Baby T-shirts...

[osodecanela]

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.

Comments

[susandennis]

First of all - I have never ever ever outgrown my love of a good tie dye.

Not long ago I was doing community service yard work with a bunch of neighbors and a woman walked by with AMAZING tie dye shoestrings. I hollered after her "I love your shoestrings!!" and she hollered back "everythingtiedye.com" I ordered a wonderful shirt from them that afternoon and it's now my favorite.

So I am particularly delighted at the idea of all your babies in tie dye onsies. But I am enormously warmed by the idea that you do them yourself. What a perfectly amazing and wonderful baby memory to for each of them to have.

I have a teddy bear that my Mom's boss gave me when I was born. He's now 63 and, like me, looks his age. He was named after the giver. James lost his eyes years ago and had to have complete nose reconstruction surgery a few year before he was blinded but he sits in my front room today and I love that he is still in my life.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

sweet - it's a wonderful way to remember his name sake.

By the way, check out Dharma Trading Co. on line. They sell more tie dye supplies than anyone and for someone who is as creative in the fiber-arts as you, why not think about dyeing?

[susandennis]

what a great website... thank you for pointing me!

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! You should see the store in San Rafael. Nice folks. It's where I bought my spinning wheel 8 or 9 years ago.

The site is worth watching for sales and if you register, they'll send you their monthly newsletter.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

Gotta love a good tie dye

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

I forgot to add ... even though I'm a basic black kinda guy now.

I ended up with my brother's baby clothes form the early 50s ... off to ebay with them in the hopes someone wants them.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

I expect to do 15-20 baby shirts and a polo of mine was white, but hopelessly stained. I'm planning a spiral in blues, greens and maybe rusts with a black overdye to make it look like stained glass.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

Oooo that sounds nice. I have a tie dye Tee like that.

I've done tie dye in the past ... not sure how you do a black overdye without covering the other colors.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

When applying the first colors, you work them with squirt bottles into the creases and really saturate the fabric with dye. Then you add a few tighter ligatures making the spiral (or whatever folding you've done) tighter & immerse the garment in a bowl of black dye. The black will only paint the fabric that's exposed & won't soak into the creases. That black needs needs to be mixed warm and just before you use it. It's finicky. Last, I microwave everything I dye to set the colors, 2-3 minutes for baby things, 5 on adult. Vibrancy in a fraction of the time. However, you'll never want to use that microwave for anything else and you do need to the items bagged in heavy weight plastic to keep it moist.

[barbarian-rat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I haven't heard of the microwaving part before. Interesting.

don't forget to take pics to share with us when you are done.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

I LOVE what I've seen of your tie-dye work. What a wonderful gift.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

*blush*

[tilia-tomentosa.livejournal.com]

Such a sweet act of charity. :)