Sew It Goes

      I have mentioned a few times now that I have resurrected a crafting business that my mom and grandmother started decades ago. They let it fall by the wayside with the complications of life and (for my mom) kids starting middle school. I can completely see why.

     Even as a "side project", if I'm not careful, it can consume a huge chunk of time. Being that time is one of those things that everyone has in short supply, I budget my time, stick to a schedule and make up the difference where possible. I'm lucky in that I've got a couple of partners and we all pull our own weight. I'm also EXTREMELY lucky that I have a pretty big resource to pull from.

     As I said, my mom and grandmother abandoned the business roughly 20 years ago, but when they did they still had a fair amount of supplies left. They both dabbled in sewing and such throughout the years for pleasure and gifts, but nothing major. So when I decided to give this venture a "go" the first place I headed to was my grandmother's sewing room. She has one whole wall of shelves packed with plastic totes, all full of fabric and scraps. Talk about hitting the jackpot! I quickly modified my business idea. Now it was my mission to resurrect this business and run the whole first year by utilizing only the materials we already had. I was aware that some costs would be incurred because we inevitably would be unable to have absolutely everything we needed, but we had one heck of a head start. I had also saved a ton of time. I didn't have to drive to the store, scour the aisles, and spend hours pre-planning purchases.

     I started to sift through the totes to formulate a game plan. I knew of two patterns I wanted to find and continue to make, because they were successful in the past. I also knew I wanted to sew some quilts so I sorted like colors together to prepare. Then I headed back downstairs and insisted that my mom give me a sewing lesson.

     Oh yeah, at this point I still had no idea how to sew or use a sewing machine at all. It just wasn't cool enough to pay attention to, all those years ago. All I had was determination and a higher aptitude than most for learning on the job. 

 

     With my new lesson still bouncing around in my head and a minivan full of fabric I headed back home full of ambition. My first foray was pretty darn good, I think. I kept it simple with large squares (straight lines are easy to sew), a twin size, and a random layout. I had so much fun! I was also woefully unprepared for the amount of detail and work needed to accomplish the task. It was laborious, but in the end I was very happy with "Mimosa".



     My mom and I continued to work on putting together pieces from the fabric we already had. We worked together on another twin, "Harvest Wheat" and she complied a sweet gender neutral baby blanket, "Prairie". They were coming out beautifully and so far we had only spent about $17 on items we needed for all 3 pieces combined. Behind the scenes we also had put together several teddy bears, other plush items, pillows, framed cross stitch pieces, lavender and rice soothing sleep masks, and more for absolutely nothing!



     I decided it was time to put my new skills to the test. I set out on my own to make a Queen/King with small squares (yes, still squares...I'm running, not flying) with a distinct pattern. I chose some colors I really liked and set in. Roughly 2 weeks, 360 fabric squares, and (admittedly) several curse words later, I was nearly done with "Blarney Stone". In that time frame I also compiled two more wool "throws" from squares I found already cut out in my grandmother's mountain of supplies. I felt so proud of myself and all that I had accomplished. They will all be up on my soon-to-be-formed Etsy site and I can't wait. 

    

     What's even better is that, like the others in this venture, this piece will have a high profit margin for us because we stuck to the simplicity tactic. We didn't go out and buy a bunch of "cute stuff" we didn't need. We utilized our resources, kept it simple, and will reap the benefits. We're already registered for a few craft fairs with more to come, the Etsy shop is in progress and we just keep sewing. I am super excited and really looking forward to seeing my hard work pay off. It's odd, but it really has become a labor of love.

Sew it goes...

Simple City Sam

Update:

     As requested, here are the current shots of the wool throws I put together. These shots don't have the flannel backs on the throws, which bums me out, but oh well. The white and purple one, "Winter Lake" is the one my oldest really helped with and it has a grey flannel back. The other, "Man Cave" has an olive green flannel back. They are so fuzzy and comfy, perfect for couches and "extra" blankets. And, yes, these we put together all with pieces I found and collected from the sewing room.