Closing in on 5,000 Sales!

Sometime next week my little boutique design shop is going to close its 5,000th sale. I really had no idea when I made my first sale on July 17th, 2008, with this Coffee Cozy that I was launching a business that would eventually allow me to quit working for the man and stay home with my children. Honestly, I was just trying to feed my creative fire.

 My pictures were blurry and I managed to capture my  neighbors ugly fence in the background, but I must have done something right. I still think that even great pictures won’t sell items that aren’t cute, but really cute items sell themselves, even when the photographer is a house mom who’s had too much coffee.

The next week I was really a little freaked out when I had 8 sales in one day of various items including a fleece ball, a wonky ball, and a pillow case dress.

 I had a lull in sales for a couple of months, and then I started making various designs of Monster Butts. I still think the Monster Butts are super cute! 

Again, the picture! Did I really want to sell anything?

In 2009 I was selling at Farmer’s Markets and had not spent a lot of time on Etsy. I did make some hats for a fundraiser, and the Monster Butts and their variations were selling sporadically.

Then in November, 2010, I sold my first cowl neck warmer circle scarf. At the time, had you told me this was only the first scarf of thousands that I would sell, I would never have believed you.

 The first scarf, cowl, or whatever you want to call it that I ever sold on Etsy. Notice my pictures were getting better. 

The scarfs began to sell regularly. At the time I was scalloping the edges on the majority of them. I later discovered that this technique was hard on a sewing machine and was better suited for an overlocking machine. This discovery was too late though to save my Husqvarna Viking 750, on which I made hundreds of these scarves.

My 500th sale came in the summer of 2011 with this infinity scarf in gray with scalloped edges. My husband is to this day adamant that this scalloping makes the prettiest scarves.

The problem with the design is that it requires some pulling on the fabric to get the edges to curl, which means that the needle also gets pulled. Pulling the fabric and the needle is hard on a machine, and as I mentioned earlier, it about killed my Husqvarna. Unfortunately, it began to die going into the holiday season of 2011, and for several weeks I really thought I would have to close my Etsy store.

With adversity and challenge comes new opportunity and the chance for success, and so it was to be with my sewing machine. The impending death of my favorite machine lead to the subsequent purchase of my workhorse, the Singer 20u 109. I bought it at the end of the Christmas rush of 2011. It was the purchase of this new machine that opened up a whole new avenue for both my creativity and my sales.

The learning curve was steep. The singer 20u 109 is not gentle. It is not quiet. It will ram a number 16 needle through your pointer finger 4 or 5 times before you can get your finger out of the way. There are no auto-settings. There is nothing digital about the machine. It doesn’t make fancy stitches. It will however sew through several layers of just about whatever fabric you put in it, and it will do it very, very fast.

My creative juices went crazy when I began to grasp just what I could do with my new machine. After some experimentation with decorator weight cotton canvas, I unveiled my first new design: The Extra Large Beach Tote in Chevron. It was an instant hit. I sold 8 of them the first month they were available.

That was February 2012. From then until the end of October was a complete blur of bags and scarves. My Singer 20u 109 was constantly getting out of time to the extent that my poor husband pretty much became an expert at repairing it. I would find out almost a year later that the hook assembly had come damaged from the factory.

Everything was too much. I was completely overwhelmed. So I quit my “real job.” It was a big deal. I didn’t want to let my family down, but I really believed I could do this, that I could make this little business work, and be able to stay home with my children at the same time.

And so here I am almost a year later closing in on my 5,000th sale. Will the big sale be a scarf or a bag? Will it be one of my new designs, like this All Purpose City Tote? My husband would be excited if it was the really hip camouflage two-sided scarf that he designed. Hint hint, ladies :) One thing you can be sure of is that no matter what the item is, I loved making it! One thing I will not compromise on is that I must continue making things that I love to make.

As I approach this milestone, I couldn’t have gotten here without the help of some fabulous blogs, bloggers, and fashion chicks. They are absolutely the best at what they do. Thanks ladies!

Molly – Still Being Molly
Melanie – Schoolgirl Style
Mandy – This Girl’s Life
Leanne – Elle Apparel
Jen and Autie – iCandy Handmade
Audrey – Putting Me Together
J – J’s Everyday Fashion
The Crew – The Broke-Ass Bride
Lady Grey – Grey Likes Weddings
Stephanie – Fab You Bliss
The Wedding Chicks – Wedding Chicks
Megan – Glamour and Grace
Suzannah – Adventures in Dressmaking