Sew Wonderful

Santa brought me some fantastic sewing books and a superb sewing machine! I wanted to get a head start on supplies knowing that I would soon have my very own sewing machine so I did some pre-Christmas Etsy purchasing and got this great doll pattern from Dolls and Daydreams.

Then I purchased some adorable fabric from Fabric Shoppe I can't wait for it to arrive so I can start sewing!

Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!

I'm working today and then looking forward to three days off. I know that I have a sewing machine waiting for me under the tree and I'm eagerly awating some adorable fabric to arrive after the holidays so I can start sewing like its 1991 (the last time I sewed anything of substance)

Cheers!

Success by the number

In mid-January my Etsy shop will celebrate one year! It started slowly and I definitely still need a day job but I'm pretty proud of the momentum I was able to gain.

Here is my success in number form:
January: 3 sales
February: 1 sale
March: 2 sales
April: 5 sales
May: 15 sales
June: 9 sales
July: 8 sales
August: 12 sales
September: 9 sales
October: 39 sales
November: 25 sales

In there was a wholesale order for 50 argyle cozies, a bulk order for 45 argyle cozies, and a bulk order for 12 argyle cozies.

Needless to say, I'm running low on stock and looking forward to creating some new designs. I'm also playing with the idea of buying locally sourced hand spun wool and dyeing it myself without harsh chemical dyes. If I could replace commercial yarn with this then I'd be really happy. Just trying to figure out if the added expense of high quality local wool will pay off in terms of sales.

I'm looking forward to what the next year holds and I'll definitely be better prepared for next year's holiday season. This year I was invited to about 6 different local holiday craft shows that I had to turn down because I didn't have enough stock and am trying to work full time in addition to running my etsy shop. I participated in one online holiday craft show but it yielded only a few sales. Honestly, I was just glad to get some more exposure and wasn't looking for a mass amount of sales. This past week I was contacted by RealSimple.com asking me to submit a couple cozies for an upcoming web feature on their site. Sadly, I couldn't get my cozies shipped to New York in time for the deadline and I'm missing out on that opportunity. Either way, I'm super happy with my first year and looking forward to the next one!

Thanks to all who have supported my shop either through browsing or buying or "following" or "hearting". Each and every visitor to my shop has made a difference!