Frequently Asked Questions - More Information
These pads are sewn to last. They don’t have that hot-off-the-assembly-line look, but they are durable. I use polyester thread (the one ingredient that I buy new). My grandma's old Kenmore doesn't do anything fancy, but it does a good job. The flannels are sturdy – many of them are from those work shirts that last for years and years. The flat cotton is the stuff that’s usually used in quilts, and the terry is from commercial kitchen towels.
Cloth menstrual pads are sometimes called Momma Pads. I think that this is because so many women discovered them when they decided to cloth-diaper their babies. I am a cat lady, so I guess that would make these Cat Lady Pads. But you can also use them if you are a dog lady, or even if you don’t have pets or kids. 
I only take fatally stained or torn clothing. Usable clothes (except for silk ties) end up either on my back or at the thrift store.
I haven’t heard of any medical studies, but a lot of women say that cloth pads have reduced cramps and other discomforts during their periods. They are definitely more comfortable!
It's true that giving a piece of fabric a second life only keeps it out of the landfill for so long. The real environmental and social benefits of not purchasing new materials come from the fact that when you don't by new materials, no new materials will be manufactured to replace them on the open market. At the end of the day, less materials produced means less in the landfills.
I also have personal aversions to buying new things and throwing things away that is probably more a force of habit. I grew up as the second of seven, and people must have known that it was hard to clothe that many kids. We would often come home and find anonymous garbage bags full of clothing on the porch. There was a little brawl on the living room floor over anything that was wearable, and then I would pack up the rest in the shredded remains of the garbage bag and haul it upstairs to my room.
I spent a lot of time altering the clothes - one reason was to make them fit but another reason was to disguise the fact that I was possibly wearing my friends' dads' old shirts and their mothers' old dresses to school. I was not very good at what I did, but I got creative with it. There was a strawberry shortcake outfit, a Christmas tree outfit... My friends said it hurt to look at me and my sister threatened to burn my clothes. I had to hide them in the neighbor's basement. Keep in mind that this was the early 90's, when drab was in and mix-and-match was unheard of.
I never developed a taste for new clothes. They smell weird, for one thing. It takes a while to make them comfortable. Bags and boxes of scraps of fabric and clothing have been following me around and filling up my closets for years but they didn't have a dedicated purpose until I discovered cloth pads. I used to say that I would take up quilting some day, but I think this is a lot more fun.
Nobody. I just like the name.
I know that plaid is less than pretty and has probably never been called feminine. It's associated with lumberjacks, grunge and school uniforms. So why is there so much of it? Why is it so hard to find good quality second-hand flannel that isn't plaid?
Flannels that are yarn-dyed before weaving as opposed to printed upon after weaving hold their colors longer. High quality flannels are preferably yarn-dyed. Yarn-dyed woven fabrics come in plaid, stripes, solids... maybe argyle? That's about it.
Usually a fabric's quality is apparent by the time I get my hands on it. A lot of the plaid flannel shirting is very soft and unpilly, while a lot of the printed flannel pj's do not look and feel nice enough to be used as an outside layer. There are exceptions - I've got some very good quality printed flannels and I've seen poor quality yarn-dyed. I've used up a shirt that was printed blue plaid, but it faded beautifully and was very soft and absorbent. I miss that shirt. If you've got a blue "cats" pad from me you probably have some of it.
I'm still taking all the non-plaid flannel I can get because ladies ask for it, but a lot of this plaid flannel is really good stuff.
Switching from disposables to cloth keeps about 250 to 300 pounds of trash out of the land fills.
These pads are made of second-hand materials (except thread and tyvek), so they don't create demand for more materials to be produced, which means that at the end of the day there is a little bit less of the earth destroyed and a little bit less stuff in the landfills than there would be if I bought new.
However, I do use an electric sewing machine, an electric iron, electric lights, washing machines, water, a natural detergent, and of course a computer. Each order is shipped or delivered via fossil fuel-powered vehicles. The energy I use at home isn't green, unfortunately, but the site is hosted using green energy.
