We have finally settled on fabric choices for the fall line of clothing.  This process was a little harder than I anticipated.  Not only was I trying to find a group of prints that I loved, but I also wanted the fabric to have other redeeming qualities.  I finally had to prioritize my desires.

First and foremost, I wanted to use 100% natural fibers.  In this case, that means cotton.  Secondly, I would love to support the US and buy fabric that was somehow processed here.  Lastly, buying organic would obviously be a nice touch.  This last priority will have to wait until a later date, but perhaps we will be able to introduce an organic collection in the future.

Finding fabric made in the US turned out to be the hardest part of my search.  Luckily, I had recently stumbled on a great website for a company called Connecting Threads.  Though aimed for quilters, they do have some prints that would work well for apparel, and the best thing is that all the cotton used in their fabric is grown right here in the US.  The weaving and printing processes are completed in North America.

I was still very attracted to some of the prints available from Micheal Miller.  Because we thought our customers might also love these great quality fabrics, we decided we'd do two styles of our fall line, one with the classic US cotton fabric, and one with the bolder prints from Micheal Miller.

My next task is to settle on the twill that will be used for the jumpers and overalls.  I have found a company that seems to be easy to work with and has a good variety of colors and weights of twills from India.  Once I receive my next sample pack, I should be able to settle on a great quality twill to compliment our prints. 

You may be wondering if we are still working on new products over here, and the answer is yes!  Things are going a bit slower than I had hoped, balancing kids and work doesn't always turn out as nicely as my initial plan.  So, the new clothing line will not be released as early as I had hoped, but the designs and plans are still going forward.

I had realized recently that in my enthusiasm over designing and sewing sample shirts, I forgot all about ordering buttons to go on them.  I really wanted to choose a natural material for the buttons so as to avoid any issues with lead or other harmful substances, and because I would hate to put plastic buttons on 100% cotton shirts.  After a bit of research I chose to go with corozo buttons, which are made from the Tagua palm nut.  To make things even better, I was able to find the company Buttonwood, which makes these buttons at their factory here in the US.   Corozo can be shaped to make a variety of buttons, but I chose to go with a pretty simple classic 4-hole design, which will be very secure once attached by hand.  You can also dye corozo any color you'd like, but I ordered my buttons in their natural undyed state, which turned out to be a beautiful creamy natural color.  It's hard to see in the picture I've attached, they are actually a little more honey colored than the pictures shows.  I am very happy with this company, which shipped my buttons so fast, they arrived less than a week after I had ordered them.  Their customer service was excellent, and I hope to use them for any future button needs as well.

Besides all my usual sewing projects, I almost always have a quilt going.  I am a new quilter, but I love the simplicity and beauty of a small baby quilt.  I started making these quilts several years ago when someone gave me a sample fabric book that was no longer needed at the store where she worked.  I love fabric and enjoyed paging through the different prints wondering what I could create with them.  I settled on a small quilt and the resulting blanket was just large enough to use for a play mat for my first son, who was born around that time. 

A couple years later I came across a fabric store that I now use to source a lot of my fabrics from and found that they also merely threw out the fabric books once they were out of date.  I caught them at a great time when they were getting rid of lots of these books.  I now have piles of them waiting to be turned into quilts in my attic.  I've made three more quilts since then, and love the fact that despite the huge variety of fabrics in each one, they are all well-coordinated since they all come from one collection.  This has now become my favorite baby gift for nephews and neices born into our family, and I love choosing which book suits which family the best.

The pictures are from my latest quilt for my little nephew who was born this summer.  On the back of each quilt I try to make it even more unique by adding a cute applique.  This one was a frog, and for once I thought ahead to actually embroider his name on it before I sewed it all together.

I've been spending as much time as I can lately on completing the boys line of clothes.  I'm so happy to announce that they are finally ready to go.  I even have a small stock starting to accumulate.  I thought I'd share some pictures so you can see what the completed outfits look like.  Each shirt is 100% cotton and available in 4 different prints.  We can do them long sleeve or short sleeve.  The overalls are also 100% cotton in a thicker twill fabric.  They are durable and I've already tested washing some and they come out looking even nicer than before.  I'm completely in love with the vanilla bean overalls.  The fabric is a super soft brushed twill and so soft to the touch.  The cherry and chocolate overalls, though not as soft as the vanilla bean, are still soft and super durable for playing outside.  The overalls have adjustable straps with hidden snaps so they should last for quite awhile.  I've thrown in one picture of a version I did for my son with an applique letter on the bib rather than the front pocket.  We can do this on any of the overalls to customize them. 

The pieces will be sold separately so you can feel free to mix and match however you'd like.  There are quite a few good combinations of the shirt fabric and the overalls.  Right now I have them available in 4 sizes:  6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, and 2T.  If you are interested in a different size, let me know and I can take a special order for you.

Please watch for these clothes to become available online in the next couple of days and if you'd like to see them in person, please join us at the NWA Boutique Show this Friday and Saturday.  Girls jumpers and shirts will hopefully follow soon as I'll be working on them next month.

I've been quite busy sewing lately, as our stock got quite low this last month as we waited for back-ordered cloth diapers to come in. I thankfully have several excellent ladies who sew for me from home and they've done an excellent job at getting us caught up. But in those first few weeks of craziness when our cloth diapers came in, I found myself quite often at my own sewing machine making ribbon burp cloths. Since it was nice and handy, I decided to take some pictures during the process.

This tutorial will work for any ribbon style burp cloth. In the pictures you will see our current best-seller, the blue retro dot burp cloth set.

Items you will need:

• two cloth diapers (we use Osocozy chinese prefold diapers because they have white edging thread and come in 4x6x4 layering, which is good for extra-absorbancy)
• two grosgrain ribbons in coordinating prints, lenth about 1" longer than the width of the burp cloth
• thread to match ribbons
• ruler or quilter's ruler

To begin, you will line up your ribbon on the burp cloth. Make sure you are using the front of the burp cloth. Ours have a lipped seam on one side of the middle section, that is the back. If you can't tell the difference, then it won't matter which side you use. Lay your burp cloth out flat. It should be noted that we prewash our diapers before using them. This makes it a little more difficult to sew on, because of the quilting that occurs as the cloth shrinks, but I think this is much more acceptable than having the diaper shrink after we've attached the ribbon. Ignore the quilting, and just try to get the short end of the diaper to lay straight. Use a quilter's ruler or some other ruler to measure up 2" from the edge of the diaper. Lay your ribbon along that line and use pins to hold in place. Repeat with other burp cloth and ribbon.

Thread your machine with the matching thread for the ribbon you will sew first. I use white on my bobbin thread so it will blend in with the white of the diaper. Fold under the edge of your ribbon so that it is flush with the edge of the diaper. If there is too much extra ribbon, trim a little off first. You should have 1/4" - 1/2" to turn under. Make sure to hold the ribbon firmly as you place it under the sewing machine foot. You want to make sure the ribbon folds under straight, so that no corners peak out. Once you get it placed right, begin sewing the long edge of the ribbon. On grosgrain ribbon, there is a little lip along the edge, and I find it works well to sew my seam dirctly next to that little lip. It keeps my line straight with very little effort. As you sew, don't let your machine stretch out the diaper too much, use your hands to work the quilted ridges under the foot.

Stop sewing about an inch and a half away from the other edge of the diaper. Fold this end of the ribbon under just as you did the first end. Sometimes the pressure of the foot stretches out the part of the diaper you sewed further than the rest and this looks a little awkward when you are done. If this is the case, to fix it, just push back the edge of the burp cloth (letting the quilting make little gathered ridges) until it is straight and turn under your ribbon flush against this edge. Then holding carefully as you sew, make sure the machine takes up this extra as it sews to the end. When you reach the end, stop with your needle in the corner of the ribbon, lift the foot and turn so you are parallel to the short end of the ribbon. Sew down this folded end to secure the edge, and then turn again at the next corner. Continue sewing the other length of the ribbon, making sure to push in extra fabric as needed to keep the diaper from stretching. Finish by securing the other short end just as you did before and tie off.

Repeat the sewing steps on your second diaper, changing thread color if needed. And that's it! Your burp cloth set is finished and ready for embroidery. We like to embroider just above the ribbon, which makes the set look nice whether it's folded or open.

Make sure to check out this product on our website.

Recently I received a request from one of my embroidery employees to make a baby gift set out of some great fabric she had found.  The prints were beautiful and they came together nicely.  The blanket we made in a bigger size than our normal lovey blankets.  This one is just right for tucking baby into a stroller.  We added some batting and a minky backing so its just as snuggly and warm as it is cute.  I absolutely love how this set turned out. 

Just so you know, I love to work on custom projects.  It is fun to make something one of a kind.  So if you have some wonderful fabric, want us to match your nursery, or just have a random request for us, please let us know.  In this example, we actually loved the resulting products so much we are considering adding some of them to our permanent line at Baby Vardo. 

I often hear the comment:  "I don't know how you do everything you do!"  My reply is usually:  "Ha!  You should see my house," or "Well, some days are better than others," or "I don't know either."  But today I'd like to share a little of how I do what I do, and perhaps a little bit of why as well.

If you are considering a stay at home business, but haven't taken the dive yet, I would encourage you to very carefully consider all sides of this issue, because it isn't easy.  It can be done, and in many cases I think it is well worth the effort, but I don't want you to expect that it will be easy, because it won't be.

For me, "everything I do," includes several things.  I care for my three children at home.  My oldest is 8 and is in 2nd grade, which she does at home under my tutoring and guidance.  The youngest two are boys, 3 years and 2 years old.  (If you are wondering why there are 4 children in this picture my daughter drew of our family, the 2nd child is our daughter Emma, who already awaits us in heaven.)  I do the majority of housework (though how frequently and how well it gets done, I will not pretend is ideal).  I cook the meals, do the laundry, and the miscellaneous other details that go along with caring for a home and children.  On top of that full-time job, I try to run our family business:  Baby Vardo.  Thankfully my husband is in charge of all the technical and design details for the website, which he does in his free time since he has a full-time job outside the home.  I am in charge of designing products, making sure they get made, filling orders, and keeping up with accounting, supply ordering, and customer support.  And of course if I have time, I am supposed to do some promotional work like blogs and emails.

So, of course, the first question that comes to mind when reading that is "Why?"  Why do I choose to do all of that?  I guess the most honest answer would be that I didn't think through it all beforehand.  :)  But I continue to do it because I love it.  I wake up in the morning hoping I will have the time and energy to create something new today.  I have a long mental list of potential projects at all times.  The hardest part is just being patient, because being a mom means creating often gets pushed to the side.

And that's where I struggle the most.  It's hard to stop working on a project and start being mom again because the kids woke up from naptime.  It's even harder to enjoy working when you are trying to answer an email while someone is frantically calling you from the other room (especially when you know that they really don't need you).  But first and foremost I am a mom, and that comes first.  At least I want it to come first.  I don't count it a failure when I don't finish a project on schedule because I had too many interruptions and too little time to spend on it.  But, if I've rushed through school, not sat down to read a book to my toddler, yelled and bullied my kids so that I have time to sew, then I have failed miserably and it isn't worth it.  And so, even though I won't give up my creative endeavors because I think they help me to be a whole person, I will also be content with very slow progress towards my goals.

In day to day life, this means balance.  Which in my case, usually means schedule.  I don't stick 100% to a schedule, but I do have one, because when things start spinning wildly out of control, I know that tomorrow I can slow down, walk through my schedule one step at a time and accomplish what truly needs to be done.  My schedule includes things like laundry and dishes and meal prep.  It has school times (which is probably the thing we stick to the most on there) and work times.  My work times are important, because I am currently trying to learn to stop work at the end of my allotted time and save it till the next free time I have.  This is easier said then done.  My schedule also has plenty of "free time."  My free time often turns into work time, but that's OK as long as I am wanting to use it that way.  Each day has its own scheduled chores and its own work responsibilities.  I get overwhelmed when I see the big picture, both in my house and my work.  When I see that the whole house needs to be cleaned, I just want to climb into bed and hide.  But if I know that today I only have to clean the bathroom, and the rest can wait until another day, I am more motivated to keep up with it all.  For my work schedule this has had a similar effect.  I got tired of sitting down with an hour of work time blocked out for me, only to waste half of it because I didn't know which project to work on.  So now each day has it's own responsibilities and to do lists, and I know where to start and what to do.

The other important thing in juggling multiple responsibilities is flexibility.  The best schedule in the world will just stress you out if you can't throw it out of the window when a kid gets sick, unexpected company stops by, or you have a chance to go on a great family outing.  Sometimes we do a no schedule day, just because we can.  This helps to refresh tired minds and bodies and the next day can usually be started with more vigor than before.  I also practice flexibility in how I view my house.  Being a laid back person naturally helps.  I find that my day goes a bit better if I don't stress too much about the toys strewn about the living room or the dishes piled on the counter.  As long as I have a time during the day that I know I will get to them, I can ignore them until that time.  We do a clean up time before supper, right before Daddy comes home.  Some days we are more successfull than others, but when it does happen, Dad comes in to a clean living room and kitchen and I feel good ending my day with clean counters and a fresh floor to start our playtime on tomorrow.

One thing stay-at-home moms don't get is a lunch break, because feeding lunch to little kids is anything but relaxing.  So in order to keep my sanity I take a time-out during the kids naptime (and yes, all three kids have a naptime, even if they don't sleep).  I don't take very long, especially if I have work to do, but I try to sit down, do something relaxing that isn't connected to work, and just basically take a breath before I jump back into momhood or work.  It also helps when I am reading the Bible and praying at some point in my day.  I am not extremely successful at that, but I keep working on it. 

On a business note, I, with my husband's encouragement, hand off responsibilities whenever possible.  For instance, not too far into our business, I found that it was exremely hard to keep up with production of our burp cloths because we were selling them so well.  We found some other stay at home moms that wanted to earn a little extra cash, and they started sewing my best sellers for me.  I now have 4 moms that sew almost all of my bibs and burp cloths for me.  I really don't know how I'd do it without them.  When we were doing a lot of embroidery, we also had employees that came in to do that for me as well.

We also try to re-evaluate regularly, and change things as needed to make it work better.  This is actually harder than it sounds, as I don't like changing things midstream.  But it often has to be done, and it has always worked out to be better in the long run.  For instance, many of you know that we used to have a retail store in which we sold retail products as well as our own handmade items.  We loved our store and our customers, but it was just a huge stress on our family time and finances.  I originally planned on working many of the hours myself with my kids playing in the back of the store.  Now I laugh that I ever thought that was possible.  Closing the store was one of the hardest decisions we've made, but also one of the best.

I'm sure there are other things I could share, but this has ended up being pretty long, so I'll have to pick up this topic again in another blog.  Feel free to share some of your tips of how you get through a day balancing work, family, and creativity.

One of the problems of sewing for kids is that they keep growing.  :)  I was looking through some of my pictures today and came across some I had meant to post and never had.  These are two of my most used models - my youngest son and his cousin.  They don't look anything alike, or really act anything alike, but these boys are well on their way to becoming best friends.  It's so much fun to watch them interact.

I took these pictures to highlight their shirts, which were some of my first products as I honed my skills in making little boys' shirts.  These pictures were taken last summer.  Seth has long sinced started wearing his older brother's shirts that I had made and I am getting ready on starting another one for his cousin as well.  I'll try to be more prompt in posting some pictures of the newest creations.

Short sleeve versions of our shirts are now available! They'll be up online in the next couple of days as I get some photos of them taken. I'll also have samples at the Dogwood Festival if you'd like to try one on your little boy. The one pictured here is the texture stripe...

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We've been adjusting to our new summer schedule now that we are finished with our homeschooling for the year. We had a busy spring and it was nice to be able to take a bit of a break. But we are breaking in a new routine now.

Despite the lack of posts, I have been working on some new things for Baby Vardo. The first is new packaging. If you've ordered recently from us, you will have noticed that your product came neatly packaged in our brand new 100% canvas bag. I hope to eventually make these drawstring bags, but I'm still working on sourcing some good natural fiber cord. We hope you will enjoy reusing this bag, and an added bonus is that we can now ship in envelopes instead of boxes, cutting down the packaging waste and cost significantly. We've already lowered our shipping costs on our website to reflect this change, and hope to soon have new product pictures to update the website with these changes.

I've also been working out the kinks in our first ever stuffed toy. Here's a sneak peak of the latest prototype. It has already received stamps of approval from our kid testers, and is just about ready to go up on the website as well. Keep a lookout for this cute elephant and more stuffed toys to come soon.

Here's a project that will coordinate perfectly with the ribbon burp cloth set you may have made from our last tutorial. We make these little infant bibs completely from scratch to coordinate with our ribbon burp cloth sets. They are perfect for an embroidered name, and look great in pictures.

What you will need:

• white birdseye fabric, less than half a yard. Make sure to prewash your fabric before cutting.
• one 8 inch length of ribbon
• white thread and thread to match ribbon
• two sets of snaps
• ruler or quilter's ruler
• rotary cutter, or scissors will work fine as well

Step 1: Create and cut your pattern. You will need to determine your desired bib shape before you begin. We created our own pattern based on a fairly rectangular design. Many people use a much rounder design for their bib. The design is completely up to you.

Step 2: Place and sew the ribbon. Choose two of the 4 layers you cut in step one and lay them down right side up. You will have to look carefully at the birdseye, but it does have a right and wrong side. Lay your ribbon across the bib and line it up where you would like it to be. For our pattern we place it 2 inches up from the bottom of our bib. Pin the ribbon in place and then sew down both long edges to secure it. If you are using grosgrain ribbon, you can use the tiny ridge on the edges of the ribbon as a guide to keep your sewing line straight. Make sure you are using thread to match your ribbon.

Step 3: Sew all layers together. Now that your ribbon is secure, take the remaining two layers of birdseye and lay them right side down on top of the pieces you just sewed (which is now the front of your bib). Pin the layers together and sew around the entire shape with your desired seam allowance using white thread. Make sure to leave an opening about 2 inches long on the edge to turn the bib.

Step 4:Trim and clip and turn. Trim around the ends of the straps so the seams won't be bulky once you turn since the curve is so intense. Clip all curved edges on the bib, making sure not to clip the seam. Then, reaching through the opening you left, carefully turn the bib right side out. Use a long object with a curved edge (like the eraser end of a pencil) to push the curved edges all the way out.

Step 5: Topstitch. Iron the bib if needed to smooth out the curves. Make sure not to iron the ribbon, as the heat may damage it. Make sure the edges of the opening are turned under and ironed so that they leave a smooth edge with the rest of the bib. Topstitch around the entire bib 1/8 inch from the edge. The topstitching will secure your opening so that no hand-stitching is required, give the bib a finished look, and help to reinforce the seams.

Step 6: Add snaps. You can add any kind of snaps you'd like. We use metal snaps from Snapsourcebecause they are quick and easy to put on and are tested to be safe for baby's clothing. We use two sets of snaps because that gives two neck sizes for the bib. You will place the tops of both sets of snaps in one strap about an inch and a half apart. Then place the bottoms in the other strap. Just make sure as you are placing the last snap that you check the placement by overlapping the straps to make sure they are lined up correctly. After attaching your snaps using the manufacturer's instructions, always test them to make sure they snap and unsnap easily.

Step 7: Finish the bib. The bib is now finished except for embroidery. It can be used as is, or have a name added using an embroidery machine. Be sure to check out the Pink Polka Dot Personalized Infant Bib as well as our other infant bibs on our website.

Dawson's momma came and saw us at the Dogwood Festival this spring and won a free gift set by signing up for our email list. By the way, if you signed up for our email list as well and have been wondering why you haven't received an email, that would be because we haven't gotten them set up yet. That's high on our priority list and we'll hopefully start sending out emails soon with information on our products, new product updates, and sales coupons. If you'd like to be added to our list, please email us and let us know.

But back to baby Dawson. His mom couldn't find a set that we already had that matched her cowboy nursery theme, so this is what we ended up creating just for her. I really like the way it turned out. I even found a fun cowboy font to embroider the name on the items.

Do you have an idea of a custom set you'd like? Please let me know. I would have a lot of fun creating a set just for you.