Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Brand New Venture

Over the past few years selling on Etsy, I've been contacted several times to see if I sold patterns for the items that I had for sale.

So, today I am releasing my first pattern - for the best selling zipper wallet.





The pattern is written for the smaller size, at some point I will probably update it for the larger size also.  If you sew regularly, then you can probably figure out how to adjust the size for your personal prferences.





I'm also going to offer this as a kit - with the pattern already printed, and including the hardware - zippers, swivel hook and fusible fleece - you would just have to select your fabric.

Look for some additional patterns coming in the next few months.

This is an exciting new venture for me!

Happy Sewing!
Susan




Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year! 2012

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here we are at the beginning of a new year and I'm one of those obsessed people who likes to (pretend to) make goals and objectives for the upcoming year. 

I'm going to admit that I didn't stay up last night to ring in the new year - I was sound asleep before then - although I did stir briefly for the neighborhood fireworks that went off at midnight.

As you may now, I'm cutting back my day job work hours to 20/week, so I have some big plans for Sew Darn Simple this year. 

To start out, I'm going to get back to organizing this room.  I started this project last year - and I did get some new storage and am using it, although not as effectively as I'd like to!  If you follw me on twitter, then you know I started doing some of the organization this weekend - on Friday, I finally got my box of zippers put away.  And yesterday, I cleaned off my cutting table.  Today I'm going to work on my filing - my new shelving has a filing drawer, and I'm going to finally use it!

I'm going to write down sales and financial goals for this year - since I will be working less hours, I plan to use those to increase my advertising and therefore (hopefully) my sales. 

I'm working on identifying potentially new art/craft shows that I want to apply to this year.  I've already applied to one new show, and I have at least two more new ones that I plan to apply to, and hope to get in!

I plan to work on some new products and expand my inventory on some of my best sellers, and I'm in the process of working on patterns that will soon be available in my etsy shop.

Also, I want to expand my blogging - and I'd love some suggestions on what you might like to hear about this year.  I may do some tutorials, always write about my latest projects, maybe some guests??!?!!

Here's to a successful 2012!

Susan