But....needless to say....those plans went by the wayside. In a good way though. I had a couple of orders for baby blankets and a couple of other small sewing requests.
I do really enjoy choosing fabrics and making up baby blankets - especially ones in 'boy' colours. I can't work out if this is just because I have a range of 'boy' fabrics that I'm happier with, or that I'm better at selecting 'boy' combinations or just that I'm not really that keen on pink! I reckon it's probably a mix of all three. But it has made me realise that I perhaps need to have a look out for some 'girl' fabrics that I really like. What a hard life!
With that in mind I have been looking at Liberty fabrics and if I can settle on 2 or 3 I'm hoping that I can perhaps find them on ebay or somewhere else at slightly lower costs. I need to keep my eyes peeled for a few non-liberty too.
I'm getting to a stage where I really need to think about what I'm doing. At the moment I make the odd thing for friends, lots of birthday presents etc and, as of the last few weeks, I have trickle of folksy orders too.
I have been annoyed at myself for not building a website yet and not actually promoting myself at all (I have a real dread of joining twitter and facebook....which may be something I need to overcome in the future). I'm very aware the my folksy shop is woefully inadequate and out of date and that I don't join in any of their resources and forums etc.
At the moment I don't actually have the time for more work so I'm a bit catch-22. If I make more of an effort with folksy, set-up a website etc then I may well get far more work than I can cope with. Maybe from August when Islay goes to school (although I will still be childminding my niece and nephew two days/week)?
However, if I organised myself differently I might be able to cope with a bit more work just now. I make up baby blankets to order so that the recipient can have a say in the fabrics and often they are personalised with a baby's name too - and each is genuinely unique. But if I made them in advance it would be far more efficient and I'd be able to buy larger amounts of each fabric type too (at the moment I really only buy fat quarters of most....and then panic beacuse I run low quickly, and some of my favourites become unavailable too).
The plans which I keep having to delay are for a new set of kitchen textiles and I could certainly go for a bit more of a production line with them......if I'm brave enough to be sure they'll sell!
Oh, it's a hard life isn't it?! Lots of, very good, stuff to think about and work out.
8 comments:
I'm in the same place really! I really want to concentrate on quilt making this year but I also fancy starting my folksy & etsy shops! My dilemma is what to sell???
It's very difficult to know what's best and how much to take on - also, my continual worry, whether people will like what I do. I have so many ideas it's hard to pin down which ones are the best to go with.
I'd say go for it tho' - what is there to lose?! (need to remember to take my own advice sometimes too!). Juliex
I love all the items you made! I'm in the same boat with the etsy shop I've been half-heartedly keeping up! Oh well!
It's a difficult balance! I'm afraid I didn't realise you had an etsy shop - I'll pop over for a look. Juliex
Hi Julie, I think you just need to go for it, Folksy will only ever bring in a small amount for Textiles, the competition is quite hard plus it isn't all that open to the general public, I asked about at school and no-ones heard of it (not that I think you should leave, F is a great place and nice community). I'd have a play in create.net's free 30 day trial site, you should also consider you might eventually want the £10/month option as it offers stock control which is a must when you have other commitments, you don't have to worry about someone ordering something out of stock and list some 1 only items. It's a pain setting up an on-line shop but great once it's done and easy to maintain. I started mine with only 3 products in different colour ways. Sorry, bit long. Go for it! Bethx
Thanks so much Beth. The tip about create.net sounds well worth following up. I think stock control would be wonderful and a real life saver. Juliex
Hi Julie, just discovered your blog! What lovely things you make. I'm sure they'd sell really well over on etsy. Looking forward to reading more soon :)
Mrs Shilts - Thanks very much! I'll pop over to your blog shortly to say hi! Juliex
Post a Comment