About Us
Our Family
Hi! We're the Mei Family and we're so happy you're here. We're a family of five and our children's grandparents all live close to help us manage our home and business.
At Baby Peipei, Kimi designs the peipeis and prepares the blocks and patches. NaiNai pieces the patchwork and binds the peipeis. Zi helps with the website and graphic design. And our oldest son chips in however he can to help keep the business running.
We appreciate your support and business. Thank you!
Baby Peipei's Origin Story
Baijia Bei
In Fall 2020, during the pandemic, our oldest son's preschool wanted him to bring in a clean blanket every day for nap. We asked NaiNai, or paternal grandmother, to make 6 blankets.
She made patchwork blankets out of scrap fabric and told us about the Chinese tradition "Baijia Bei" which translates to "100 Families Quilt" whereby family, friends, and village members give a mom-to-be pieces of fabric so a quilt for Baby can be made.
Decades ago, Kimi made some quilts but never kept up with the hobby. She was admiring NaiNai's craftwomanship when Zi said, "we should sell these."
The Thing about Handmade Heirloom Quilts...
They are not mass-produced by machines but instead made one at a time by a skilled craftsperson.
The high-quality materials ensure that they are made to last.
Therefore, they are highly valued.
So, Kimi wondered: if we were going to sell Baijia Beis, how do we make them by hand with safe, organic materials yet price them so they are accessible to all?
An Idea is Born
Kimi couldn't stop thinking about the Baijia Bei tradition. What a beautiful way to show a mother, a pregnant person, a family, a baby that they are cared for.
But between family and friends living around the globe to the current global pandemic, collecting piece of fabrics for an expectant family is not possible.
We love fusing our Chinese American and white American traditions in our home. How could we fuse together Chinese and American quilting traditions? How could we offer this old tradition to new families? How could the price be accessible?
And then one night as Kimi was about to fall asleep, it hit her:
Crowdfunding.
But not just regular crowdfunding,- a new and innovative, quilt-related form of crowdfunding...
Have people crowdfund a quilt by purchasing the individual patches!
The Answer!
Crowdquilting? Quiltfunding? Kimi wasn't sure what to call it, but regardless the idea is the same: family and friends could crowdfund a handmade heirloom quilt for a baby by purchasing the individual patches.
That's the answer Kimi was looking for! This is how we provide an old tradition in a new way, how we will blend Chinese and American quilting techniques, how we can make $200-$400 heirloom quilts accessible to all villages and babies since people will spend only $5-11 per patch.
We pondered a name and Baby Peipei was born!
What's in a Name?
The character, bei (被) in Baijia Bei means quilt or blanket and is pronounced "pei" in Cantonese.
"Peipei" directly translates as "quilt quilt" or "blanket blanket" but the repeated character makes it baby talk. Therefore, peipei is equivalent to "blankie" or, as we lovingly call them, "lucky wish blankies"
