Why We Make Preemie Tees

From time to time someone will ask me about Elliot's Preemie Tees. The questions that I get the most from non-preemie parents is "Why do you make Preemie Tees?" or "Is there a market for that?" Depending on how the question is asked I sometimes have to fight the urge to not to stare in disbelief at some people. But then I remember how dumb I was before Elliot came into my life. The short answer to these questions are, "I make them because I want to help others like us and, yes, there is a market for them." The long answer is what follows. I hope it will give you some insight into why we do what we do. Enjoy!

When Elliot was born he weighed in at a whopping 1 lb. 12 oz. He was so tiny I hardly knew what to do. The first time I saw him I was horrified, not because I thought he was ugly or anything, I just thought he was so small and there was an IV or wire coming out of every conceivable place. It was scary! What worried me more was the way my daughter interacted with him. She seemed afraid of him. Instinctively I knew that she needed to bond with him and fast. As a struggled to think of ways to help this happened I started to think about what "normal" parents do to bond with their babies. I realized that parents basic responsibilities, when it comes to caring for their babies, are to love, feed and clothe them. I knew Brooke loved Elliot. She was also working so hard to feed him by pumping breast milk and leaving it at the hospital and freezing it at home for later. So my next thoughts turned to clothes. Where could I find clothes for such a tiny person? Was there even such a thing? Would the NICU let her dress him? I had all these questions and more so I set out to find the answers. What I found shocked me and then made me angry. I found preemie clothes alright, but there wasn't much of a variety, the sizes were very odd, the quality not very good and the prices were high.

I did buy some clothes for Elliot and it cost me $14.99 for a tiny t-shirt and hat set. I was appalled. It was thin and not very well made. But it was kind of cute so I washed it and took it to the hospital. What happened next absolutely astounded me. This seemingly small act of dressing her baby was a huge milestone for Brooke and our whole family. She loved dressing him and he looked so much better and more like a regular baby that it completely changed the way she saw him. For the first time she began to think of him as her baby! It was a miracle!! Could clothes make that much difference? It turns out it does. The March of Dimes just did a study in New York and they found that bonding occurred faster if the Mom could dress the baby and the mom did better as a result and so did the baby. It improved the overall outcome. I know this because the NY Chapter of the March of Dimes contacted me about Preemie Tees and they told me about the study. They just proved what I had already witnessed for myself!

I had been a seamstress for 25 years. I had made prom dresses, blessing gowns, baptism dresses, wedding gowns, smocked and heirloom clothes for my children. My girls never wanted me to just make a dress from a pattern. They wanted this sleeve and that bodice and a different skirt. I was constantly remaking patterns into original designs. Brooke's wedding dress is a good example. There is nothing like it. Made from two patterns and part of it I pulled out of thin air. (This is a picture of her with my other two children, Brent and Ashley at Brooke's wedding.) The point is, if I could do this I could certainly make clothes for Elliot and do it better and cheaper. So that is exactly what I did. The patterns had to be simple and they had to go on easily and come off easily, because he couldn't be disturbed and messed with like a regular baby. So...I decided the "fun" of it had to be in the prints and not the designs. Designs...simple. Prints...fun! So I measured him and set out to design the first Elliot's Preemie Tee. I kept all of these measurements. When he grew so did the patterns.

The first set of clothes I brought to him in the NICU caused quite a stir. Everyone wanted to see them and my daughter couldn't wait to tell everyone "Look what my Mom made for Elliot!" All the nurses kept telling me, "You should go into business, there is a real need for preemie clothes that fit." It was fine to do for Elliot, I loved him and it wasn't any work because I was helping my Brookie. Could I really do this all day long, everyday for complete strangers?


With this thought in the back of my mind I made more clothes and changed the designs, perfecting the construction, trying this and seeing how that looked. Elliot didn't care and Brooke loved it. I could make 4 tiny t-shirts out of a 1/4 of a yard of fabric of a cost of about $1.50 each. That is when I got mad! Most people who know me know you never want to make me mad because that is when I get enough fire in my bones that I will actually DO something about it. It was about this time that the medical bills were piling up and Elliot was approaching the $250,000 dollar baby with more to come! How could anyone take advantage of the parents of preemies like that? How could they charge so much for their tiny little clothes that they grow out of in weeks? I had seen gowns for $25 to $30 dollars for these teeny weeny babies. It just wasn't fair!! And it made me mad to think people were taking advantage of people when they were the most vulnerable. That is how Elliot's Preemie Tees was born - cause I got mad!

And I did a lot of research. it took me 6 months to get everything together. The hardest thing was and still remains the fabrics. I decided early on to use knit fabrics exclusively. They are stretchy and have some give to them and they are soft. But the cute ones are hard to find. It is my single hardest task - to find cute fabrics! I also figured out that in the NICU parents lose all ability to make choices. they have no choice over anything in the NICU and for very good reason. But the fact remains it takes away the control leaving poor mommies and daddies feeling helpless. So part of our business model was to give choices back to parents by letting them choose what clothes their babies could wear. Most of what is out there is ugly - let's face it! And the choices are sometimes between ugly and uglier. The best compliment I have ever gotten came by way of a gift card note for a customer, it said:

"A girls is never too young to be concerned about her wardrobe, hope these clothes put you on the cutting edge in the NICU!"

I couldn't have been more thrilled!! This is exactly what I was hoping to achieve with Elliot's Preemie Tees. When a parent comes to our website they will pick a style of clothing and then choose a fabric, then finish it off with their choice of snap colors. With 8 styles, over 30 fabrics and 3 snap colors to choose from the possible combinations are in the thousands! Where else can you get choices like that? So what what we are helping parents to do is to order something that is made for their baby - made to order exclusively for your baby! There is nothing else like it anywhere!! We are, literally, a one-of-a-kind business for preemies.

Our sizes set us apart too. Don't believe me - go take a look for yourself! Preemie sizes are often 1-3 lbs, 4-6 pounds. There is a big difference between 1 pound and 3 pounds! Then to make it worse, most of the variety in preemie clothing starts at 6 pounds. If you have ever had a preemie then you know that 6 pounds is almost full grown and there has been a awful lot of time and NICU stay to get to 6 pounds. If you have to wait to get to 6 pounds to dress your Preemie that is a lot of bonding time, parenting and enjoyment that has been missed. Sadly, most of the retailers just don't get it! But we do! Our sizes are 1-2 lbs, 3-4 lbs, and 5-6 pounds. I found that when I made clothes for Elliot these sizes gave him enough room to grow without being too big and he also could wear them for a good amount of time before he grew out of them. We call this sizing, "Preemie Fit Sizing", because it fits, it is a simple as that.

We have been open for business for a little over a year now. The question remains, could I do this day in and day out for complete strangers? The answer is a resounding YES! First, you are not a stranger to me, you are a fellow traveler on a similar journey and your path is my path. Second, I have yet to make a dime from my business. so your clothes are really a labor of love for me. I do love it! I love making people happy and I love making a difference in their lives. I love getting notes and pictures, it keeps me going. Someday I hope to have a profitable business, I am sure I will, but it is perfectly ok with me the way it is!

I have big plans for Elliot's Preemie Tees! We are designing a NICU dress for little girls and some pants for boys. A diaper cover is in the works too! Some people have asked for smaller sized blankets so we are looking into that too. A big project for the future is a toddler line of preemie clothes. As you know, preemies grow differently than other babies and the clothes never do really fit. Elliot is always losing his pants - some days he crawls or walks right out of them! So we are looking into that too! I don't see us doing this for a few years though unless we get a really BIG investor. If you have an idea or suggestion you would like us to try - let us know. We are here just for you! You are what matters the most to us!