Dolls and Daydreams

During their Black Friday sale, I ordered several patterns from Dolls and Daydreams.

Dolls and Daydreams specialize in Fun & Easy Step by Step Photo Tutorial Patterns so that even a beginner sewer will be able to make Dolls, Softies and Doll Clothes just like mine on a Sewing or Embroidery Machine!

 You can either get a regular sewing pattern or a pattern files specifically to be used in an embroidery machine.

I wasn't sure which to try first.  While I'm sure I probably could easily manage a sewing pattern, for some reason I bought all machine embroidery files which at first glance look complicated as all heck.

Each pattern comes as a digital download including files and an instruction PDF.  I read over the PDF of the patterns I purchased a few times before I decided to make the Reindeer first.

This is an ITH (In The Hoop) embroidery project, meaning the whole thing is made with the embroidery machine.  I sat down to find fabrics for it and realized I had almost no Christmas prints, so we pulled together a little something shabby chic.  I used regular quilting cotton as the body instead of a fleece or a minky and it turned out great.  I still just need to sew up her little body and find her a ribbon for her neck.

 In all, it took me about 30 minutes of work.  I had to stop a few times to reread the instructions, but not counting that, it was a very quick project.  I don't have much felt on hand to have coordinated the antlers better, but I think it looks pretty cute!

Scrundies

The name makes me cringe!  I'm not sure why...

Scrundies, or Scrundlewear, are the creation of Stitch Upon a Time.  They are an all-in-one pattern for undies that are supposed to be super comfortable and easy to sew.

Sewing underwear has never been easier! With the guidance of this pattern, you can sew a drawer full of undies in just a day! The different shapes of the undies suit most body types and there are different styles for your comfort. After wearing a pair of Scrundlewear, you won’t want a store bought pair ever again. The wide band option is so comfortable, you can barely tell you’re wearing them. This pattern is also great for making swimming suit bottoms.

I thought, well hey, ok.  Let's give this a go!  I recently found a serger at the local thrift store that was in super great shape, so I figured I was good to go!

I went back and forth with the sizes and ended up cutting out a large, which in hindsight I should have really guessed was too big.  The pieces looked HUGE when I cut them and the fabric you use is a knit, so it stretches, so.  That was a total common sense fail on my part.  I also didn't have the right contrast fabric, I used a wonky poly ribbing that NOW I understand wasn't right for the project.  User error aside?  I really do love this pattern!

The serger itself has a bit of a learning curve, but the pattern is well drafted and very easy to follow.  The actual Scrundies are comfortable, but the waist is floppy and the bum saggy 😝  Both are an easy fix for the next pair I attempt!

I cut the boyshorts, which are a nice fit for me, they tend to be more 'cheeky' or European fit than an American panty is.  Beginning to end it took me about half an hour which surprised me.  The zig zag topstitch actually took the longest!

Rest assured, Ill report back as soon as I make another pair!

Spoonflower

Not too long ago I ordered a pattern from Sprout, which I plan on posting about soon.  But after it arrived I placed an order with it's companion site, Spoonflower.  They were having a buy one, get one half off sale on FQs so I randomly selected a bunch I liked.

Spoonflower is a really awesome concept.  They offer custom fabric printing.  Basically you can chose any design on the site (or design and upload your own!) and have it printed on one of 20 different fabrics from wovens to knits to fleeces and canvas.

I ordered some designs already available on the site, but I did upload one of my own to give it a test and I'll follow up with that, later!

It takes a while for your order to process, which is understandable.  Each design needs to be print on each separate fabric you ordered.  It seems daunting, but my order arrived in about three weeks, all the way here.  I ordered on 7 November, it shipped on 17 November, and arrived yesterday 28 November (which is a little longer shipping wise than usual, but it's the holidays).   The prices are a little on the high side, but considering you're ordering 100% custom fabric it's well worth it.

The site is ridiculously inspiring.  There are so many prints to chose from, but also panels!  There are some amazing designers who create single FQ panels of ornaments and stocking and plushies and coin purses and little dolls!  I ordered this little doll to make for Christmas.

These are some other panels they have!

🐙 Before my order even shipped I went back and ordered a full yard of the one dark octopus fabric because I have something curious in mind for it.

Another amazing thing is that there is a coordinating line of fabrics that match some Urban Threads embroidery design!

Also included was a swatch of another fabric type, which I thought was really very handy as I am still new to all the different sorts!

They recently had a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale (💥it's been extended through today!!!💥) as well and I ordered four more full yards of fabrics in various prints and bases, including knit and satin!  I'm so excited.

Lace Snowflakes

I recently discovered I could embroidery lace.  At first, I just couldn't wrap my head around how it worked!  I've done a few designs now and it makes perfect sense... mostly.  I ran across this on the Urban Threads site and figured I'd give it a go!

Here is a video from my IG, it shows the foundation stitches of a snowflake.  It's embroidered on wash-away film that smells just like what it probably is, a film of dried glue!

This is the result, the final snowflake still in the hoop.

The film is clear, it's just sitting on my white worktop.  I used a bit darker of a blue as my background then in the sample, but I'm very happy with it.

I searched around Etsy and ended up finding another pattern that I liked, too.  It's designed with little spaces for crystals, and while I don't have any, I think it still looks great!

I embroidered them both with just poly embroidery thread from ARC, with the same thread in the bobbin.  I used Rinse Away from Sulky and once they were stitched out, just trimmed the stabalizer close and then let them soak in some water until they were 'free'. 

They're a lovely weight, not flimsy at all, and while I did buy some starch to spray them with to stiffen them up to hang as ornaments, I don't think I need to use it!

I have a few other lace designs I hope to try over the next couple of days.  They are time consuming to stitch, although really all there is to do is watch the machine.  They just take longer than average to complete!

Experidery

I did some experimental embroidery over the weekend.  It's obvious I'm going to need to invest in some sore of program to resize, etc, some designs.  I have a pretty basic machine that will go up to 5x7, but there are a lot of designs I actually want a little smaller than 4x4 which is the smallest design most companies make.

See that dot there under the right thumb?  That's supposed to be the top center of my design, but by the time I got it hooped and pulled tight I was so off!  I'll need to practice more to be able to align more complicated designs.

This is a little better, but you can see here how this design would work better if it was a bit smaller!  It sort of folds over the end of the flap and ends up around the back.

All in due time.

Ruffled Wristlet

Scrolling through my IG feed (are you seeing a pattern here?) I noticed the Ruffled Wristlet pattern posted by @cpeicheff  aka Carla's Creations.

The pattern is available on Craftsy, which is an awesome site to find, purchase, and easily download a lot of different patterns.

It was pretty cute and looked like a great way to experiment with some of the bigger scraps I have hanging around.

The pattern doesn't come with any 'pieces', that is, it's simply the directions for cutting and sewing, which I wasn't sure about.  Turns out now that I have the pattern memorized, it's great not to have to fuss with pattern pieces, I can cut sit and cut scraps with a ruler and rotary cutter.

I used gray metallic Essex Linen as the base and the ruffled accent is from the Holiday Traditions collection from Henry Glass.  It's actually gray, too, but for some reason looks blue!

So far I've made 5 of them, I have a couple more cut out, just waiting.  I snagged these pictures from my IG.

Some of my ruffled pieces are a little shorter than the 20 inches the pattern calls for, but I find this doesn't make too much of a difference.  They are rather easy to sew, no fancy seams, darts, or anything so it would be good for a beginner, the only tricky part is the gathering, but it's simple to master.

I have posted a couple of questions to the designer under her IG pictures, but they were never answered.  She seems to only comment a select few people, which I suppose is understandable and I was able to work out the answers myself so it's nothing too complicated.

Near and Deer

I've really been enjoying my embroidery machine!  I had originally got it on a whim, with the idea of launching a second business, which while still an option, isn't going to happen any time soon.

Rambling around IG I ran across a company called Urban Threads which creates 'alternative' themed embroidery art and designs that are perfectly amazing.

They recently had a 'buy one, get one half off' sale and I admit to going overboard.  One of the designs I purchased was this gorgeous deer.

I wasn't sure what I would do with it, it was just pretty.  I ended up pairing it with some rustic cotton prints that I wouldn't normally use in this 241 Tote from Noodlehead.

 I embroidered on Flax Essex Linen in a brown variegated thread from Aurafil (4671) and accented with cotton prints from the Moose Lodge collection by Henry Glass.

 The pattern is for an Advanced Beginner/Intermediate sewer, which I didn't realize until I brought the link over just now.  I managed it quite well!  The curved inset pockets fit in beautifully with no puckers or issues!

The most challenging part was lining up the design.  I embroidered it on a piece of linen and then traced the pattern out flat and then fussed with it to get it placed on the front like I wanted.  It's not quite centered horizontally because the antlers make it quite tall.

Overall I am very pleased with it!  It's not my usual style, but it's very cute.

The Maths

I did a little maths on the way home last night.  I had a two hour flight and little else do to but sit there.

I considered myself even on 15 September, which was my one year anniversary.  Any start up costs, fees, licenses, supplies, etc etc would have been paid for and I was working on zero debt.

Soon after I had to replace a missing supply order (jars, etc) costing about $250us, and then had to refund/replace two missing orders.  I could have simply refunded them and not replaced the items, but I do pride myself on my excellent customer service.  So I was out double the cost of those orders which was about $160us.  Then an order of butters arrived in poor condition (about a month overdue), so I estimated a loss there of about $50us.

So soon into my second year I was down about $460us.

For the next month and a half I had a total of 62 orders.  After the above loss,  Etsy fees, costs, etc etc, I estimated I made about $2us an hour, working an average 40 hour work week.  Now, I put in more than 8 hours a day and often work weekends, but I was going to stick to more traditional numbers.

Yes, I am making a profit, but no.  I cannot say at this time it's worth it.

I wasn't sure what the numbers would work out to, and I sort of regret pulling things apart like this.  It's not really about how much I can make, but the fact that I love doing what I do.  But, it's turning out to be costing me and my family too much, too much time away for what?

So again, this isn't goodbye!  Just... a pause until I can work things out.  Find a little bit better of a balance!

Hiatus

I hadn't expected to be as successful as I am!  I'm not complaining, far from it!  Simply admitting I wasn't prepared.

I thought I was!  But circumstances have proven otherwise.

Etsy as a platform isn't working for me.  While it's great as a start, it's been a mess the last few months with new changes and 'search' rules.  I hope to be able to research and find an independent host and payment processor that's affordable.  Simply finding me on the site was hit or miss, which was fine, I drive enough of my own traffic and promote outside of Etsy well enough.  But they started doing things like... turning 'off' my shop.  Views would drop drastically, sort of out of proportion with my averages.  Just for a day or two.  Ok, so that's great!  It would give me time to catch up on existing orders!  But, that still doesn't sit right with me.  Couple that with the fact that the more you sell and the higher your prices, the more they charge you per sale.  If you know the fees, you know what your bills will be, but.  Still.  It's several hundreds of dollars out of hand. 

Even knowing this and taking that into account, I just am not charging enough to make enough of a profit.  I cannot keep my prices in line with my philosophy, so to speak.  I only use the best butters and oils I can find, and they're already pricey. I cannot 'shop' around for supplies.  I have one company that will ship here more or less safely. I lost a supply order over the summer to the USPS that was several hundreds of dollars and then had to replace it on my own, so I found myself running at a loss.  During that time, I also lost a couple other inbound packages, but more over, several OUTBOUND packages have been lost.  I replace or refund as soon as I can, but.  Again, that period over the summer cost me about $500 out of pocket.  As I type, I am not on 'good terms' with the PO as I've just processed a refund for another 'lost' package.

I work out of a separate space, which is my studio.  Our home has something called a 'dependency', which is basically a mother-in-law suite, or a separate little apartment on the bottom floor.  It's inspected and certified so that I can legally and safely produce and run a business out of it.  There were some issues in the city with the power the last few weeks and one afternoon the power simply 'popped' in there and smoke started filling the space.  A lot of my stock was damaged and a lot of my supplies have this burned smell.  I have to wait to hear what the electrician says, but having the little space rewired will not be cheap.  So for now, my studio is literally out of order.

I'm currently on vacation, more or less, up visiting and taking care of some issues with my mum and enjoying every second!  But when I get home, it will take several months to build up and budget to be able to decide if I can afford to reopen and how to proceed.

This is not good-bye!  Not at all.  I'm going to take the time to refine and fine tune.  To relax!  To work on other things and focus on my family and myself some.

I hope that I can blog more dedicatedly, now that I'm not working 8-10 hour days on top of running the house and parenting my little one.

I hope you'll stick around!

Housekeeping

I spent a couple of hours this morning doing some shop housekeeping.  One of the things I've always had the most trouble with is perfecting my branding and my labels. 

Two things have been consistent; my fonts and my colour scheme.

I've gone through and redone my logos and images to make them more crisp.  Although I did pay someone to professionally design my header and business cards, they're a little tooo fussy for me and I've been resisting changing them because I paid for the work!

Now, both of my shops have the same running 'theme' and crisp easy feel and I'm much more comfortable with them!

Although I love my shop name, Glitter and Gratitude, I know it doesn't really express what's in my shop, which is why I've been moving towards using GG Apothecary.

Which actually works a lot neater on my product labels.

My sewing shop will follow the same feel with a little heavier of a font to make using it on fabric labels and embroidery a little easier.

My Sewing Story

I get asked a lot why I started sewing!  I hadn't really posted much about it until recently, so I thought I'd write a little about it.

I actually started sewing when I was younger, but it was always by hand.  My mum was big into crafting and she always got me these little kits where you would get precut felt with embroidery floss and things like sequins to make little dolls or ornaments.  Sort of like this.

I took a 'life skills' class in school that was basically a 'woman's work' class that taught sewing for a good portion and really got familiar with an actual machine.  It was nothing fancy, something called an industrial machine (?) with no bells or whistles, but it was fun!

Then a few years ago one of my aunties gave me a really nice Singer sewing machine.  It was hers, but she upgraded herself.  She's a seamstress who makes her own rather lovely linens and table decorations.  I also have an uncle who is a tailor in a little shop in the city.  She tried to give me lessons, but I honest to God sewed through my finger once and she left me to figure it out on my own.

I've been sewing little things on and off.  Hemming pants, fixing seams.  Making little dresses.  But it wasn't until I really started collecting handbags that I wanted to actually SEW.  I love the crazy styles from Desigual and just really started looking around at what was out there.  I discovered a big community of sewists who make their own crazy and beautiful handbags and then discovered a company that sold really simple to follow patterns for very reasonable prices.

I'm not sure where this is going to lead me, but I have a very basic map sketched out as to where I want to go!

It's such a Monday!

Today has been hectic.  I was up early to get Mia off to school and then managed to fall back asleep on the couch with the cats neatly tucked in around me.  Oops.

I hustled up and ran my errands and then sat to work on SEO and trim up some soap before I took some product shots.  Only!  Only to realize that my camera settings were wonky and I'll have to sit and edit the pics when I list them!

My supply order is still lost out there someplace, which has me concerned.  In the last few months a couple of the companies I relied on no longer ship overseas.  Some of my ingredients are sourced locally, but I do have to order a great deal of my bottling and packaging supplies!

On the 15th I hope to post 6 new bar soap and restock 3 best sellers.  I'll have two new Yoni products, two new face creams, several new hand creams, two new botanical soaps, as well as a new face scrub and hair condtioner!

My new shop, Sew Gratitude, should be launching in about a month and a half, I'm not certain yet!  Working up stock and refining my products and marketing is taking some time.

Anniversary Restock

My Anniversary Restock is coming up this 15th September.  It's hard to believe that I've been open a full year, I'm still learning so much.

Since I first launched I've added so many new products to my line, redesigned labels a couple of times, and had so many requests for custom products.

This restock won't be incredibly massive, but will feature restocks of several best selling soaps and lotions, the return of my incredible PSL, two new Yoni products, and several new facial care items.  I'm also considering another label work over, but we'll see how much time I have!

Friday Favs!

Things I've been loving this week, in no particular order!

🌲 White Pine Rising's Plant Butter
I use this several times a day, every day.  Every day.  It's my go to eye cream, perfect for overnight.  It's a great face cream, a wonderful body lotion, and worked wonders on my worn and battered London feet.  I like mind custom blended with geranium and patchouli.

Chaga Mushroom and Green Tea are both highly anti-oxidant, help regenerate damaged tissue, slow down aging, and have anti-inflammatory properties. Calendula has been perpetually used as a very effective treatment for numerous skin ailments ranging from wounds to rashes.

✂ Swoon Patterns
I think you'll hear about these a lot, but it's the catalyst that's gotten me interested in sewing.  She has a lot of free patterns on her main site, but also has an Etsy shop, which is how I found her.  The patterns are on the simple side and while I can't always understand the directions (they're sort of vague or aimed at people who know how to sew already), there is a thriving online community that's open and helpful!

👄 3ina Cosmetics
3ina, pronounced Mina, is a Spanish cosmetics line that at first glance it similar to Kiko. I think it's a couple steps up quality wise, and considering Kiko is amazing, Mina is extraordinary.  I got a couple polishes, a shadow, a gel base, and a lipstick and I've been wearing them almost nonstop.  I can't wait for my next trip to go back for more.  In particular I've been loving the Chubby Lipstick, which I have in 102.

Midweek Wonderings

✏ We went back-to-school this week and I'm dealing with a new bus schedule that's very out of wack from what we've been used to.  I've also had to make several trips back and forth to the school for this form or that meeting.  It's had me thrown off.

✂ I did finish up a new bag yesterday, the Ramona mini-hipster from Swoon. It's for Mia so I used some really cute Halloween prints.  I hope to get through a few Halloween projects.

🌺 I'm steadily working on my Anniversary Restock this 15 September.  It's my official one year anniversary and I already have almost 18 new items ready to go.

🐘 I guess my other big news is that I've created my new shop.  Sew Gratitude will be for my bags, wallets, pouches, and malas.  I still have a lot of set up to do, but I'm aiming for a 15 October launch.

Open Wide!

We did some back-to-school shopping before our Ferragosto trip to London.  How we did it, I have no idea, but we managed to forget to get a pencil case.  While we were gone I got a big order or fabrics in and going through it Mia discovered a chunk of Stitch print Disney fabric and we decided that I'd make her a bag out of that.

I used this pattern from Noodlehead.

It was very well written and easy for me to follow and very easy to make.  I did have to redraft the actual size and shape of the bag from a pouch into a long squat case, but I do a lot of math and calculations with GGApothecary so I was surprised how easy it was for me to visualize the new dimensions.

I used a light interfacing on the lining and a stiffer one on the outside panels to give it some body.  I will have to make and add a zipper pull for little hands so it's easier to open and close.

Overall, though, I love this project and plan to make more!

• Fabric from fabric.com
• Zippers from Zip It