About Us & Our Mission
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Hey there! Welcome to our little part of the internet. If you've come from Instagram, thanks for finding us through that amazing app, it has changed our lives.
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My name is Carrie and I am the vision behind this brand. I started Sweet As April in our dining room in the spring of 2016. It was meant to be a blog, a place where I could share everything I was learning about being a mother, an artist, a maker and a woman who felt as though she had just lost her way. On that afternoon when I stitched my first bonnet I wasn't planning on selling them. Leia (our youngest) needed a sunbonnet, we had very little money, I had some of my childhood bedsheets, scissors, a knowledge of sewing SO voila, I made a sunbonnet for our camping trip. It was our first time camping with our kids and we took the long weekend away to make a huge decision, I was just about to walk away from my business I had worked so hard for. I was going to close my art gallery/gift shop of 7 years to stay home with our 3-year-old son, Elliot, who was newly diagnosed with autism. I adore him, my first born, he came to me in April of 2013 and nothing will ever be as sweet as that. Sweet As April.
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What happened after that was kind of a whirlwind. I started posting to our Instagram feed and people were interested in these bonnets I was making from preloved materials. I did my first before and after using a corduroy jumpsuit. The response was amazing and it propelled me forward, I wanted to see how many textiles we could save from waste #onebonnetatatime. With the help of other talented mothers that I met on IG, my business started to grow. I would send them bonnets for their babies, they'd post photos to their feed and people were starting to see my creations. Now, in 2020, a little over 3 years since we have made this our full-time job, we've sold over 10k bonnets, sent them out into this world, each one consisting of some part of an upcycled material. Whether it's curtains, a men's shirt, donated fabric, vintage linens or clothes from my own closet, our mission to battle this world of fast fashion is a huge part of our business.
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I don't do it alone though. Arleen, who has been in my life since I was very little, cuts and sews all of the bonnets. She is the most amazing seamstress I have ever known and her ability to maximize the amount of fabric she is given is what makes these bonnets what they are. My mother, Christine, is our expert trim maker and trimmer. She is also the finder of all the amazing embroidery used to make our embroidered bonnets. Without her amazing eye for vintage linens, our coveted embroidered bonnets would not be a part of each release. Now for me, I am the voice of this brand, the marketer, the photographer and I design all of the bonnets. I thrift shop weekly, pour through donations and dream up these designs (that honestly make me giddy when I see them come together!) My husband, Marc, is the Mr. Mom who minds our children, does all the accounting, ties the bonnets, illustrates the unique monthly bonnet critter card you get with your purchase and makes sure I actually eat during the day (I survive on coffee)
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So, if you're browsing our Instagram feed and see a bonnet you love, know that it was most likely 1-10 of a kind and won't ever be restocked. There are times when I do find the fabric again, but when working with preloved, vintage and donated materials I probably won't be able to design that same bonnet. But, with that being said, we release weekly with close to 150 bonnets each release. We do a preview on Mondays, the preview of the bonnets linings are shown that morning on Instagram so be sure to follow us there. We all work so hard to create beautiful designs. They change weekly so if you don't see something you love now I am sure at our next release there will be something you'll fall in love with.
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I love what I do, I love Instagram (you can follow our personal life here) and I love styling Leia in all the handmade talent that is abundant in that online community (you can see her outfits here) I feel so blessed by the response, the growth and the following we have, it's a community all its own. We would not be here without the love and support of our customers, so many have become close friends.
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If you ever have any questions be sure to email us at hello (at) sweetasapril.com. I'm a one lady show when it comes to running the business online so please be patient with me. Sometimes DMing me on IG is the fastest way to get in touch with, I am always over there. The green banner at the top of our home page has the next release info, we also have a FAQs page but your best bet though is to follow us on IG. I update daily about what's happening with our lives and our business (sometimes special releases, too!) We also have a newsletter that I send out once/twice a week.
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As always, love and bonnets, guys. I cannot wait to design these hats for your babies, this business is a dream come true.
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