Kidsline--quality problems?

[charigot]

I bought a Kidsline bedding set, only to have to return it because the quilt and bumper had major sewing flaws. It was the Spring Dream set, which is quilt-like, so there are many pieces to be sewn. The problem was that some of them WEREN'T sewn and I didn't see that before I washed them. Those pieces frayed horribly. Thankfully I was able to take it back and get a refund check mailed to me (10-15 days). But now I'm worried about buying ANY Kidsline brand bedding. Anyone have any experience with them? I am 36 weeks today and wanting some bedding for our crib!

Thanks, Jen

[kathsmom]

Jen,

Where did you buy the Kidsline bedding? I was interested in this line of bedding because it is on sale at babycenter.com. In fact, one of the sets I was interested in was a quilt with stars on it (I think it is called Seventh Heaven). The customer reviews for the Kidsline products at babycenter.com have all been positive. That is why I was interested in getting their linens. I do not remember seeing the pattern you were interested in. Did you go with another bedding line? Let me know. I am going baby shopping today, and if I see any Kidsline stuff, I'll look it over and let you know what I think.

Good luck and congratulations!

Toni - mom to Katherine (5/19/96) and baby boy on the way (9/30/02)

[charigot]

Hi Toni,
I bought the set at our local USA Baby store. They said they hadn't seen any problems with the set before mine, so I'm inclined to think that it was just an anomaly. However, I didn't buy the same set again. The sewing (or LACK of it) flaws were in the bumper and the crib skirt. The quilt looked fine. I originally was going to keep the set when I just thought it was a problem in the skirt, but when I found a whole section unsewed in the bumper, I decided not to keep it.

I bought the trike bumper from Pottery Barn (on sale) and Gerber crib sheets (Good Housekeeping rated them highly and Amazon.com sells them for $7.99 each) and I'll be making my own crib skirt from material I'm using for curtains. Also, our local Burlington Coat Factory has the Spring Dream set, too, and I talked with them about it. They said they haven't seen any flaws in them. I was reluctant to buy from them, though, because it's my understanding that even if a set did have a problem, you could only get store credit from them when returning it.

Best of luck. I wouldn't shy away from buying Kidsline bedding if it's what you really want, however I would definitely inspect it all over before you hand your credit card over for it!

Best wishes, Jen (due 8/9 with my first)

[kathsmom]

Hi, Jen!

I just got back from shopping. I went to The Baby's Room, which is a franchise of the USA Baby Stores. I saw a couple of Kidsline bedding sets, but did not have a chance to really check them out (DH and DD were with me and they are not the most patient of shoppers!!). I didn't see any of the sets that I had seen online at babycenter.com. Did you happen to notice if the bumper from the kidsline set had ties at the top and bottom, or just the top? I don't sew and really need to have a bumper with ties on top and bottom.

Be glad that you did not give your money to Burlington Coat Factory. I talked with a sales clerk there and she said that if I was interested in any high dollar items, she would suggest that I go somewhere else where the return policy is more lenient. She said one customer was in the store for 2 hours trying to get her money back on a crib that she ordered from them that came in broken. She did not want another crib or store credit. I think she said that the store finally gave her back her $350.00.

Thanks for letting me know about what other purchases you made for your bedding. I may do what you're doing!!

Best wishes for you and your little one!
Toni

[charigot]

Hi Toni,
The bumper on the Spring Dream Kidsline bedding set DID have ties on the top and bottom, however I noticed that the bumper didn't fit my crib really well--it gapped some in places. The one from Pottery Barn is a better fit (I just have a regular Legacy/Childcraft crib...standard size) and it has the top and bottom ties, too.

Last I checked yesterday, Pottery Barn Kids was still selling that bumper (trikes) for $29 on their sale web pages. I like it because I think it's gender-neutral and very cute:
http://ww1.potterybarnkids.com/cat/pip.cfm?age=BABY&gnd=A&pcat=SALBDB&lst=dSALBDB-ABABY&grp=15793&itm=g15793&src=shpaBABY%7CcSALBDB%7Cp5%2FshpaBABY%7CcSAL%7Cp1 %2Fidx

One thing to note, though, about this bumper is that because it's on sale, it's not returnable. I don't know if they would take it back if it had a defect (they SHOULD!) but anyway, I thought I would point that out. (mine was in perfect condition and I love it, so no reason for me to worry about that.)

You can also get the chambray PBK crib skirts on ebay (new) for fairly cheap. I've seen some go around $15-$20. (I may do this if I run out of time since sewing isn't my forte. I always get so frustrated with it!) Just type in Pottery Barn chambray crib skirt into the search and you'll get some hits for sure. I hesitated on the PBK sheets since Good Housekeeping didn't rate them very highly. I really like the Gerber sheets I bought on amazon.com--they have elastic all the way around and are a very soft knit and are only $8 each and rated highly in that test. I think they only come in "ecru" though. But that's so neutral, I didn't care.

ooo thanks for the info about Burlington Coat Factory. I'm glad I didn't spend money there! They have quite an unreasonable policy. If that had been me returning a broken crib, I would have reported them to the Better Business Bureau!

:) Take care, Jen