Having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit is difficult for a lot of reasons. It especially makes it hard to bond with your newborn. So when a mother of premature-born twins in Chicago was hoping to give her babies something personal for their stay in the NICU, a group from the mother’s church knew just who to contact.
They put in a request to Rachel Hagene, a woman from Nashville, Illinois who creates custom quilts, blankets, and appliqué jackets for infants. Hagene started her company, Montgomery Jane Kids, in January 2020 and has built a following in the time since. She gladly did the custom order for the Chicago mother, and said it’s one of the most meaningful projects she’s ever completed.
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Hagene, 40, has always loved to create, dating to her days at fashion design school at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. But it wasn’t until her daughter—Montgomery Jane, the company’s namesake—was a baby that Hagene decided to pursue making products for infants. Her daughter loved playing with a tag blanket, which is a soft baby blanket that features looped pieces of cloth sewn along the border for babies to play with. Noticing this, Hagene thought other mothers might appreciate having custom blankets made for their babies, too.
She started making quilts, blankets, jean jackets, and more, launching her venture weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She originally wanted to go to craft fairs and events in person, including Vintage Market Days of St. Louis, but the pandemic limited her to online marketing.
“It was challenging at first to get it off the ground, so I had to really rely on Facebook to get my name out there,” Hagene says.
After posting photos of the quilts and blankets she made for her six nieces and nephews, Hagene says business took off. Now, orders are coming in more regularly, leading her to look for studio space rather than simply working from home.
Hagene takes orders through the Montgomery Jane Kids website, and through Facebook. Customers can choose from a variety of themes, including dinosaurs, flowers, animals, construction equipment, sports, boats, and more. Hagene also offers to match quilts and blankets to the colors of a child’s nursery.
Most quilts are priced at $110 and require approximately four to six weeks of lead time, according to the website.
“People typically give them as baby shower gifts or when the baby is born,” Hagene said. “From what I’ve heard, the mothers really love them. A lot of people hang them on their walls in the nursery. I’ve had several do that.”
