New Things and Random Musings

Hello All! 

I believe I’ve gotten over my creative rut so to speak and am feeling much more up to muster.  I've two new things since my last post : A butterfly tote bag, and a new style of bag made with the same houndstooth that I used in my skirt and hat from this post.

The butterfly tote is just another, less swashbuckling, more flittery version of my pirate tote.  They are a bit different in size as well.  The butterfly tote is wider and shorter than the pirate tote, and for some reason the hand applique took me  about 2.5 days to finish.  This was probably because I was working on it during my unmotivated/ uninspired slump last week.  However, I really love that was able to free hand draw the shape of the butterfly.  I'm usually pretty bad at that kind of thing, but it really turned out well!  I think it has kind of a punky/goth vibe, with the blacks and hot pinks.  Click here if you want to see the listing on Etsy!

The other thing I made was different style of purse I've tried before, and I think it turned out as well.  I really like the addition of the running stitch across the top of the bag.  It was an after thought, because I ran into an issue of the edge not laying flat even after pressing.  So, I decided to do a simple running stitch across the top for more of a pop.  This bag is also larger than most of the other purse style bags I've made in the past, and I think it really works for this style.  This is also the first time I've worked with piping, which was a pain on the curvy parts.  If you're interested in buying this one, it can be found here.

Now, on to the random musings part of the post:


Still no sales in the Etsy department, but I’ve started looking into the local market.  I’ve found one location that I’ll be scouting out this weekend, to see if its worth my time and money.  It’s large semi outdoor weekly farmer’s market/flea market.  It costs $20 a day for a covered space and is open from 9:00am till 4:00 pm Thursdays to Sundays.  If I decide to do it, I have to figure out what I have that I can  set up with, like tables and display type stuff.  But I have plenty of time to think about that, as I’m no where near ready for it.  I need to build up more stock to make it potentially worthwhile to go.  I’m thinking about making some smaller items, like small purses and zipper coin pouches and small stuffed things like the Happy Goat.  I have an idea for a similar style bunny already in the works.  If anything, it gives me a chance to hand out business cards.

I feel like I need to speed up my sewing process a little as well.  I’m only making about one item per 2-3 days, but it’s hard to find time between teaching, sleeping and marketing/networking to actually work on making things.  

It’s also a little discouraging that people look at my items and comment about how cute they are and how original they are, but I’ve had no purchases, beyond two companion cubes quite a while ago.  I know that a lot of my stuff is fairly unique and doesn’t necessarily have universal appeal, so finding my niche in the market is hard.  I do know that sales have been slim lately, due to the economic state and timing, so I’m hopeful that something will move soon.  I’m also updating my Etsy listings and hope to find a solution to my lighting/picture quality issues soon.  Our apartment gets about 10 minutes of decent sunlight every morning and that’s it.  

But enough of my random musings... Its time to create!  Until next post: Good bye!