Happy Blogging.... Let the Joy Shine In!

Let's face it, this blog has been a DOWNER for the past few months. I'VE been a downer for the past few months. I had lost my joy. Lost it. The CPSIA was the final straw that put me over the edge. How many times does lightening have to strike for you to realize it is time to get out of that tree!

I've climbed out of the tree. It was hard. Hard to publicly post that I'm closing the shop, hard to put away the Spring designs, hard to look people in the eye at the shop when I'm there and tell them that I won't be after the 31st. Actually, I'm still working on that one.

But it was the right decision. And now I can move forward. I've got big plans in the works for the future (as always!) but for now I'm holding. And by holding, I mean sewing goodies for my house as fast as I can crank them out and working on a basement remodel project complete with a clean and organized laundry room, a beautiful design studio and a workshop for the Mr. That's how I rest. And it feels SO good.

Here's one of the first completed projects. This is an 18" pillow made from on of my favorite prints from Amy Butler's Temple Flowers line circa 2003. I've free-quilted the front with a batting layer in between the front and a white cotton lining. It has a zipper closure for washing and is stuffed with a down insert that I picked up at Goodwill for $3. It had a horrible cover on it of course. The backing is a nice fine whale corduroy on the back for durability.



You can sort of see the free quilting in this photo. I stipple quilted in the open spaces and then followed the form of the leaves and roses.

 

Now these pictures aren't as beautiful.... these are the ceiling tiles I'm ripping out of the basement.

 

After that I get to remove the concrete over wood lathe false ceiling underneath. THAT's going to be nasty. But completely worth it!

 

Poisoned by CPSIA

Worried about lead poisoning in your children's library books? No? Good! You shouldn't be. Worried about lead poisoning in your handmade Kung Fu Bambini couture? No? Good! You shouldn't be. Worried about lead poisoning in the law? Well, you might want to think long and hard on that one. The CPSIA is poison, a much more damaging poison than you could ever find in a single garment that ever came from my hands. The CPSIA has put me and countless others out of business and your local school library might be next.

YOU NEED TO KNOW: Taken directly from a statement issued by the American Library Association on January 22nd, 2009.
"Under the current opinion issued by the General Counsel of the CPSC, the law would apply to books for children under the age of 12; therefore, public, school, academic and museum libraries would be required to either remove all their children’s books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities as of February 10."

Proponents of this law need to swallow their pride and realize that it was poorly written and that putting all of the power in the hands of two overwhelmed, unelected officials is mind boggling. I am ALL FOR lead testing in products that necessitate it, but books? handmade cotton apparel? wooden toys? It is absurd. And their lack of guidance or action is shameful and irresponsible. With every passing day more and more damage is done to the economy, businesses and families.

So, as I briefly mentioned before, I am closing due to the CPSIA. It is official, Violet [handmade boutique] will be closing as of January 31, 2009 and I will not sell any children's items past February 9th, 2009 until after this fiasco is straightened out, IF it is ever straightened out.

Facts:

After February 9th, 2009 it is illegal for me to sell children's products that have not been tested for lead. GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT! I do not have the investment capital to become compliant. It is not even financially feasible to sustain a business and test as much as is necessary for CPSIA compliance.

I have been asked why I am not waiting it out longer.. a large amount of my income comes from wholesale orders from stores other than my own. Although I scaled back greatly in the last year, the wholesale orders are still the bread and butter of my income. The CPSIA attacked a market segment of boutiques that were already adjusting to a devastating economy and then to be hit with CPSIA legislation at their weakest time has caused them to stop buying almost at once. Even products that are completely compliant have taken major sales hits because retail stores are scared.

And who can blame them? With absolutely no guidance from the CPSC and nothing but fear being projected onto them by trade magazines such as Earnshaw's (who should be ASHAMED of themselves), our Spring wholesale orders were almost entirely canceled. I had to stop production immediately. That Spring line would have been beautiful too! I think it is my best design work yet and it is all worthless now. All the time and energy to design the entire line, source the fabrics, trims and dyes, sketch, design and size grade the patterns, all of it completely worthless. And the CPSIA could care less about me and thousands of other businesses that never harmed or would have harmed anyone.

The CPSIA has put me out of business. Exit stage left.

What YOU can do. Read this article and this article and then call Henry Waxman. The US Government still operates by phone. Call, call, and call again. Tell him the deadline needs to be extended. Tell him how devastating this will be to libraries and children. Tell him to call a Committee meeting. It is really our only hope.

Henry A. Waxman
California-30th, Democrat
2204 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0530
Phone: (202) 225-3976

What does the CPSIA mean to YOU?

I am livid. I haven't posted in weeks about this issue because honestly, I can't contain my anger and emotions enough to get a decent thought out. But today I have to do this, NOT because the CPSIA means many things for myself and my family including the possible complete closure of kung fu bambini and Violet Handmade Boutique, but because it means SO MUCH MORE for our children and their future. BOOKS, people, if nothing else lights a fire under your booties, BOOKS ARE BANNED the way this legislation reads right now.

"... require public, school, academic and museum libraries to either remove all their books or ban all children under 12 from visiting the facilities, beginning on February 10."

Did you read that? Read it again.

You don't believe me? Think this HAS to be an internet scam? Somehow it is real. It has been my nightmare for several weeks now as I combed through the legislation and the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) interpretations and found that my line, kung fu bambini, is in fact considered a HAZARDOUS GOOD after February 10th unless I do testing that would amount in the thousands of dollars.

HAZARDOUS GOOD until proven otherwise.

I will get to my story in another post. For now, I just want you to know about this law. I want you to know how far reaching it is and I want you to be mad. IRATE in fact. That our lawmakers see fit to "protect" my child from lead by banning ALL things EVER made for them until proven innocent is a travesty to say the least. It should be said that their intention was good, but the solution is disastrous.

Straight from the ALA (American Library Association):
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

Get started with that and I'll be doing a facts and links post and then a personal post about why kung fu bambini and Violet will most likely be closing before February 10th.

I hope to be able to control my anger and emotion while providing you with just the facts.



Humble beginnings.... one of the very first kung fu bambini outfits complete with headscarf, matching receiving blanket and one orange squirming bundle of Mia inspiration. At that early time in 2002 the line was called Kungfugrrl by Mommy & Mia.