Suz's Corner: Baby bedding news and design tips

Thank you to all of the locally-owned boutiques that carry my Bumper Crop Baby bibs and burp cloths! I have been very well supported by local shops as well as a few others around the country. While I have no plans to morph my little one-person operation into a corporate bib-making monster, it makes me happy when a new store requests my items! Currently, hand-made wares can be found at:

McAdams’ LTD, Columbia, MO

D&H on Broadway, Columbia, MO

Pome, Denver, CO

Ella and Maymes, Hickory, NC

I welcome inquiries from owners of shops looking for high-quality handmade baby gifts. I believe in my product and know you will be thrilled too!

xoxo

Suzette

I added several new sets of bibs to the site today. Getting around to the photos, editing photos, resizing photos, and adding web pages is probably my least favorite part of this little job of mine. I’d much rather shop for fabric, look at fabric, sort fabric… you get the idea. However, whenever the new photos actually make it onto the site, I get a burst of energy and excitement that new outrageously adorable baby gifts are on the World Wide Web for all to see! I hope you swoon just a little. Goodness knows I did.

I just got back from Denver, where I purchased new fabric for bibs and burp cloths. I was able to scout out coordinates online and at local stores and the new sets are on the way! Trains, trucks, vintage baby deer and rosebuds are just some of the adorable prints in the hopper!

I’m thrilled to announce that bibs, burp cloths and rewind wear vintage baby gifts are now available at McAdams’ Ltd. in Columbia! McAdams is a unique store offering a delightful array of antiques, estate jewelry, fine tableware and high-end gifts. Their baby section includes sterling cups, Delft plates, sock monkeys and many other wonderful gifts and keepsakes – including, now, my handmade bibs and burp cloths!

After what seems like months away from my sewing room, I spent a few lovely hours in there today combing through my tubs of vintage fabric. I was looking for coordinates for some bibs and burp cloths and was able to find the perfect PERFECT fabrics for things I already had. (Bliss!) I don’t have the vintage wares on this main site, but I do have an Etsy store called RewindWearVintage where I sell all of these marvelous treasures. You can also find them at Pome if you happen to live in the Denver area and venture out to Historic South Gaylord Street. www.rewindwearvintage.etsy.com

So, after neglecting my own website for several months during the rush of the holidays, I have finally added the rest of my Mizzou collection! There are three different coordinates available for the ever-popular black and gold paw print. Your choices include a black dot, a pale yellow dot and a sassy plaid (that evokes Burberry, but I probably can’t say that due to some copyright law…) Each bib is backed in luxurious cotton terry velour and each burp cloth is backed in soft comfy chenille. Bibs are $16 for 2, burps are $14 for 2. Get a matching set of each for only $30! M-I-Z! Z-O-U!

If you don’t spend a lot of time searching the Internet for custom baby bedding, you may not know what the acronym “COM” means. It stands for “customer’s own material” and it rarely shows up in a search. The reason it is a scarce term is that not many places let you use your own material. Most sites let you customize a design (either set A, B or C) using one or more of their predetermined fabric collections. Is that really custom? I don’t think so. It is expensive to carry a lot of fabric, just waiting for the person that wants an entire nursery in pink and green medallions. That is why I don’t sell fabric. I make the bedding you want out of any fabric you like. You can order it online, buy it at a local store, bum it off a friend or use something you already have in your stash. This saves you money and opens up an endless world of possibilities for your nursery. Designed by you (with as much of my help as you need) and sewn by me. Truly custom baby bedding is at your fingertips!

Something I do a fair amount of that I don’t write about much is sell my bibs and burp cloths wholesale to retail stores. With a state resale tax ID number, you can open a wholesale account at Bumper Crop Baby and buy handmade bibs and burp cloths to offer to your customers. There is no minimum order and I am happy to customize gift sets any way you like. All of my retail stores enjoy my money-back guarantee. If an item is ever returned for quality reasons, I will gladly buy it back. (This has never happened, I should add.) I also offer a generous exchange policy to keep you from being stuck with merchandise that isn’t moving. I want your handmade baby gifts to contribute to the success of your business too! Inquiries welcome!

What do you do when you have a family member that can make your crib skirt and crib sheets, but you want a complicated box-style bumper with piping and tufting? You contact Bumper Crop Baby!

I just made this set of four bumpers for a mom from Oklahoma. She picked out all the fabric and sent it to me. The only thing she couldn’t decide on was the custom ties: red or denim? So I made one of each and took a photo. We went with denim and the end result can be viewed larger in the photo gallery.

Recently I have rediscovered a pulsing, thrilling, almost ridiculous need to accumulate vintage fabric. Now that my bibs and burp cloths are being sold at The Butterfly Tattoo in Columbia, Pome in Denver and through my Etsy store RewindWear Vintage, I am actually using it….which means I have less than I did. I have rummaged through dusty boxes in flea markets, combed through baskets at antique stores, scooped treasures into my eager arms at estate sales and bought it on eBay. It actually would be okay with me if I had more than I could ever use. I like looking at it. I like sorting it by color and then rearranging it into coordinates. I love knowing that someone’s mother used part of that very piece of fabric to make an apron, quilt or skirt 50+ years ago and now I am bringing it back to life for someone else to enjoy as a baby bib. It’s like I’m tossing my few pennies into the fountain of the Circle of Life (cue music from “Lion King” as I wave my fabric like so many flags…) If you have access to a stash of forgotten fabric, please let me know! I am always buying! If you’d like to see the fruits of my fervent gathering, please visit my etsy store at www.rewindwearvintage.etsy.com