Moon Over Morocco

A while back we gave our newsletter recipients a sneak peak at our latest baby bedding project: a Moroccan inspired set for our awesome client, Amy. At that time we were still in the design phase, working on all the details and fabric selections. Well, the set is now complete and we're happy to reveal the finished product!

With our help, Amy selected bold geometric patterns and silky shantungs which paired to create a warm and colorful nursery. This one of a kind bedding set includes a floor length gathered bedskirt in silky teal with a decorative gold border, a boutique pillowed bumper in orange floral and "Moroccan" geometric prints with orange and teal shantung ties. We also made three decorative throw pillows in coordinating fabrics and Kirstin's signature "cozy throw" quilted blanket.



We want to say thank you to Amy for allowing us to create such a unique and custom set as well as say CONGRATS!!! Amy delivered a beautiful baby girl this past week.

Nothin' But Net

One of the recent endeavors by Stinkerbell Designs was a custom bedding set for our awesome customer, Angela.

Her daughter emailed us the jumpman logo to be the inspiration for her custom baby bedding. She also specified she wanted blue, white, gray and black fabrics used. We immediately went on a search for the perfect fabrics to use for this unique design.

Our eyes were immediately drawn to a bright blue basketball jersey fabric at our local fabric store! We had to line it so that so that the stuffing didn’t come poking through the holes, so we naturally chose the same bright blue in a lightweight cotton. This gave it a little extra stability too.
To complement the jersey fabric, we chose a heavy twill in gray and black. We also used white twill for the ties and squares in the blanket.

Each long side of the bumper has the jumpman design on the inside and the outside so that whichever side the customer chose to have facing out, the baby and visitors would still be able to see the logo. We also put the jumpman on the lower right corner of the blanket too. We used a white vinyl for the jumpan to add texture and variety. Each jumpman was handcut and painstakingly stitched in place.


Our original design included the full bedding set, a toy hammock, a diaper organizer, a set of three 20”x20” throw pillows, curtains, a rug, hanging wall art, lampshade and also a diaper stacker. We came across an orange basketball textured vinyl that we were going to use as an accent on the organizer, tabs for the curtains and one of the throw pillows. The customer ended up going with just the bedding set including the bumper, bedskirt, blanket and crib sheet.

This bedding set really challenged us since we worked with the jersey fabric, a textile we had never worked with before. This is also one of very few boy sets we’ve completed. Not that we don’t do bedding for boys, it just seems that most of our customers have ordered bedding for little girls.

Having been given the opportunity to complete such a unique bedding set not only stretched our creative muscles, but was also very rewarding and ultimately, the customer loved it.

The Pillowcase Project & Stinkerbell Designs

If you're our fan on Facebook, you know that we've participated in 3 sewing parties making dresses for The Pillowcase Project. This is an amazing organization that is very near and dear to our hearts. With each dress we design and make, our hearts bleed a little more for these orphaned children in Uganda.



After participating in this special project, we feel a particular draw to do something more. We have talked to The Pillowcase Project's founder and will be partnering with this special organization by donating a dress for every dress we sell. Customers will even have the opportunity to send a note to the child along with the dress!

The specifics haven't been completely ironed out yet, but we couldn't keep our excitement contained any longer!

We are so thrilled to have this opportunity and can't wait to get started!

If you'd like to purchase a dress email us at stinkerbelldesigns@gmail.com or contact us through our shop on Etsy. You can also become our fan on Facebook.

Please spread the word and help us get dresses to Uganda! To learn more about The Pillowcase Project, check out their blog.

UPDATE!
We've had some time to work out all the details,and we are proud to announce Stinkerbell Designs Get One Give One Program.

Get One Give One Program
Stinkerbell Designs has partnered with The Pillowcase Project to created our Get 1 Give 1 program. For every pillowcase dress sold we will create and donate an additional dress to The Pillowcase Project. When you participate in the Get 1 Give 1 program you will also receive a picture via email of the dress that was made possible by your purchase. You can even include a personal note to the dress recipient, just email us what you would like to say and we will be happy to include it with the dress. To learn more about The Pillowcase Project please visit them on Facebook or check out our blog at Stinkerblogs.blogspot.com

StinkerPhotos

For the first time, we braved the idea of getting all 5 of our little Stinkbells together for a photo shoot! This proved a lot trickier than we ever imagined, but the results were fabulous thanks to Emilee McCurley of Hogarts Photo's.

Throughout the day, we faced a few challenges (who wouldn't with 5 little girls all under the age of 10?), but Emilee was a total pro, took control of the photo shoot and made our little girls look great!

Below are just a few samples of our Stinkerbells modeling their hand-made tutu's with matching t-shirts (for into on how to get your own Stinkerbell t-shirt, email us at stinkerbelldesigns@gmail.com). To view the entire album, visit our Facebook photo album.

Of course, with this photo shoot comes the announcement that Stinkbell Designs will be adding tutu's (with or without matching bloomers) to our Etsy shop and other items we currently make. If you're interested in having us create a custom set or just a tutu for you, please don't hesitate to email us. We love custom orders!

Check back for more announcements. We have lots of exciting things planned for this summer!

Why does custom baby bedding cost so much?

After reviewing our last entry about what you really need as a new parent and looking over our current bedding set designs, we're inspired to blog about a common question we've even asked ourselves: Why does custom baby bedding cost so much?

The short and simple answer is that there is a LOT involved! A good bedding designer doesn't let on to the customer exactly what all is entailed in the process of creating the perfect baby bedding; it's all part of the mystery and the element of surprise.

The main thing that is involved when creating custom baby bedding is math. Remember being told in elementary school that math is something you'll always use? Well, we've learned that first hand when designing custom bedding without a pattern! For those non-sewers out there, you might not be aware that fabric comes by the yard and is available in a wide array of widths ranging from 44"-60"! It takes some careful planning and, you guessed it, math, to make sure the correct amount of fabric is purchased without overbuying or worse, under-buying.

Of course calculated into the price of custom bedding is that you're paying someone for their creativity. It's very hard to put a price tag on that. For someone like us who truly loves to design, enjoys getting to know their customers, and thrives on the creativity, it's easy to overlook the time and energy that goes into designing custom baby bedding. It can be a challenging experience in some cases.

Some other little things to consider when looking at the price sticker of some custom baby bedding out there: What type of fabric is used? Is it really high quality and durable so it will stand up to the infinite number of times it will go through the wash? Is it even machine washable? Has the designer taken the time to think of little things like the poor Dad changing bedding in the middle of the night?

What about creativity? Did the designer go over every detail with you before finalizing your order? Did they take into account that Dad-t0-be has an undying love for Monty Python while Mom-to-be hates the color blue?

It's those fine and often forgotten details that add up to the real cost of custom baby bedding. The main thing to remember is that you're really paying someone for their creativity and time, which is not something to take for granted.

Consider why you're looking at having custom baby bedding made. Is it because you are just drowning in the overnight success in your stocks? Is it because you haven't found exactly what you have in mind for the newest edition to your family? Or is it because you want to have something unique and one-of-kind that will just blow the socks off all those visitors?

Whatever your reasoning for getting custom baby bedding, it's important to fully appreciate the creativity of your designer and that you're paying for something that you might not have the ability, or time, to do yourself.

Shameless plug: Ask about a matching Cozy Throw Blanket to go with your custom order! Check them out at www.stinkerbelldesigns.etsy.com

Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."