Doing the Best with What You've Got

While this is a philosophy I have been practicing a lot since I have been unemployed I feel like it really held true this weekend! For starters while I continue to struggle to find a job in this horrible economy I have my accessories business. When I am not job searching I am plugging away trying to build and expand it. I know that all of the little things I am doing will eventually add up so I am trying to practice a little patience! I was excited to work on some custom orders this weekend. The first was an order for 20 of my Princess Headbands. They are being used as party favors for a little girl's birthday party! Such a great idea!

The second custom order was a request for headbands made with Madras fabric. It was like this customer was reading my thoughts, I was in the fabric store the other day and saw the madras fabrics and wanted to buy them but wasn't sure if they would sell! Well this customer gave me the excuse I wanted to buy the fabric! I also tried out a new design and also covered the elastic. I bought some other lightweight summer fabrics and plan to launch them all together once all of the samples are done. But here is a sneak peak of the madras styles to be listed soon!

The third custom order is a special request to have this bridal satin fabric flower hair clip made in ivory to match bridesmaids dresses that are black and ivory. The hair clip are still in progress but I am excited about this request and I hope it leads to more bridesmaid hair clip orders in the future.

This Memorial Day Weekend was not all about sewing, yard work was the main item on the agenda. Since I am unemployed and have very little disposable income hiring a landscaper is out of the question. My ex husband was not much help either even though he has helped me in previous years but hey, I don't need no stinkin' man! Since I am young and able bodied I became my own landscaper for 2 days. I cut the grass for the first time ever, cleaned up the mulch beds and added new mulch, and bagged about 25 bags of leaves. I am paying the price for being lazy with my leaf cleanup in the fall. There is still so much work to be done. I was secretly hoping for rain so that I would have an excuse to stay up in my sewing room instead of being out in the sun bagging leaves! I got my wish today!

I was enjoying a cold rainy day in my sewing room making custom orders. I decided to also put the finishing touches on the purse I blogged about a few weeks ago. I added a snap closure so I had to take out the lining seam. When I went to sew it back up, it got stuck in my machine and my sewing machine got all out of whack and kept breaking the needle. I immediately packed it up and took it to my mom. Both of my parents were eager to help repair it since it is the tool that has helped provide my main source of income these days. We pretty much took the entire thing apart and my dad somehow figured out how to fix the issue and when I put it back together it was in working order! It runs awesome now because we cleaned all of the lint out. I wish I had a picture of what my poor little machine looked like all torn apart, but I am glad she is all better! Although my mom was pretty much on board with getting me a new machine since she bought mine like 8 years ago for around $99, she is actually impressed it is still going strong after all of the sewing I have done with it!

So I guess that is pretty much what life is about, making the best out of the cards that you are dealt and staying positive. Sometimes doing that takes a little more effort, but all of that hard work will definitely pay off in the long run!

Custom Order Month!

One of the many things I love about having this business is that I often get asked by people to make them custom accessories. It seems that April was the month for custom requests. The first request was for a headband that needed to match a kids white t-shirt with navy/white gingham bows and crystals. I had so much fun making this headband because it was something compeletly different then what I am used to making. Here is a pic of how it turned out. Super cute!

Then I received a wholesale request for 15 ribbon belts. The trick with these was the customer asked that each side be a different ribbon and they didn't need to coordinate. It was fun to mix and match and use some ribbons I have not yet used for belts but will be using in the future!

Finally the order that took up the most time but was so fun to make...custom embroidered soccer team headbands! The coach wanted to give the girls on his team a headband as a gift at the end of the season. We went back and forth with ideas and then came up with using Shamrock ribbon (their team is called the Shamrocks!) embroidered with the player's name on one side and the season on the other. Then he decided to get some made for the player's sisters. For them I just embroidered the name on the center of the headband. And of course the mom's couldn't be forgotten! They got plain shamrock ribbon headbands. All of the ribbon was sewn onto Goody Stay Put Elastic Headbands so while the girls are playing, the headbands stay in place! It was so fun working on this order and I think they came out super cute! So if you are looking for a unique custom embroidered headband for your child's soccer, basketball, softball, or any sport team contact me!


The thing that I love most about custom orders is that it gives me a chance to come up with some new ideas, try something new, and even buy some new fabric. It is great to work directly with the customer and make them exactly what they are looking for! Hopefully this is a sign that many custom and large orders are on their way! I sure hope so!