Fabric Care

All of our fabrics are pre-washed using Ecos or Seventh Generation Free and Clear laundry soap and fabric softener. 

Gee Betty Designs garments can generally be washed in cold water and put in the dryer on low. Low temp iron as needed. See individual garment listings for special washing instructions. If you wash garments in warm water, they may shrink unexpectedly. I prefer soaking in OxyClean for tough stains, but you should test any stain removers in an inconspicuous place before using. I soak clothes in BioKleen Bac Out Enzyme cleaner for any funky smells.

If your garment needs ironing, or if it has a tough wrinkle (as natural fibers may get) wash the garment and dry in the dryer until damp. Use a spray bottle with water and a couple tablespoons of white vinegar to spritz the wrinkle. Allow a few minutes for the water to permeate the fibers before ironing. Using an up and down pressing motion, press out the wrinkle. Once the wrinkle is gone, allow the fabric to cool and dry on your ironing board to ensure your press stays.

Gee Betty Designs garments are NOT fire-resistant. Do not use them as pajamas.

The patterns for the Spring/Summer 2017 collection are used with permission from Shwin Designs, GoTo Patterns, and Figgy's. Some have been adapted slightly for my store.

Make It Last

An important part of the slow fashion movement is making clothing last longer. Kids grow out of things fast and they are hard on their clothes. Make it last with mending! Gee Betty mended just about everything that needed it and used her clothes for as long as possible. She even kept buttons from old shirts, resulting in the largest button collection in the world! Ok, not really the largest in the world, but her button collection is now in my possession and I may never need to purchase a button ever again. 

There are so many ways to make clothes last longer, but for kids clothes mending holes in knees and elbows is probably the most important skill. If you have the skills, you can mend clothes invisibly, but it takes some know-how. On the other hand, visible mending has no pre-requisite skills and requires just a scrap of fabric, a needle, thread, and scissors. You can, of course, make an art form of visible mending with fancy stitching, beautiful fabric patches, or basically any other thing you might think of. 

Included with your purchase are small scraps of matching fabric for when your kiddo blasts through the knees of their pants. Please put them to good use when the time comes. 

Hand Me Down

Be sure to find a way for your Gee Betty Designs garments to have a second (or third, or fourth) life. Hand them down to a sibling, cousin, friend, or stranger. Keep in mind that most clothing given to well-known charity shop chains goes straight to the landfill. If your Gee Betty clothes have truly have reached the end of their life, use them as scraps to patch other garments in need. In the past I have shredded scraps and used them to refill a deflated pillow or bean bag chair. Whatever you do, don't send them to the trash bin without getting every last ounce of love out of them.