Im not sure I will ever feature in the Hand-made Australia blog so I thought Id put my thoughts here on MY blog.  It was actually a great exercise to think about the how and why.  Still scarey.... still committed.

What inspired you to start your business?

I had just finished a memory quilt made out of competition t-shirts.  The panels were flapping in the breeze on the clothes line out in the sunshine and I thought it would be nice to see kids running through the quilted pieces, touching and interacting with them.  My partner and I were walking through a shopping center and saw some canvas room dividers.  I commented that it would be a dreamy idea to make dress screens and cover them with quilts.  To my surprise he said that wouldnt be a problem as he used to make dress screen frames!

What is your handmade business all about?

My handmade business is all about choice and value for money.  YOU get to choose the dimensions of the screen and also the fabric and design that decorates it.  This gives you great choice in affordably redecorating your space.  The screen panels are washable.  The dress screens are made out of great products like oak dowel and allergy resistant bamboo wadding.  We keep a record of all the screens we make and you can order a new set of screen covers at a very reasonable price.  This makes our dress screens an investment rather than being a "throw away" item.  New ideas are coming in all the time.  We are working on bridal screens as well as puppet theatres and castle walls for children.

What do you enjoy most about your business?

Planning the design of the screens.  We live on the Mornington Peninsula two blocks from the beach and I have three children ranging from 19 to 7 years of age.  That is quite a lot of inspiration.  Then there are the wonderful designers who make fabrics these days.  Just amazing variety and colour.

What is your favourite product to make?

To be honest any quilt will do.

How did you learn your craft?

Ive sewn since I was a teenager but I really got into quilts about 12 years ago.  My mother taught me to sew clothes but in quilts I am self taught.

What handy hints do you have for people who are starting up a hand-made business?

Ive recently joined "The business bakery", a small business interactive website.  It is great support network.  Not only great advice.  Just as importantly, interaction with other small business people who understand the fatigue and isolation and stresses that sometimes weigh down on small business people.

What plans do you have for your business in the next year?

I plan to load up the van with my screens and go from markets to shops, from wedding venues to charity auctions, spreading the news that dress screens are back in style, in YOUR style.

A dreary weekend but had time for a walk along the beach and some crochet.

A

PaperWorks on Handmade Australia

PaperWorks on Handmade Australia

Selling book marks, cards and other paper creations.

Changing jobs : dedicating some proper attention to my small business

Starting a new phase in my life.  After over a year of having to put off sewing etc because of work commitments - well now I have to put off work commitments and learn to organise and juggle home, kids and small business.  In a way it is about time.  On the other hand the teens are making it really hard and a lot of the time I want to run away down to the shed, to my own sewing space, and hide from their anger and demands.

Sometimes I only get a small window of opportunity to create.  So I am taking the advice of a successful business person, and I am keeping a very visual and sample like journal of everything I touch, look at and create.  The reasons are many.  Like being able to duplicate something that turns out great.  Im going back over my short and medium term goals.  I might be a failure of a mother but Im not going to fail at small business.  My screens, quilts and boy dolls wont, after all, be able to talk back or tell me to bugger off.

I think I have always been a little scared of my children.  Scared of them making a scene, of being too strong for me to handle, of them being disappointed in me.  I dont think I really let them get away with too much.  Sometimes I think I have always been a doormat.  It varies from day to day depending on how hard they are fighting me.  I really just want them to finish their education and find a job that doesnt make them physically sick and then they can get on with making their own lives.  It feels kind of sad, but I will be glad, as long as they are financially ok, when they pack their bags and go out on their own.  Im tired of fighting teens.

So right now Im crocheting a cat and Im working on my lists.  Next week - one of the short term goals - Peter has promised that we will make 3 more screen frames.  Ive so much hand quilting to do.  But Im happy in that.  Just have to get the right lighting and get going again.  I LOVE hand quilting.

In the back of my mind is the question : "what if Im successful with my screens and have to make heaps?"  Im jotting down some ideas about how I would cope with that.  There has been an offer of shared work shed space from a friend.  That dedicated work space for frame making would be great.  I, being me, would probably always want to make the screen covers.  But there are some great sewers out there and I might be able to get someone to come and help me make the covers.  That would be exciting : to have enough orders to HAVE to employ someone.  I think I can get the making design and steps tight so I can make up to 5 a week.  I couldnt really hope to sell any more than that.  Could I?

I wonder if it is a common problem - to wish to be successful in a cottage industry but then to dread success?

Well apron on - domestic bliss calls - cleaning up Sam's painting left overs and dishes as always.

Im going through craft magazines today for inspiration.  I need a long list of things to make.  Ive heaps of fabric and I need to clear it out.  I will come back with some photos.

It's a beautiful freezing but sunny blue sky kind of winter's day.  It's a good day.

Ive pulled out the peacock dress screen and am working on it every minute I can.  One side is dark tones.  The other light.  This is the dark side.  It makes the whole thing easier.... that I can buy fabric I love, measure up the fussy cut panels I wish to use.... and then Peter can make the dress screen frame to fit.  I love making these.

I walked back from Sam's school this morning.  He is really upset that he doesnt do well with his writing.  He has been really sick with the flu and chest infection and today he really didnt want to go to school.  But he is there.  Had a really great talk with the student welfare teacher.  All the kids and all the teachers are great.  Hope this gets resolved.  Ive asked that he is given writing work sheets that he can finish.  He gets upset when all the other kids finish writing tasks and he doesnt.  The teacher hasnt responded to my requests before.  I hope she tries it this time.  I cant be dragging him to school every morning.  He has a right to a happy primary school day.

Ive been working on  my first hook book for sale.  Its ok.  The pages inside are beautiful.... but I am going to undo the ouside cover and redo.  I can make it look sensational and then I will be happy to sell it.

Dishes, guinea pigs and sewing.... mmmmmm..... well I will fix up the animals but then Im going to leave the dishes and go sew.  Other wise it just never happens.

A beautiful sunny day here with intense clear blue sky.  Thank you God.  I just cant handle another rainy day.

I hope I can get a photo of the mermaids finished.... but here is one getting dressed from the book - well website - http://www.weewonderfuls.com/

Show or tell?

.... a group Im in was talking about how much to disclose to another person about something you are making.

Most of the people I know who create things for sale are women.  I wonder if this gender thing makes a difference?  A recent article by a successful website designer, a man, talked about offering more than information, offering indeed service and help, for free.  He spoke of the benefits to his business by him being able to gather feedback and customer data like what it was, exactly, that they wanted from his professional service.  He believed, according to the article, that it would be highly beneficial to his business to go out there and create for his customers for free.  At least for a time.

So why are women who are creating cottage industry makings so secretive, some might say suspicious even, of people who want to know the HOW and the WHY?  So many people, women, admire other people, women, who share all the details of inspiration as well as the design of what they make.  

I think part of the problem, part of the difference in attitude, comes from the lack of confidence some people have in their knowledge of a particular craft or perhaps in the lack of confidence they have in their product.  This must be the case - because the people, the women, out there sharing everything about their success stories have confidence in their art by the bucket loads.  Long before the book they are out there making youtube videos on what they are doing.  No cloak and dagger stuff there.

I dont have a lot of confidence day to day in normal situations.  But I do have some confidence in my sewing ability and in my style and the care I pride myself on when making a quilt, screen, hook book or doll for sale.  And I do think that it is because of this confidence that I am willing to share how I create and would be willing to empower others to create the same things if they wish.  

Anyone can copy anyone else.  If they have the determination.  It is next to impossible to patent something you make in a cottage industry.  Simply because the natural inclinations of the next person to make the item will change them a little, or a lot, and deem them different to yours.  So I think it is really important to share the how and the why.  Have confidence in your product that only you can make in your own style.

Just wanted to quickly (I should be doing dishes... the ONE thing I was obviously born to do)..... jot down that Im having second and third thoughts of what I should be doing.  This is all about work and what work makes me the most money vs the effort (ie tiredness so that I can DO what I love and COPE with the family)

I currently work:

takeaway shifts anywhere between 9 and 22 hours a week -  fluctuation hurts household budget sometimes

I clean for a mum

I clean for one man 3 hours a fortnight and one woman 2 hours a fortnight.  You wouldnt think that that would be too much....

Ive sold a screen and really really really want to put all my energy into building my business.

I really have to decide what to spend my time on.  I dont want my business to go through another year and have a zero business account bank balance.

I think I might have to save up and then hold my breath, give up all work, and just jump into my business.

Can I ever afford to do that?

Way overdue is a fairy garden memory quilt Ive been working on.

I always take too long to find just the RIGHT inspiration.  But anyhow it has happened now.  I took this photograph of a tree that stands just outside my sewing room aka shed.  It really makes me think of a little garden house tucked away from the big world.

Rather than try to put everything into the one scene I am going to have a few small scenes around this large one.  One of those will be toadstools something like this.  This isnt my photo.

At last! have some time to do a fabric test with Derwent Inktense pencils.

Ive used 50 : 50 Jo Sonya's textile medium / water.

After heat setting with an iron I will wait 48 hours and wash the piece.  Im really hopeful for colourfastness.