Newborns

Two is the perfect number, I think. Good momma!

Fabric Swapping

I joined Sew, Mama, Sew!’s Fabric swap this month. I’ve already received a fat quarter with cute vintage laundry women and rick-rack and buttons. Its a great way to score some fabric you wouldn’t necessarily buy for yourself. I’m sending out this adorable Little Golden Books reproduction fabric. It was TOO CUTE to pass up. Hopefully my swap friends are as nostalgic as I am!

Sewing, meh… Sprouts!

I’ve been in a sewing slump. But on the organic front, things are hopping!

I saved seeds from the peas and beans last year, and Eleanor started them in her window. Its the only sunny window in the house!  How cute are they!

I’ve been inspired to make this petticoat  at the Silly Wagon.  What a neat idea! Happy Tuesday!

Business Update

Free Cards

I got 50 free business cards over at Moo. I’ve been dragging my feet getting these printed since I’ve sunk $300 so far. It costs $6.00 for shipping and they are full photo cards with a bit of advertising on the edge.

Back to the pesky pictures

I’ve decided to photo outside on the fence. I’m going back and re-doing those pictures that I’m not happy with on the hairy set-up in the garage. I don’t like light boxes. I’ve decided why. I think it makes things look like factory made, catalog pieces. I don’t make those, and I don’t want them displayed that way. There. Decision made!

I’m also darkening the corners of the photos, and playing around with color saturation.

Hand Made in Washington?

I went to the tulip festival in Skagit Valley this weekend, and browsed a little gift shop. I found these cool iron candelabra inserts. They go in any kind of bottle. I stuck mine in a beer bottler, until I get a blue one. I could have sworn the hand-written sign said hand-crafted in Washington. But alas, when the price sticker can off, it revealed: “Made in India.” Boo.More tulips and teeth:

Sewing

I’m waiting on another order of linen to make a few “leiderhosen” bags. I am also working on a squarish, medium sized bag.

Weekending

My sister is coming to town this weekend. No sewing. But yay! The tulip festival! I’ll leave you with my favorite rendition of I’m a leavin’ on a jet plane. Three cheers for Peter, Paul & Mary!

New Bag Design: the first is for me!

The day started really great with my wine bag making it to the front page of Etsy and two conversations in the shop. They were my first conversations as a seller, so its a benchmark! We’ll see if the reserved sale actually happens.

Etsy questions

I wasted time searching and searching through Etsy’s How-tos looking for instructions on the specifics of how to do a reserved listing. If its a batch sale, is it better to list the quantity as 1 or the actual quantity? I think I made a mistake and listed 10 of the items. So, I was charged $.20 for each one, and the buyer will have to enter the quantity as 10 ,and there is greater room for error. If I had done 1 (which is a group of 10), and just upped the price to reflect the proper quantity, that probably would have been fine. Not sure if that’s ethical though. So that was a little stressful because I wanted to get it right.

BUT, I will make mistakes.

<Big sigh.>

New Bag Design

I worked hard on a new design today. Lost my temper at my machine and my children. Both were misbehaving. I guess I did too, a little. I’ll be carrying this one around for a while, because I don’t really like the Amy Butler Design I made a few months ago, so I need a replacement. And, of course, the first one always needs design adjustments. I’ll be adjusting the straps to be thinner, and how the blue applique lieder-hosen-looking-thing is attached at the straps. I like the way it falls. The front pockets need to be deeper. (Thanks Naomi, for carrying the inspiration!)

Sweet!

Etsy help? This showed up as a Facebook announcement, but I don’t see where to find anything about it on my Etsy profile. Will I?

Help! Taking pictures that sell

So I need opinions. I photographed a new bag outside on the fence. Which do you prefer? (Not the bag, the picture location.)

To me, the wrinkly sheet drives me crazy and gives an unkempt appearance. Do the pictures seem too dark? I’m worried hanging on a nail outside looks dirty and “homemakey.” Do you know what I mean?

Lightbox

I know how to make a light box, but I’m not sure I want to present my bags that way. If I am to stand out, then I’d love to come up with great pictures without one, since it is a common format on Etsy. Maybe because its the best format?

Can you see how indecisive I am? Give me suggestions!

Links

http://www.etsywiki.com/index.php?title=Photos

Easter Dress Surprise!

Ten-fifteen years ago, I was an avid smocker. I smocked all the time! I sold a few dresses at craft fairs and around town in boutiques, but decided the effort wasn’t worth the income.  I’d rather give them away. I’d say their are 100-150ish dresses and outfits around that I’d smocked for babies or children in my life. And one of those took me by surprise this past month!

My daughter celebrated her sixth birthday and her aunt sent her a package. Inside was money and this beautiful green gingham dress with embroidered daisies. What a gorgeous dress! Looking at it, something tickled my memory.

“Wait a minute! I made this!”

I had totally forgotten. Then, I thought…

“My word! Am I insane? Those daisies must have taken days!”

I can’t remember stitching one of them, but I remember loving the pattern. My sister requested a special dress for her daughter who is six years older than Eleanor, and now Eleanor enjoys it! It was a fun surprise just in time for Easter!

Re-purposed Sweater with Peep

I got lazy and threw Stephen’s orange lambswool sweater in the dryer.  It shrunk. I was inspired by Dana to re-purpose it into a new sweater for Henry. You can find Dana’s tutorial here.

It was an Easter inspired by Dana! I also used her Peep idea to create an applique. Happy Easter, Henry!