A dear friend here on Livejournal made my mind up for me 7-8 years ago. He had been cleaning out the attic of the old family home and found a box of baby clothes his mother had put away, carefully labeled what had been made by whom, way back when. It clarified just how important a milestone the birth and first few years of any child is for a family.
I've done tie dye for years and all modesty aside, I'm good at it. And fact of the matter is, babies are adorable (period!) and even more so dressed in tie dye. Ever since that discussion I had with him, every one of my newborns gets a tie dyed onesie or tee either there in the hospital or on their first visit to my office. It is my way of saying thanks to the family for their trust in me, for allowing me to be a part of this very joyful experience. And if in 25 years, expectant grandparents bring down the box of baby things for the grandchild on the way, and this tee is there, all the better.
A few years back a toddle cam walking into the office, looking just a bit like Quasimodo, as his mom was still stuffing him into his 6 month onesie at 16 months and with it on and snapped closed, he couldn't stand up completely, at least not comfortably. He went home that day in an 18 month size I happened to have on hand.
So, week before last when I ran back to my office to raid my shirt supply for the 2 little ones I had just delivered, that was all I had left. Two solitary onesies. A colleague and her wife had just delivered the day before & I had planned to give them one, but there were no more.
I was on the horn to Dharma Trading that afternoon for more baby tees and found organic cotton tees on closeout for $2/ea, $1.50 if I bought 60. So, I ordered, and when they asked if there was anything else I needed I fumphered. Did I need chemicals? Dyes? Rubber bands? Damn it, I wasn't sure. They said I could put the order on hold to check and call them back. Well, then life got horrifically busy and 6 days later when I called to say, "just the tees please," they were gone. Kaput. Sold out. They had not held the order. I got a bit testy.
The person on the line when I called quoted me prices 25% higher than anything I had looked at and when I started to growl, got a supervisor, who gave me the tees I did purchase at wholesale $1.65 each for 60 items. I was a bit anxious as I've almost always worked on cotton jersey or woven fabric and this stuff is a 1-1 baby rib, which has more stretch to it, but when I picked of the tees this morning, I was relieved with the fabric and its quality. AND its sown with cotton thread to there'll be no white thread on the seams post dye bath.
Huzzah! Guess I know what I'm going to be doing Sat morning.
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