With my sewing experience limited to hems, curtains, buttons, and the wonky blouse and skirt I made in Home Economics class in high school, you may wonder how I ended up designing kids clothes and sewing. I grew up wearing clothing made by my mother for me and my brothers and sisters. My older sister and I would often be sporting matching outfits in different colors, and spent summers wearing sundresses that tied at the shoulder.
When Oliver was about 2, I saw a pair of reversible pants online that I really wanted to get him, but I wasn't about to spend $30 on pants for my 2 year-old. I thought...I can do that...I have a sewing machine! I looked for a pattern, bought the fabric, and voila...pants!
Not long after that and a few pairs of pants later, I stumbled across an artisan at a local fair who was making bloomers out of men's shirts, sporting the buttons down the sides. By this time Linus had come along, and again I thought...I can do that! I hit the local thrift store for some shirts, traced the lines of his existing clothes to make patterns, and went to town.
That summer, Linus wore almost nothing but handmade tops and bloomers made from repurposed men's shirts, and before long I had set up shop at Etsy, and started making all kinds of stuff. Having a background in music and theater, but no creative outlet, this was true food for the soul.
Here I am a few years later. I'm putting the name GaGa Bum on a pocket diaper that should be out in the Fall of 2010, but my store name and label has changed. Unfortunately, because the name had the word "bum" in it, there were some strange requests, and undesirable "followers". So Linus and Ollie it is...and why not...they're the ones who inspire me!
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