Appeal of the custom order: Goldilocks

After reviewing items I have listed in my Etsy shop, a repeat customer contacted me about a custom order. At 4.75" W x 3.75" H, my customer thought my mini zippered wallet was too small.

At 5.5" W x 7.5" H, my rectangular mini pack purse with adjustable straps was too big.

So, I made her a wallet/purse that is just right.

The custom hybrid measures 4.25" W x 5.25" H and is constructed of an elegant, slate-blue silk fabric that the customer noticed on another item for sale.

Like my regular rectangular pack purse, my customer's custom purse has:

• A zipper top


• A second exterior zipper pocket on one side


• 100% cotton fabric lining


• A light-weight interfacing that gives it body without being stiff


• Adjustable straps with swivel hooks on both ends

Glasses cases are being discontinued

I have decided to discontinue both sizes of
glasses cases and have lowered my prices on
these products by half. I have dozens of each size.

My larger size (3.5" W x 7" H; 8.9 cm W x 17.8 cm H) accommodates oversized glasses, which are starting to make a comeback (at least as sunglasses). The larger glasses case is now $5.50 (pictured).

My smaller size (2.5" W x 6.25" H; 6.3 cm W x 15.8 cm) are only $5.00.

I plan on creating a new glasses case in the near future.

ReUsable Baggies

Reusable baggies are the same concept as a disposable, much-less-fashionable clear baggie. Reusable baggies have a decorative fabric (100% cotton) on the exterior that help define the user's style or personality. Reusable baggies have a vinyl interior and can be turned inside out and cleaned with a damp cloth or the washing machine (but line dry). Reusable baggies come in various sizes to accommodate sandwiches, fruit, chips, and other snacks.

Projects

I looked back at what I've written about and I see a trend. Mostly I write about things that I have in process, and that I don't seem to get done!

My last entry was about cleaning and re-organizing my sewing room. I did it - sort of. I discovered that I just don't have enough room available to organize it. So I shifted some piles around and called it done. Of course, I've bought more fabric since then (as if I needed any more).

I have my crazy patchwork jacket - it's still hanging on the door of the sewing room - I have beads that I want to put on it - but handsewing anything is not really my favorite thing to do - so it's still hanging there.

I could go on..... Instead I'll write about something that I did complete - a new bag for my mom and a new wallet style!

My mom uses a walker, and so I've made her a couple of bags, but she deserves a new one once in a while - so I dug out this beautiful green fabric and made her a new one. I (imagine!) had forgotten about this fabric - I think the varying shades of green are lovely - and the hearts just make it extra special.




I used the twin needle to quilt it - I really love the effect! I think she will like it too.


So along with the purse, I decided to make her a new wallet - she doesn't have a lot of stuff to put into one - the one she has now is huge - so I decided to try a new style and see how it works.

It's full sized wallet (about 7" wide) and folds in half, with a velcro tab to keep it closed. On the outside, I put a zipper section and a pocket section behind. Inside I did another zipper and pocket section on the bottom, and on the top, I did a row of credit card/id holders (5 pockets) with a pocket behind.

I think I'm pleased with the style - but I should have cut it about 1" longer for folding - and my velcro attachment was a little low on the wallet for the length that I made the tab. I think this is a style that you will see in my etsy shop in the coming weeks.


Here are some pictures!

Outside - foldover tab with velcro closure

Other side of the outside - zippered section with pocket behind.





Inside pictures - completely open - bottom section has zipper and pocket behind - top section has five card slots (credit cards/id, etc) with a pocket behind it also.

I'd love to have feedback on this configuration - feel free to leave me comments!

Hopefully my next post will also be accomplishments also, and not just my procrastination!


Have a good one!

Susan

Time to Clean It Up!

I had a successful show this weekend at the Village Peddler Festival in Kirtland Ohio at the Lake MetroParks Farmpark. This is the third year that I've done the show and it's a great environment, the shoppers are fabulous, the entertainment is good and the food's not bad either!

Right out of the gate, my first sale was a repeat customer. She'd purchased one of my wallets a couple of years ago and was back for another. It was a recurring theme throughout the two-day event, with compliments on previous years' purchases and what new things I had. It really made me feel good about my products.

Last week before the show, I was beginning to get frustrated with the messy condition of my sewing room. I have a fairly good size room - big enough for two eight-foot tables to sit side by side, sewing machine table, ironing board, several storage sections and two wicker chairs for cat snuggling. But the fabric and supply piles have begun to get the better of me.

So here are some pictures BEFORE I start trying to get organized!

This is the doorway into my room. As you can see, there is actually fabric sitting in the hallway going into the room. You can't see it from this picture, but I also have the roman shades that I made for my great-nephew and great-niece that don't fit in their new house - I was going to rework them into something usable, but my niece hasn't provided me with the new measurements.

You can see the tables (there is lots of storage completely full underneath) and you can see the stacks starting on top. These stacks are the ones I was "sort of" working on.

This is the closet - I have the 'recycling' box for the items that I collect to put out when there is enough - I think there's enough now! Also sitting there is the box to my sewing machine - that I bought almost two years ago. I guess I didn't want to get rid of it, but I surely could take it to the basement out of the way!

The closet is jam-packed with fabric, and completely surrounded too! I'm sure there's not room in the closet for all of it, but at least I hope I can get most of it organized a little better!


Finally, here's my helper!



Hopefully, later this week, I will be able to show you pictures of a more organized work environment!

Until then,
Susan

Back to Crazy?

I'm thinking about getting back to my crazy patchwork jacket this week! I still need to find the lining fabric that I want to use - I'm wondering what I have stashed away in my closet - I really don't want to have to go to the store, because that could turn lethal.....

Right now I'm working on some more ReUsable Baggies - right now I'm finishing up some made with frog fabric.

And next I have ladybugs.....

I also bought some music fabric, so I may go back to INSANE and try to make another CD/DVD case like I did a few weeks ago.

All for now!

Susan

From Crazy to Insane

As you may have been reading, I've been working on the crazy patchwork. I put it aside while I finished some other projects.

This weekend my brother was visiting and he had some CD/DVD's for his grandkids, and asked if I happened to have any extra cases for them that he could have. No, I said, but I bet I could make something.

Now that's INSANE!

Because this was Saturday and we were getting together with the family on Sunday.

I finished the project I was working on and decided to give it a whirl. I measured, and contemplated, and write some ideas down. Then I got started.

I decided to start on the one for the boy first, because I had LOTS of fabric left from his roman shades and quilt I made. I wanted it to have a way to stay closed (can you say velcro?) and it needed to hold 12 CD/DVDs. Here is the result:




So it one works - but it was way too thick in the middle and I couldn't actually stitch all the way down. I just did enough at the top and bottom to secure it.

Think, think, think - how to make it better?

First, a better way to secure the middle parts. Also, I didn't consider the folding effect, so the outside 'pages' needed to be longer than the inside ones. Finally, if he tips it upside down, the CDs may fall out.

Then, I had to get into the fabric closet and find a good 'little girl' fabric for the next one. And I don't know exactly how much it's going to take, because I didn't want to work that hard and add the pieces up! Finally after much searching, I remembered this cute pink kitty-cat fabric.

For this one, each 'page' is just 2 sides, and not 4 like the last - and organize it so the opening for the CDs face where it secures. I like the result much better. Tell me what you think?




My brother was excited about it - he said - "there you go, something new you could sell!" Maybe I could, but for the amount of time it took, I would have to charge a small fortune

Anyone have a fortune they want to give me to make these?

Hope you enjoyed my story!
Susan

CRAZY Patchwork Continued....

I got about 2 yards or so of the crazy patchwork compeleted. Here are a couple of pictures:

Because I stitched this to the interfacing, it is only about 22" wide or so. That's about the equivalent of 1 yard of regular fabric.

I plan to make a jacket using this - that was my original thought when I started this project - but I wasnt' really sure until my last blog post and I asked for suggestions.

After completing the crazy patchwork, I decided on a fabric for the base of the jacket, as one year would not be enough for a jacket, and the next step will be to determine the placement of the patchwork on the jacket. I also selected some embellishment items such as beading, lace, ribbon, etc., that I plan to use.

The final piece will be to select the fabric or fabrics for the lining, as I want this to be a professional looking piece.

I've been sidetracked with some other projects for now, so it will be close to the end of August when I get back to this.

So stay tuned.
Susan

I've gone CRAZY!

I started my new project this week. I have this container of fabric scraps, most of which are pieces that are too small for anything that I normally make. I did find some larger pieces of some holiday prints - I'm not quite sure how they ended up there.

Here are some pictures of the container and it's contents:


It's pretty much just a mess of small fabric pieces of all kinds. I hardly throw any scraps away (as you may be able to tell).

So, I take out my craft fuse interfacing and here is what I find:
The cat (Mimi) has been chewing the edge of the interfacing. Yes, folks, my cat is an addict. She is addicted to GLUE. I have to hide the tape from her - she will eat the entire roll. Obviously, she found this even though I tucked it away where I thought she couldn't get to it.

My plan is to take pieces of fabric from my scrap box and make a crazy patch fabric from it. I pin the pieces on the craft fuse, give it a light ironing to adhere some of it, go across each section just with a straight stitch and then the real work begins with stitching around the edges of each fabric piece. I mostly use a zigzag stitch arounds the edges. I will use varying colors of thread - that way I can use up some of the thread colors that I don't use much too.

Here is a picture of a piece I found from the last time I did this. I made fabric bowls from this piece.

What will I make from the new one? Check back to find out!

Have a great day!
Susan

One project completed and now onto the next

I pieced a quilt for my new great-nephew and I've been procrastinating the actual 'quilting' portion - because it's not really my favorite thing to do, and I don't think I'm that good at it. But I forced myself today to finish it. Yeah!


So, now onto the next project. What shall I do?


I've been building up my inventory of my standard items, cell phone cases, zipper wallet/change purses, purses, and I added fabric lanyards to my list of items. Here are some examples:







I have tons of fabric (maybe not literally) and sometimes the hardest part is picking something new from the stash. And I have lots of scraps - so I think I'm going to play around with the scraps. A while back I made some fabric bowls


from scraps that I crazy-quilted and I think I'm going to do some more of the crazy patching. It's kind of fun - and it will reduce my overflowing container of scraps.



So stay tuned to see what I may come up with - it's not up my normal route, and it may be surprising! Better than all of that, it will be fun to do, I hope!



Until next time,

Susan

Mid-Summer Sale

Please check out my etsy shop - I'm having a mid-summer sale. Buy one item get a second item of equal or lesser value for hald price. The discount does not apply to shipping and cannot be applied to previous purchases or special orders.


I've added backpacks to my selection - here are a few samples:







I'm also making lanyards now - although I don't have any listed yet. You can look for a sampling of these in the next couple of weeks.


I'm working on getting my inventory ready for "Art on Fair" in Lancaster, Ohio on August 15, 10am - 7pm.

Hope to see you there!


Susan

Moving my blog....

I'm not the best of bloggers as it is, so having two places just won't work.

Going forward my blog updates will be on my website, and you can check it out here.

Thanks for visiting me here, and I hope you'll check me out in my new location!

Thanks,
Susan

Happy Birthday BOGO Sale

I'm a terrible blogger - I know it. It's been almost a month since I was here. What have I been doing during that time, you ask?

Well, I switched the format of my website - check it out here - http://www.sewdarnsimple.com/index.html. The new format allows me to have a blog there, so I have made a couple of entries there.

And of course, since I was here last, we had Christmas, New Year's and the entire month of January.

My 'regular' job keeps me busy during January, although I did have time to do an art/craft show - you can read about that on my website blog: http://www.sewdarnsimple.com/id72.html.

But today I am writing because my birthday is coming up, and to reward all of you for that, I am having a BOGO (Buy One, Get One half off sale) on my etsy store. For each item you buy at full price, you can get a second item of equal or lesser value for 1/2 price. Shipping charges are not discounted. Refunds will be made through paypal after purchase is complete. This sale runs from now through Midnight EST Monday, February 9. So hurry and check it out. http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5934264

Thanks for reading!

Susan