Saturday, June 26, 2010

I finally got off my duff.....




and made up some patterns for a couple of my sewing organizers and caddies. What prompted this was a phone call from a woman with an English accent named Jennifer, who lives not too far away and has run her own business for many years, a pattern and sewing accessory business, selling patterns and items all over the country and she was picked up by Butterick for some of her things. She is the nicest lady and was very generous in her praise and admiration of my work. I've known about her for a long time, I would see her things in local craft malls and at some local shows. I didn't realize she was so nice, though. :)

At the end of our conversation, she commented one more time on my work and said "you know, your work is so good, you could almost be British." lol That really cracked me up, because as some of you know, I'm what some of my friends refer to as a "Half-Brit". My mum was born and raised in London. So, Jennifer and I had a good laugh about that. It was a very enjoyable phone call.

Anyway, she wanted to order some patterns and some finished product, so I finished writing the pattern and had some printed up the other day. Ordered some zip locks and stuffed them this morning and now they are for sale in my Etsy shop. *shameless self-promotion* For now, the sewing tutorial is still available here on the blog for the travel caddy, but I may be taking it down soon as I can probably make some much needed income from selling the pattern. I'm not looking forward to an unhappy email from someone who bought the pattern and then found out she could have made up her own with a little extra trouble and effort and saved the $9. If any of you have any thoughts about that, I'd appreciate hearing them.

And Nosey Parker was SO helpful this morning as I was folding patterns up. She wanted in on the action and had a wash right where I could supervise her supervising of me.

She's so stinkin' cute, we can't hardly stand it. :)

10 comments:

carol said...

Nice to see that you're joining the crowd of stuffing and folding like a mad woman......ugh! Personally, I'd rather be sewing! (And if you sell enough of those, you will too.)

dolores said...

Congrats! I think it is great that you now have your pattern printed up. I was bragging on it the other day...love that bitty trash bin!!:)

Sue Niven said...

Looking good! and congrats on your new friend! Ignore people who say, I could do that! It is easy to say so after the fact. You have used your imagination and have done the hard bit of designing your wares, People who complain should think more clearly, they are not true crafts people. Don't give that woman another thought.

Rafael's Mum said...

Well done printing up the pattern and of course you should sell it! In general my experience on the net is that people first put it on their blog for free with a warning well beforehand of a date it is going to be taken down. Then when the date is there, it is off the blog and for sale in the etsy shop. I do find that most patterns sell around the $5 mark. But your pattern is way more complicated than those so it might warrant the mark up. Good for you ... GO for it!!

(I started to print off the Bunnyhill, Tisket a Tasket monthly pattern but got behind and now it is only for sale... I didn't realize she was going to take it off... I should have printed whilst it was on there straight away!.. )

Lynz said...

You go, Bum-girl!! These are both so worth selling (I haven't seen anything like them pattern-wise) and I hope they're super popular and you struggle to keep up with demand. In a good way, of course. I LOVE my organiser!

Mari said...

Hey Susan, good on you. Making pattern for your sewing organizer! Congratulasions !
Take care and have a creativ week.

WendyLou said...

Woohoo woohoo woohoo for you!!! I hope you sell lots and lots :)

gaylag said...

Yeah Susan!! It is about time!!

yarnivorous said...

First, it is YOUR pattern. You may do what you like with it. Tell people that if they want to download the freebie, do it ASAP as it will be pulled offline as a freebie on X date. Then you can offer it as a pay per pattern.
If people get snippy, they can. It is YOUR pattern.
Anyway, off the soap box with the old news, YAY YOU! You go girl :-)
When I have cash flow again, I'll help out some cos I like your stuff :-)

karen said...

I love my organizer and sewing caddy. They are brilliant!! Congrats on getting the patterns out - I hope lots and lots of people buy it - they are really special.