New Year, New Ideas

It's been way too long since I've updated in here. I've been trying to focus on too many things at once, which is always stressful. Work has taken away from sewing, which always brings me down.

My sewing room is organized and fresh - except for the trim bin, which desperately needs some attention. That's one thing for my weekend list - and a new project with a wedding dress.

I also "inherited" a wedding dress from a friend, and haven't decided what to do with it yet.

And as always, ideas are buzzing around inside my head - more things to do and projects and product to set up on etsy and here.

I plan to be around more - so, we'll see what happens!

Some changes

There's been a lot going on - and will probably be some changes around Sew Enchanting soon. I need to concentrate on items that can be purchased off the site through a shopping cart program. I love making the dresses, but there's other things to consider, here...

So - changes coming soon! I have a couple of goals for September, and one of them is to look at the shopping cart program with my site host.

Later!

The dress is coming along nicely, and so are the bridesmaid's dresses.

She really picked some gorgeous styles for the wedding dress. The bodice has almost a sweetheart neckline - but strapless with three semi-circles on the top. There is mesh on the chest, with little lace cap sleeves.

The bridesmaid's dresses are relatively simple in design. The real challenge is that two of the bridesmaid's won't even be in the STATE until the week before the wedding!

I also need to make an outfit for myself - I have two weddings to attend in August. I have it all picked out...just need to find time to make it. August is my month of getting myself together - weight-wise, money-wise, and business-wise. I'd like to get a bunch of stuff posted on etsy.com!

Organize!

I've spent the last week or so completely reorganizing the sewing room. It looks GREAT! lol I really needed to get "like" stuff together - I've mentioned our local Hancock Fabrics is going out of business, and I've bought...some stuff. :)

So - now things are packed into nice air-tight boxes, marked and labeled, ready to go when I am. I like it.

I also now have room - to SEW! I've been cranking stuff around the room for too long. Now I actually have elbow room to do what I love - the actual sewing part.

Soon, I'll have pics to show what I'm up to. :)

Ideas...

I've had some hits on how to make the christening dresses from wedding dresses. I'm considering putting together a "how to" CD/DVD. We'll see.

I have lots of materials for doll dresses, which I always enjoy. And some fur, for capes/stoles, etc.

Purses intrigue me.

Spa ideas intrigue me, too. Things for relaxing, baths, etc.

And I have a wedding to make. :) I'm VERY excited about that.


I have loads to list on ebay - craft magazines, x-stitch stuff, material.


I guess I'm just full of ideas lately, and not huge on words here! lol

Fabric Sales...

Sad news - the local Hancock Fabrics is going out of business! It means great sales, especially on things that never go on sale...but I'll miss it. I really prefer their fabric selection over the local JoAnn's.

Good news - the Salvation Army has a fabric sale each spring, and man, did I score! lol I spent a total of about $35 over three days of the sale, and pretty much filled the car up three times, including three boxes of craft magazines that I can sell on ebay.

Just some awesome deals - a bag of scrap fleece for $.75 (garbage bag, that is), a bag of scrap batting for $.50, invisible zippers for a quarter each, beautiful vintage white buttons that I'm going to see if my bride wants to use for $.75, vintage patterns (they are an obsession, seriously...) for a quarter each, lace pieces, a box of lining pieces for FREE, three boxes of magazines for FREE (including some vintage Workbasket patterns), netting and fur - probably about 3 yards for $.50, old McCall's Needlework magazines (4 of them) for $.50 (they have a set of really cute 1960's style Barbie hats to crochet - I'm really excited to try them out!) - umm...oh, some old sewing books for a quarter, some xmas printed pieces of fabric...just a lot of stuff.

I was excited. $35 goes a long way there. I might put aside $50 for next year and just go wild! ha!


I was talking to a friend about slipcovers. It's all the rage, but overall it doesn't really interest me. Then she showed me what they sell for.

I think I'll be making one this summer.

It would be awesome to pay off some bills this summer with the extra work that's being drummed up through word of mouth, web hits, ebay, & etsy. :)

Etsy

I've had an interesting experience with etsy so far. I've been able to post quite a few things - extra patterns & a few things I've made. I know it's best to post a few a day to keep your name up on top. And I've sold 2 things, so that's good. The price is right - $.20 to post + a percentage of the sale price. So, we'll see what happens there.

I took a large commission to make a wedding gown + 3 bridesmaids' dresses. Very excited about that - it's going to be fun! There's also a possibility of 2 flower girl dresses to match. I love the special occasion dresses - they're always my first love.