Sewing Business Blog

The Votes Are In…… And I’m AMAZED!

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A few weeks ago we ran a post asking the question,  “Who do you sew more for…… plus size/full figure women or overweight/obese children”?  We have gotten a TON of emails from people answering that question and reasons WHY they do what they do.

By far the MAJORITY of people responding say they sew for full figure/plus size women.  Many of the reasons were basically the same – “I am a full figure woman, can’t find anything that fits properly, so I pretty much sew for myself, and help out a friend or two as well”.  The book/class preferred by these women with the “I sew for myself” answer is the “Sewing For Full Figure/Plus Size Women as a Home Business” because that manual contains ALL of the classes plus additional information at a reduced price than if they were to purchase “some” of the classes now, and some more later.  In reality, the idea of having all the information in one manual is more beneficial than many separate classes that they may “lose”.  I would never have thought about that answer, as I figured the “business” manual would primarily for those in a sewing business – amazing!  We did have some responders who are indeed in a sewing business, and because they themselves are in the plus size category, they prefer to sew for the same type of women, as opposed to working with overweight children.

On the other hand, those who preferred the “Sewing For Plus Size Children as a Home Business” are ones like I would have been a few years ago – had grandchildren who were very much overweight and had some friends who also had grandchildren in the overweight/obese size ranges.  These people also purchased the business manual because it contained ALL the size ranges for overweight boys/girls so the information they needed was in one manual regardless of whether the overweight child was 6 years old, 10 years old, boy or girl – everything was at their fingertips.  In addition, the business manual contained the information about how to alter store bought patterns for plus size children – so they figured they were all set regardless of who they were sewing for, what ages they were sewing for, or if they were making the patterns or starting with a store bought pattern and altering it.

Regardless of whether you’re in a sewing business or sewing for just a few people, I’m sure one of the above books will help you in getting the perfect for that full figure woman or for those overweight children.

Why Do You Have A Website Or Blog?

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What made you decide to start up a website or a blog?  What is the purpose for it?  Have you actually thought about why you wanted to set up the website or blog? 

For some people it was sort of a “peer” pressure thing — my friends all have blogs, so I wanted to keep up with all my friends.  Or perhaps somebody “talked you into” starting a blog of some kind even though you really weren’t all that interested.

The reason you began your website or blog will determine how much effort you put into maintaining and updating the site or blog.  Websites and blogs are a lot of work, so don’t let anybody tell you there isn’t much to it – just a few minutes a day is all you need.   WRONG!  If you really want your website or blog to grow, you will have to spend several hours a day gathering new information, researching topics, etc, and if you want to put some of your projects online, keep in mind that you’ll need to do a lot of “one step at a time” type of pictures for your tutorial so that other readers can easily follow along and be able to duplicate your project.

Websites and blogs are a lot of fun and you can hear from tons of readers, which makes the work worthwhile.  You may spend several hours putting together a single tutorial post, and then when you get comments from people thanking you for the excellent tutorial, it’ll make you want to jump into the next tutorial!

Analyze the real reason you are doing your blog or website.  Are you making money from it, or just doing a few little personal posts just for the fun of it?  In the next few weeks we’ll be breaking down some of the goals you’ll need if you plan to make a little extra cash from your blogs, or if you’d like to earn a living from blogging and your website.  We’ll work right up to the first of the new year so you can get some goals set for the next year.  Websites and blogs are the hottest things going – you just need to figure out what you want from yours.

What To Do About The Unending Economic Crisis

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When my son’s children get mad – don’t get their way – or just feel like throwing a fit about something that didn’t go like they thought it should, my son sits them down and calmly tells them that it’s ok to get angry.  We all get angry from time to time, but it’s what we do WHEN we’re angry that makes the difference.  In this case, hitting people or throwing things is NOT the appropriate thing to do.

Right now my son’s workplace and contract are going through some major issues — some or many (including my son) may be losing their jobs before the end of the year, and there is a LOT of discontent and uncertainy going on there.  He (my son) got permission from the “higher ups” to write a  email to all the people involved, and here’s what he had to say to them —

“Keep in mind, as I always tell my kids, that it is okay to be upset, angry, confused, conflicted, concerned, etc. but the part that matters the most, and displays your true character, is how you act in the face of adversity.  The unwritten code of conduct that we have always followed includes customer focus, mission focus, teamwork and exellence in action.  While we progress through this transition, remember that there is a mission to accomplish and that the strength of your character will become apparent throughout this adversity”.   While reading the previous paragraph, remember that he also is one of those most likely earmarked for the pink slip before the end of the year — it’s just that they won’t know for sure who all is “earmarked” until the pink slips hit the desks.

As usual, the proverbial quote “when you’re handed a lemon………make lemonade” comes to the forefront now.

So, how can we who are involved in sewing, crafts and alterations make the lemonade?  I realize that many of us have been doing the sewing, alterations or craft businesses as a sideline in addition to full time or part time jobs, which have now been eliminated or hours cut way back.

An idea that always pops into my head is to think about something “new” or “different” that I can make to sell at the craft fairs or on ETSY, or to make to sell as a pattern.  One item that could be a good seller – easy and quick to make – and one used by nearly every girl around would be some hair barrettes.  Denise made some for her little girls to wear for picture day at school, and wrote up the tutorial on her Multiple Mayhem blog.  Quick and easy and a little extra cash for you perhaps.  Or how about the tutorial for the Reusable Snack Bags that was posted on this blog a few weeks ago.  As you surf the web for tutorials and projects you’ll probably think of dozens of different things that you already know how to do, but just haven’t made them in a long time, or something that you might need so you go ahead and figure out a way to make the item, and immediately have something you could either write instructions for others, or make the item itself to sell.

There are many ways to make the lemonade and help increase the extra dollars that everybody so desperately needs right now.  If you’ve come up with ideas that we could pass along, please feel free to let us know.

Working From Home WILL Change Your Life!

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For those of you who already work “from your home” or “out of your house” will know exactly where I’m coming from with the things I point out to you today.  For those of you who are still “on the fence” about working from home (except for an hour or so after the kids go to bed) may find some information in this post that will encourage you to take the big step!

** You will definitely “be your own boss” when working from home.  With this in mind, I MUST say that you HAVE to be a leader and not simply a follower, who is used to taking orders from the boss at work.    You can’t be a procrastinator – you have to be able to get out of bed knowing what’s on the agenda for the day and dig right in.  With this said, I will have to mention a couple of family members and friends who had always been a little envious of the way my daughter and I have been able to work from home, take care of families, etc and be able to do what we know we have to do to succeed.  Well, the other family members / friends did indeed start their own businesses (and one of them paid dearly to get into their business, buying vehicle, supplies and going whole hog into the business).  After getting set up and even getting some jobs, on both occasions, the “work from home” individuals couldn’t seem to get to bed at a decent hour, therefore, not being “morning” people, couldn’t get to the work sites until around noon and sometimes later, then had to quit the job they were working on by 4 or 5 so they could get back home for supper, etc.  Needless to say, the contract jobs they’d set up went much slower than expected, leaving less than happy customers.

Because we (my daughter and I) do all of our work AT home, and not go out for contract jobs, such as cleaning other peoples’ houses, yard work for others,  painting for others, etc, you’d think it wouldn’t matter if we slept “til noon” (I mean slept in until 9 or 10), but it DOES make all the difference in the world!  As I said previously, you MUST be a leader who realizes the importance of organizing your time and sticking with a work from home schedule.

** You have much more freedom than the restraints that go along with an 8 – 5 job!  YIKES!  Does this statement go along with the major “speech” I just gave in the previous paragraphs???

The “freedom” I’m talking about does NOT mean staying up all night watching movies then sleeping until noon!  The freedom I’m talking about means that you can “work in” some things that you couldn’t do with that “regular” 8-5 job, such as attending a daytime school function with your children / grandchildren.  Next Friday is “Grandparents day” at school, and the grandparents are invited to come eat lunch with their grandchildren.  I would not be able to do this if I had an 8-5 job — the school is 45 minutes from our house, so no matter where I might work here in town would have made the distance out of question for me to attend the lunch.

When my daughter gave birth to quadruplets and already had a 15 month old son, there would have been NO WAY I could have helped her if I’d had an 8-5 job.  As it was, I could go to her house several times a week to spend the day helping care for the babies and their big brother, and simply rearrange my “work at home” schedule for the days that I was at home and perhaps get up a little earlier other days.  After a couple years of going to her house to help out, we started bringing the babies / Jacob to our house for 2 or 3 days a week so SHE could get some extra work done.  Thank you Lord for our “work from home” businesses!!

** You’ll actually be saving money when you start working from home.  Think about how much money you spend each week going out to lunch each day, perhaps snacks from the snack / coke machines could add 2-3-4 extra dollars each day.  Depending on how far away from your house the job is, you have gas expense and perhaps longer child care days.  Then there are the clothes you have to wear – and don’t tell me you wear your “jammies” to work like I’m wearing right now as I do this part of my “work”.

** You REALLY can have unlimited income when working from your home.  The amount of income will certainly depend on the type of work you want to do from home, and most definitely will depend on the amount of time you’re willing to give to your work from home business. 

Think about what type of home business you’d like to have – internet business, doing crafts for craft fairs, sewing or alterations for customers, photography business where you can focus on weddings, or whatever you think would be best for you.  If you already have hobbies that could change from simply being a “hobby” to being a full blown business, then you’re way ahead of most people.

For me, and for the rest of you out there that already have work from home businesses, I’m sure we can all say “this is SOOOOOO much better than the 8-5 job I USED to have!