Thursday, July 31, 2008

Reviving the Tiesie, with a Twist


Once upon a time, I had a brilliant idea. One, as in singular. I point that out because I really have very few good ideas...mostly they're a bit half baked. Anyway, on to my point.

Last year before my baby was born, and I had a lot of time on my hands, I was out and about at some estate sales and happened upon a huge bag of really, really nice vintage ties. There was a woman standing next to them, just sort of lamely looking at them. I thought she was going to buy them, but then I realized she was a "staffer". I asked her how much they were and she started telling me the story behind the ties -- they were her dad's and she thought they were really cool, but didn't know what to do with them. I didn't have a clue, so I didn't offer any ideas.

After mulling it, I decided that the ties needed a home. More specifically my home. So I bought them and they sat around my house for a few months in a ziplock bag until my brilliant idea came along. I decided to cut them up and sew the onto onesies. I wanted one for my baby to wear to his auntie's wedding. So I made a few, chose my favorite for Baby Pumpkin, and put the rest on Etsy. They sold moderately well, probably because the photos do not do justice to the extreme cuteness of a little boy in a vintage tie onesie.

Recently my brilliant idea became, er, brillianter when I decided that I should use nicer, organic cotton onesies and I should make them for bigger boys, too. I've started the process of prepping all the ties and sewing them up, and they turning out so cute. When my son wore his, he always got so many compliments. And looked pretty dapper, besides. I'll have a bunch of these in my shop eventually, when I solve the bigger problem of how to photograph them without hiring a gaggle of infant models. I'm also going to be giving a tiesie away on another great blog. Stay tuned for more details!

4 comments:

DK said...

I'll volunteer my boys for the modeling gig if you need!

KristenMary said...

Ronán will need another one soon, he grew out of his first one. He got tons of compliments!! Ronán would be glad to model for you too. :-D

Jen said...

Thanks for the kick in the pants. Ike needs one for my cousins wedding at the end of the month and the shiny silver tiesie is perfect for the event.

Anonymous said...

hehe, little business man in the making.