me know if you need help finding your log in info.) Log in and post a link to your blog in the comments here, and I will add $5 store credit to your account.
3. Every time a new customer follows your link and places their first order at amysragbag.com you will receive another $5 store credit.
4. You can also get credit for referring people without using the links. Simply ask your referrals to mention your name in the text box at checkout so that you can get $5 credit when they place their first order.
5. Please be up front about the fact that you are getting a kick back for referring people to my site.

Thank you! ♥

All of my items at Cloth Pad Shop are 30% off until the end of September!

The July raffle winner is BlueCereus! Yay! Congrats BlueCereus! I sent you an email.

There is no raffle this month, but there will be random specials, sales and coupon codes posted on my facebook page. The current sale is 15% off selected palettes.

There is also a theme running at Cloth Pad Shop. The theme is Talk to the Animals. I'll be adding more animal pads there as I make them.

Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions and voted in the poll last month. I am going to implement the third option, which is to list pre-made pads on the website. Most of them will be listed by size, materials and palettes so you won't get to choose the exact pad. It will be a lot like made-to-order except that the pads will be sent out more quickly and there won't be customizable options. I will continue to list individual pads at Cloth Pad Shop as well.

Several of you said that you really like the made-to-order setup, and I do too. I had intended to keep it going. Unfortunately, something came up. Both of my cats got sick within the last couple weeks (when one gets sick the other is usually a little too sympathetic) and incurred some very high vet bills that really set us back. I'm going to have to give up my sewing room, get a rent-paying roommate in there, and get a job for the winter. I don't mind admitting that times are hard; I know they are hard for a lot of us.

I'll be taking made-to-orders until September 15, after that I'll have in-stock pads only.

Now, it's not so bad. I'm going to have lots of pads made up to keep the business going through the winter, and there will be lots of variety (buttonholes, quirky prints, bamboo cores etc.) I just won't be able to make any custom items for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to afford sewing space again soon. *fingers crossed*

Thanks again for all your support!

Laura

The following palettes will give you 15% off made-to-order items if you select them as your first choice palette.

This does not include sampler sets.

Primary Patchwork

In-stock, Made-to-Order, and Something Else, Maybe...

What are the pros and cons?

When you buy in-stock pads, you can see exactly what you're getting and the pads are ready to go right away. However, since they need to be photographed and listed individually, they are usually more labor-intensive and therefore more expensive.

Made-to-Orders are a great option if you don't mind waiting a couple weeks and don't have your heart set on any particular fabric. You can have the pads built to your own specifications. If you don't need too many customizations, made-to-orders are less expensive than in-stock. The exact fabric selections will usually be a surprise.

There's another option I could offer. I found out that my site is capable of keeping track of inventory. I could create a catalog page that would tell you exactly how many flannel topped liners I have in the forest colors theme, for example, and you could buy those from stock. You wouldn't see pictures of the exact pads but you'd at least know the color scheme, materials and dimensions and you wouldn't have to wait for them to be made. The pricing would be the same as made-to-order. What do you think? If enough people are interested, I'll go ahead and set that up.

While I'm at it, I'm open to any other requests and suggestions as well. I'm always looking for ways to improve.

The June winner is lucky comment #1. Congrats Serissime! I sent you an email.

I had a couple topics rolling around in my head, but I think this is going to end up being more of a newsy post. I've got a lot planned for this summer. :D

Tomorrow is the first Wednesday farmers market of the season. If you're in Bellingham, that's noon to 5 on the Village Green in Fairhaven. It's a lot of fun - I don't think there was one rainy Wednesday all last year. I will be there every week through August.

I may still appear at the Saturday market occasionally, but I'm not scheduled there.

June 10 and 11 is the Conscious Culture Festival in Tonasket WA, and I will be a vendor there if everything goes according to plan. It's the same setting and many of the same people who do the Barter Faire every year in October.

Then, later in the summer, on August 12-14, we have Summer Meltdown in Darrington WA, about half-way between Seattle and Bellingham. This is another beautiful scene with a variety of music and a focus on sustainability.

To help keep track of all this, I put a calendar on my facebook page. The calendar also shows when made-to-order orders are due at the post office.

I'm going to update my Cloth Pad Shop pretty soon here; that will be another blog post. I've also sent some pads off to Feminine Wear in the UK. Those should be arriving soon.

So yeah, it's going to be a busy summer. I guess I'd better get back into the sewing room!

Last month I went to a fun and exciting lunch meeting at Sustainable Connections. It was all about Bike to Work Month, and the talk was about how to inspire and motivate your employees to try bicycling to work. Well, I have no employees to motivate, so I turn to you my dear customers, readers, and curious on-lookers.

Some interesting facts came up at the meeting. Did you know that
in the United States, more than twice as many bike trips are made by men than women? Ladies, let's get on our bikes! We can't let them win! If you have little kids, they make all kinds of interesting attachments now that kids can ride in. I see a lot of these around town --> Don't they look like fun?

Lovely Bicyle has a post about making cycling more comfortable for women, and menstruation is discussed. I was thrilled to see somebody mention Amy's Rag Bag in the comments because my liners are made for comfort on a bicycle. They're designed to be held close to your body with no contours to rub your thighs and no unneccesary length to bunch up. The all-fabric fasteners are designed for bicycling comfort as well. I often wear a liner on long rides even when I don't have my period, just for the extra comfort. It's no coincidence that my logo has a bicycle lady in it!

When it comes to biking, I'm really more of an addict than an activist. I got rid of my car a few months ago so I ride my bike just about everywhere. It's fun. The other day a guy yelled at me "Get a car, b&!@%!" But I knew he was just jealous because he has to pay $4 a gallon for gas and I don't. This is me about to head out for the farmers market yesterday morning.

This is a raffle post! Comment to enter. In honor of Bike to Work Month, your comment must have something to do with a bicycle. Post a comment about a happy bike ride you remember, a goal you have for future bike rides, some advice for new cyclists, or anything else at all about bikes. If you have your own blog you can also write it up there and then paste a link into the comments here.

One comment per person per month will be counted, but you can come back and comment every month. A winner will be randomly drawn on June 1 using this random number picker.The prize is $10 Store Credit.

The April winner is lucky comment #3. Congrats Flavorcrystals! I've added 10 credits to your account.

For the locals, the word of the week is bicycle. if you come up to my booth at the farmers market with your right pant leg tucked into your sock (or some other evidence of being a cyclist), I'll give you a free liner. My booth will be on the streetside of the market, facing Boundary Bay.

I've heard from a few cusotmers lately about how they love their cloth pads and would like to share them with friends, sisters and roommates, but they're not sure how to bring the topic up in conversation. It is difficult because a lot of people have taboos when it comes to talking about menstruation and you never know how people are going to react if you've never talked about periods with them before.

There are some ways to make your cloth pad love visible and show that you're open to talking about it while allowing your friends and relatives to choose whether to join conversation. Don't hide your fresh clean pads in the bottom of the laundry basket - hang them up on the clothesline to dry. You may have to explain what they are, though. People approach my booth at the farmers market all the time and riffle through the pads, sometimes pick out a few, then ask what they are. One woman asked how to attach one to her belt so I showed her, then she asked where you put the coins in. She thought they were little wallets. Another young lady bought one, then asked what it was. I'd thought she knew. I explained it to her and she decided to keep it and try it out.

Another way to be visible is to blog about cloth pads or join cloth pad discussion groups on sites like facebook and twitter. People can see on your facebook page that you "like" cloth pads and they can ask you about it if they're curious, or they can follow links and find out for themselves. I think the majority of my customers find me though blog posts from happy customers.

What other approaches can you think of to help people get comfortable talking about cloth pads?

Comments are closed on this post. Let's take the conversation over to facebook where we can discuss it more publicly. :)