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Introducing - The new Eco-fi collection from Clever Togs....

Posted by Robin Li on May 21, 2009 at 8:35pm

These hand-appliqued designs are made using Eco-fi; a fantastic and innovative felt fabric made from recycled plastic bottles!We bring you an exciting array of bright and vibrant designs using this gorgeous, eco- friendly fabric. Appliqued, as ever, onto 100% certified organic cotton t-shirts and baby lap t-shirts.Kind to your little one's skin and our planet!To view the collection visit www.clevertogs.com

Visit our website!

Posted by Angie Parde on June 7, 2009 at 12:38am

Tiaras Children's boutique is a fun and cute children's boutique. We are located in Lincoln, NE specializing in infant to preteen girls and boys fashion, maternity, gifts, and accessories.We offer free shipping on all orders in the US.http://www.tiaraskidsboutique.com

MFG.com: The Fashion World Is Not Ready

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 13, 2009 at 1:41pm

It sounds like such a great idea, doesn't it? Sourcing made simple via the internet. A site that connects designers and manufacturers using spec sheets and a formal bidding process. No more phone calls, faxes, or sending samples just to get a bid.

But in practice, I just don't think we're ready for mfg.com. When I submitted spec sheets for Pixyworld's dresses & shorts last summer, the response I got was somewhat puzzling.

Of all the hundreds of suppliers (domestic and overseas) they had listed, th

A Basic Sewing Studio for Knits

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 18, 2009 at 8:53am

I am indebted to the Leabu Sewing Center for not only repairing and maintaining my machines, but advising me on how to provide myself with the essential machines for my work, without breaking the bank.

Many designers do great work without sewing, but I design mainly by sewing. Since I began working mainly with knit fabrics, in developing the Pixyworld line, I realized that my sweet little Huskystar 219 (Husqvarna) wasn't going to be adequate for sewing my samples.

I first acquired a serger, used,

Page Rank: The Chicken or the Egg??

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 23, 2009 at 9:56am

So, if I understand it right, you get page rank by having other highly ranked sites link to your site. OK. So your options are: solicit link exchanges with highly ranked sites, or create your own highly ranked site (like, hmmm... a blog!!!) which links to your site.

The problem is, highly ranked sites don't want to swap with lowly 1's and 2's. So we have to settle for linkbacks from other 1's and 2's. Hopefully, some of them will someday succeed in becoming 3's and 4's, and their links will becom

"I Want to Do it Myself!!"

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 22, 2009 at 8:10pm

Have you ever heard this from your toddler or preschool-aged girl? Especially in the area of apparel, it seems they have an independent streak.

This has several interesting results. Firstly, in dressing themselves they reach new and interesting heights of clash. Secondly, it seems that more than 50% of their clothing is on backwards at any given time. Finally, they gravitate towards wearing certain items as often as possible, while leaving others (the ones we like best) lying forlornly in the dra

Profile of a Designer-Entrepreneur

Posted by Melody Wilson on May 4, 2009 at 1:22pm

I'm sure everyone has a different opinion about what it takes to be an independent designer-entrepreneur. We designer-entrepreneurs probably all think, "you have to be like me!"

I know I started out feeling extremely under-qualified. With no current connections in the industry and no fashion education, where was I to start?

At that time I failed to recognize the strengths I had inherited from my family. Both of my parents are entrepreneurs, who can never be happy in an ordinary job. They are alway

Flattering Lines for Little Girls

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 25, 2009 at 9:20am

My favorite fashion & style book has to be Does This Make Me Look Fat? by Leah Feldon. The title is perhaps somewhat misleading, in that it is not a strictly thinness-oriented book. It gives some very helpful tips on looking chic and having an artistically well-proportioned ensemble.

This, more than any other style handbook, has helped me in designing toddler girls' clothing. For a toddler, looking "fat" is not the issue. The shape and proportions of a toddler's body are so unlike an adult woman'

Hiring a Sales Rep: A Big Decision

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 28, 2009 at 11:20am

So, Pixyworld is taking the plunge. In a certain way it feels like we're signing away our freedom. But, all things considered, I think signing on with Lace and Denim for the Southeast US region is the best next step for us in building our line.

When we first considered a different showroom in 2008, we were scared off big-time. In fact, it was that experience that inspired us to start selling to the retail customer through our own website! It was my husband Jon who spoke with the first showroom, a

Link Exchanges Gone Berserk

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 15, 2009 at 12:49pm

OK, I can see getting link exchange requests from all sorts of sites. Who really knows how google defines a link's relevance? On my webmaster dashboard, a link is a link. Even if they don't contain words like "baby" and "clothing," I'm willing to add most family-friendly sites to Pixyworld's Link Directory.

But I had to laugh when my husband, while building the link directory for his men's watches site, received a request to link to a page called Pimp Costumes! I am not making this up.

That is one

Toddler Hair Accessories: What's Out There?

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 21, 2009 at 8:30am

Gymboree (hairpiece pictured) is clearly a leader in mass-produced hair accessories for little girls. There are also many clever moms producing unique custom hair pieces, selling on etsy or eBay. So, is there room for more?

Gymboree seems to have two advantages, besides the obvious cost benefit of mass-production. One is one-stop shopping. Moms shopping online will choose a hairpiece from the same site as the clothing they are buying, if possible, to save on shipping.

Their other advantage is outf

Are We Tired of Pink?

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 24, 2009 at 11:14am

Not too long ago, we were hearing from the fashion world that Pink Is the New Black. But the faddish popularity of the color seems to be fading. The best-selling collection in my toddler girls' boutique line this season has been Flower Power, my only collection without even a hint of pink.

Maybe we are sick of pink because, in this economy, Pink Slips are the New Black! Maybe moms shopping little girls' boutiques are looking for something very unique, and they feel that pink for little girls is t

Top Sites Lists: Heart or Hate??

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 5, 2009 at 6:45pm

Top sites lists. We have a love/hate relationship.

While doing the webmastering for Boutique Baby Toddler & Little Girls' Clothes by Pixyworld, I have joined quite a few of them. They are, of course, a free inbound link to my site. Hopefully they are also a little bit of advertising, allowing visitors to see a banner and description of my site.

But here's the catch: My theory is that you pretty much have to be on page one for your link to be found by google; also, you have to be on page one for y

A New Look at Wholesale

Posted by Melody Wilson on March 26, 2009 at 8:43am

It seems that with the advent of e-commerce, the rigid dividing lines between apparel wholesalers and retailers is softening, and Pixyworld is ready to step into a newer hybrid role. We have always been open, in theory, to wholesaling, but we seemed to have readier access to the retail market. Not to mention profit margin -- which is miniscule for our wholesale sales at present.

However, we've been getting more and more wholesale inquiries, and it's caused us to take another look at the potential

Colors in Fashion Design

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 4, 2009 at 11:01am

As cheesy as the title has come to sound, Color Me Beautiful, by Carole Jackson, has been a milestone in fashion history. Take a look on Amazon at how many titles and products use it as a springboard. And for me, it was the beginning of the love affair with color that eventually led me to a career in children's fashion.

Jackson's color theory forms a foundation for color selection in fashion design. It reminds the designer to select colors from all four seasons, so that her line can have the broa

Confessions of a Linkoholic

Posted by Melody Wilson on March 20, 2009 at 10:19am

OK, so I may be just a little bit obsessed with Page Rank -- not that I use checkpagerank.net to check my google page rank, link popularity, and those of all the stores around me on every google search. I mean, just some searches -- the important ones!

Pixyworld doesn't exactly have a huge advertising budget these days. It's basically sweat-it-out, knock on zillions of e-doors, and hope somebody puts up my link somewhere.

I do have a very nice reciprocal link directory, by the way, in case you're

Pixy Friends for Little Pixies

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 8, 2009 at 12:38pm

It's not hard to see the logic behind Pixyworld doing a collection called Pixy Friends. There's something irresistible about the idea of magical people, when children are concerned.

My inspirations for this collection, besides my own little pixies, were C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and Johhny Gruelle's Raggedy Ann & Andy stories. My own children love these stories, wanting them read aloud, and then reading them on their own as soon as they are old enough.

I fell in love with the fairy embr

Hitting the Runway in Michigan

Posted by Melody Wilson on March 18, 2009 at 8:19am

We may not be LA or NYC, but my little town of Ypsilanti, MI will be hosting an annual fashion event, starting this May 9-10. Dressed on Washington Street will have 4 runway shows over the course of two days, including "Wearable Art" and "Recycled Clothing." Pixyworld will be participating on Sunday afternoon, with our mini-models hitting the runway for the first time. Those who are too tiny to model alone will be accompanied by their proud dads.

Any local mini-models sized 18M to 5T who are inte

I see London, I See France...

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 3, 2009 at 10:07am

I volunteer occasionally to work in the preschool class at church, and as much as I love the age, being a preschool girl does come with its fashion dilemmas.

In fact, I began designing children's clothes with just these dilemmas in mind. These little girlies are at the prime dress-wearing age, and they look as pretty as posies in their twirly dresses and piggy-tales.

But, they do tend to expose themselves for all the world to see. Parents tend to either ignore this problem -- fair enough, I guess

Baby Jewelry: Sweet, Impractical, Irresistible.

Posted by Melody Wilson on April 1, 2009 at 1:26pm

There is something absolutely adorable about toddler jewelry. I used to make jewelry to go with my outfits when I was doing customs on eBay, but when I began manufacturing for Pixyworld I had to simplify things for awhile, and I miss the jewelry!

I bought this sweet silver ring recently for my preschooler, from Overstock.com, and she just loves it. It fits perfectly on her little ring finger, even though she is so small. (A size 1 actually exists -- who knew??)

I do have to help her keep track of

baby (192)

Introducing - The new Eco-fi collection from Clever Togs....

Visit our website!

MFG.com: The Fashion World Is Not Ready

A Basic Sewing Studio for Knits

Page Rank: The Chicken or the Egg??

"I Want to Do it Myself!!"

Profile of a Designer-Entrepreneur

Flattering Lines for Little Girls

Hiring a Sales Rep: A Big Decision

Link Exchanges Gone Berserk

Toddler Hair Accessories: What's Out There?

Are We Tired of Pink?

Top Sites Lists: Heart or Hate??

A New Look at Wholesale

Colors in Fashion Design

Confessions of a Linkoholic

Pixy Friends for Little Pixies

Hitting the Runway in Michigan

I see London, I See France...

Baby Jewelry: Sweet, Impractical, Irresistible.

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