Tag Archives: etsy shop

The Latest Updates at Needle & Foot

Hi Everyone! I want to share a change I am implementing at my shop. I have had so many issues with trying to properly list my products and use the shipping tools provided by Etsy. I think the tools are great for sellers who usually receive orders for one item at a time. With an order for just one item, the postage is calculated based on the region the item is being shipped to and the weight of the item. This means if I receive an order for a yard of fabric, the shipping is calculated accurately for my customer.

The problem occurs when a customer orders a list of different things. If an order is made for 2 yards of one fabric, a yard of another fabric, and a bundle of fat quarters, the shipping is invariably over-charged (by quite a bit). Many of you have been very loyal customers since I started stocking the shop with quilting fabrics (which I am oh so grateful for!!) Those of you who have ordered a number of items on one order know about this issue and also know that I refund the shipping overages to you. As time has gone on, the shop has grown and my order rate has become nice and steady. At this point, I find I am spending a bit of time refunding shipping overages and sending notes to customers explaining why they were overcharged for shipping. It has become tedious and time consuming.

Flat Rate Shipping, Only $6.99!

After thinking about this for a while, I have found a solution! All orders at the shop will now be charged a flat rate of $6.99 for shipping. Any order, no matter how many items – one fee, $6.99. This means customers ordering a number of items, regardless of the weight of the items will only pay $6.99. I will happily cover the rest of the shipping expense. Coming to this decision was difficult. I have been looking at the order rate and the number of orders I had to refund shipping on. As that number grew, it just made sense to streamline things.

Another factor that drove this decision is that I realized I was losing sales because of the mis-quoted shipping charges. If a customer shopped and put a number of items in her cart, the shipping quote would be for $14 or $15. In fact, just two weeks ago, a customer wrote to me asking if this was the correct shipping charge. I explained the situation and reassured the person I would refund the overage once I packed their order for shipping. However, the person ended up shopping elsewhere. I understand that. She isn’t familiar with me and has no reason to trust I will actually refund the extra $9.00 she was going to have to pay at checkout.

Over the past months I have tried to work with the tools Etsy provides. Don’t get me wrong. I am a very happy Etsy seller. Etsy provides a great way for me to own and run my business. I believe the problem lies with the variety of items that are combined on any one order I receive. With flat rate shipping the transactions will happen smoothly and for my shoppers who need to order a number of things at one time, it will actually make shipping less expensive. Any order of two and one-half yards or more will usually weigh over one pound. This means it needs to be sent flat rate for the best shipping cost. At this point, shipping is charged at $7.10 for the padded flat rate envelopes I use to ship orders.

What if I Only Need a 1/2 Yard Cut?

I realize this flat rate shipping charge isn’t the best option for the person who chooses to order a 1/2 yard of fabric or a couple of fat quarters. Don’t worry! I have figured out a solution for this too. I will have two listings available for purchase. There will be a listing for a generic fat quarter. On that item, you will be able to leave a note telling me which fat quarter(s) you need. That listing will use the regular shipping calculation and my customer won’t have to pay $6.99 for shipping one or two fat quarters. Similarly, I have a listing for a generic 1/2 yard cut. Again, the customer will tell me which fabric they need a 1/2 yard of and the shipping will be charged accordingly. To find these listings, you can type “fat quarter listing” or “1/2 yard listing” in the search box and they will come up for you.

It is my hope I have considered the variety of needs you, my customers, might have. But as always, I want to hear your thoughts! Please let me know what you think of this policy change. Did I explain it clearly? If you have questions, feel free to ask. When one reader has a question, it is highly likely others are wondering the same thing. Please ask!

Having this shop over the past 18 months has been a blast. You are all the greatest and I am so appreciative of you. Thanks so much. Hard to believe but the fourth anniversary of my blog is June 4th. That seems reason enough to celebrate, doesn’t it? Come back in a few days and we will have a party!

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Wednesday WIP Update

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Yesterday I thought it was Wednesday. All day long – I even took the trash can up for pick up (which happens early Thursday morning). Guess what? It was Tuesday. So it is like I gained an extra day this week! I need to organize myself so I use the extra day wisely!!

At the moment, I have three quilts actively in process.

The Sewcial Bee Sampler hosted by Maureen Cracknell and Sharon Holland. It is week 23 for the sew along but I am behind by four blocks. Once I get behind on something, it is hard for me to pick it back up and focus on it. I will try to get some of these blocks done though. I really like the first 18 or so that I have made and I look forward to laying them out and looking at the overall quilt.

The floral and cream quilt (Twisted) that I started in a class at the beginning of June. I am hoping to get together with my friend Sophia and we are going to work on this one together. I have lots of pieces prepped for chain piecing. This one will come together quickly.

My Ring Me quilt hasn’t been touched since I started it last spring. Remember when I shared this as a part of the blog hop for Amanda Jean Nyberg’s recent book? I love it but I haven’t worked on it for a long while. It is going to have to continue to wait. There is too much going on right now!

I also have two new quilts to start. One is a whole cloth baby quilt for an Etsy customer. She wants a bright and cheerful quilt for her baby girl who is due any day now. I am going to start this one today.

The other is a quilt made of football and baseball jerseys for my nephew, Sam. He is off to college in the fall and wants me to make a quilt with his huge collection of jerseys. I am a little bit nervous because these aren’t knit t-shirts (which I have worked with before). These are made of that silky jersey fabric. I am unsure how I will stabilize the fabric. Also, the logos are all over the place as far as size. Hmmm…. If anyone has any suggestions or if you can point me to an article on this, that would be great!

Along with all of this, I am making some changes with my Etsy shop and how things are organized. I decided to separate the pattern sales from the fabric sales. Both are growing a lot and it makes sense to have two different shops. There are only 15 categories a seller can use in their shop. Splitting these between the fabric and patterns in one shop is becoming difficult. So I am slowly moving the patterns over to the new shop. This is a labor intensive task as there is no way to do it automatically within Etsy. I have to re-list each one and I have hundreds. I try and do a few each day. If you have shopped for patterns with me in the past, the new shop is called Needle and Foot Sews, Vintage and Current Patterns. It would be best to favorite both shops if you want to keep track of the patterns. Hopefully it won’t be too long before this is complete.

I better get to work!! I am going to baste the whole cloth quilt and get it started this morning! Later this week I will be posting the fifth interview in my Meet the Designer series. You will get to know Carrie Bloomston and there is a giveaway involved in this one! Don’t miss it.

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Working with Wonder Woman

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I just finished up a really fun project. I haven’t made a custom Chemex Cozy for a while and received this note from a customer about a week ago. She asked….”do you have one that is more Wonder WOMAN and less super Man?” Clearly she wanted some female superheroes to grace her kitchen. After a very quick search, I found this fabric.

My customer thought it was perfect so I placed an order and waited for it to arrive from an Etsy shop in Texas. As soon as I got it, I cut into it. I must have been terribly excited because I cut these girls out upside down. Not once, but twice. Considering I only had one yard of fabric (it takes about 1/2 yard to make a set) I was seriously frustrated. It didn’t take me long to decide to try some improv work to save the fabric.

I started cutting out Wonder Woman (she was the key player for my customer) and laying out pieces with black fabric framing off the individual pieces. I was really liking the way she looked and felt like the black fabric calmed the craziness of the fabric down a bit.

Once I got one cozy put together, I sent off a progress picture to my customer. I was honest and told her what had happened. Asking for her honest opinion, I explained I would be happy to purchase more fabric. She immediately responded that she missed all of the action and wasn’t too wild about the black in between the clips of Wonder Woman. She suggested I take the fabric scraps and just sew them back together ‘like a patchwork’. Ok then, on to round two. (I was not at all disappointed that she was unhappy with my first rendition as I knew I could list it for sale in the shop.)

Drawing on my practice with making fabric Victoria Findlay Wolfe style, I played with the scraps I had. Luckily, I still had a lot of scraps.

I only needed to have enough for the outside as I planned to line it with a solid fabric. Again, I tried to keep Wonder Woman as the main super hero and began laying pieces next to each other. I needed to end up with a wide strip of pieced fabric, enough for the large curve I cut for these cozies.

It came together so fast! I showed Judy another progress picture and she was thrilled. Having both a bright yellow solid and a deep purple solid, I let my customer choose her lining. She went with purple and I finished everything up soon thereafter.

I think it was a great lesson for me. Where I wanted to calm everything down and add the drama of the black frames, she wanted the chaos that DC Comic shows on most of their licensed fabric.

I suppose what I am trying to say is, it is such a trick to stock my shop with items (both handmade and fabrics) for my shoppers. I buy and make with my personal tastes reflected in my choices. I need to keep perspective on what the customer is going to like as well. At any rate, I loved creating both of these pieces and have no doubt the other one will sell swiftly.

If you make for others or for customers, how do you get that perspective? It is only natural to have a bias toward the styles, colors and themes you as the maker prefers, but we need to be able to figure out what the customer wants. Any input?

Just a quick note – I want to let you know I have begun a newsletter to keep readers posted about my fabric shop. I will be sending it out about every eight weeks or so and it will contain information on new arrivals and fun promotions for my newsletter subscribers. If you are interested, there is a sign up form on the right side of the page.

Linking up to a few places this week. Please take a look at the choices I have listed at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

New Adventures at Needle & Foot

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Most of you have read that I have an Etsy shop. I opened it just over two years ago, about the same time I began blogging. I love having a shop and enjoy my customers, several of whom are repeat customers. However, until recently, my shop mainly sold items I had made, which means I am usually selling to customers who are not makers.

About a year ago, I began listing a collection of both vintage and current sewing patterns for garment makers. Also, I listed some cuts of my collection of vintage sheets, including fat quarters, fat quarter bundles, and charm squares. As these items began to sell, I realized that I was very much enjoying the interaction with the makers who were coming to shop my store. These are my people, know what I mean? It has been really satisfying to answer questions, chat back and forth about their projects, and help them find the pattern they are looking for, etc.

After much talking and brainstorming with my husband, I have decided to greatly expand my shop! To say I am excited about this new adventure doesn’t come close to describing how I feel. My husband, Ray, is very supportive and has many good ideas about the business end of it. I am not sure if you remember but my father owned a couple of fabric stores when I was growing up. This is a business I am very familiar with. I worked in his shop on many Saturdays as well as during the summer as a teenager. My father was almost always self-employed which means I am well aware of what this entails. However, in this time of on-line shops, I have the wonderful opportunity to open a business without having a brick and mortar shop.

I have been working very hard to choose a selection of fabrics that will have something appealing to each of you. Of course, the seed money to get this adventure off the ground isn’t limitless (oh how I wish…) With my start up budget in mind, I made list after list of the manufacturers I wanted to work with and the lines that I wanted to carry. Then I went through an arduous process of culling that list and narrowing it down to what I can afford at this, the very beginning of my adventure! I have selected some gems. Over the past several weeks, I have received bolts of beauty from designers such as Alison Glass, Maureen Cracknell and Kim Diehl to name a few. I have fabric from Henry Glass, Andover, Art Gallery Fabric, and PB Textiles to offer you. Over the next two weeks there are some amazing bolts coming from Red Rooster and Windham as well as a few more from Andover.

A sampling of what is available now!

Fabrics began arriving during the first half of January. When I got home from Toronto, things really kicked in. I am slowly but surely listing inventory as it arrives. There is still more to come but I wanted to share with you what I have so far. It is so exciting to see this take shape after weeks and weeks of preparation. I am fortunate to have a large basement level family room. There is one wall with built in shelving. This is where the current fabric lives. As it grows, we will need to add more shelving but for now, this is working well.

Alison Glass’ 76, Fiesta Fun and Maureen Cracknell’s Garden Dreamer!

I plan to hold a Grand Opening of sorts in the beginning of March. I have a blog hop and several giveaways planned- it will be a blast. Waiting until the first of March also allows the craziness that is QuiltCon to subside. But for now, let’s celebrate here! I am really proud of the shop and very excited to show it off to you. I am offering a giveaway of a $25.00 gift certificate to my shop. In an effort to get to know you better and to decide how to best serve you, will you take a look at the questions below?

I shop on-line for fabric – All the time, Sometimes, Rarely, Never?
True or False-When shopping on-line, I am comfortable interacting with the seller (eg asking questions about product, asking for a custom bundle or a specific cut of yardage etc)
Two or three of my favorite designers are: (eg Maureen Cracknell, Tula Pink, Kate Spain, Bari J, Pat Sloan, Joel Dewberry, Bonnie & Camille, Zen Chic, Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Ross, Kaffe Fassett – to name a few out of the zillions available!! Who knows? Maybe your favorite is someone I am not familiar with. Teach me.)
True or False-Modern fabrics are my fave.
True or False-Repro fabrics are the best.
Batiks? Use them all the time or not so much?
Novelty Prints? Yes/No/Sometimes
Precuts? Love them? Or only when I win them in a Giveaway? Or not so much?
If you do love precuts – tell me your preference? (eg Charms, Fat Quarters, Fat Eighths, Layer Cakes, Jelly Rolls?)
What type of sewing (if any) are you interested in other than quilting? ( eg Garments, bags, totes, zip pouches)

You absolutely DO NOT have to answer all of the questions. But if any of them speak to you and you don’t mind taking a minute to give me some input, I will be forever grateful! Leaving a comment with your thoughts, on one or more of the questions above, is your entry to the giveaway! If you prefer, you can also send me a quick email, using the “contact me” form. That counts as an entry too. As always, if you are a follower, just tell me how and that is an additional entry. I will leave the giveaway open until the end of the month. A name will be drawn on January 31st with the winner announced in a post on February 1st.

NOTE: Giveaway is now closed!

Additionally, in appreciation for your loyal following of my blog over the past couple of years, I would love to offer all of you a discount code. To receive 15% off any order of $5.00 or more enter NANDFREADERS15 at checkout. This code will be active for just over two weeks, through February 12, 2017. Use it now or in a week or two. Use it once, twice, as many times as you like! I love the fabrics that are in stock now and look forward to the pieces that are due next week and the week following. Oh how I love the sound of the UPS truck coming down our drive!

Finally, I will be posting updates on incoming fabric and promotions on Instagram. If you don’t yet follow me, now is a good time to start. There will be a fun promotion over there the first week of February. Don’t miss it!

2017 is definitely going to be an adventurous one – with my son’s wedding, our first grand baby, and my own fabric shop! I hope you will come along for the ride. Please know how much I appreciate your support of this journey of mine. Blogging wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun without readers – you are what makes this worth doing!

Fall Mini Quilt Finish

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Remember this little orphan block that I scored at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago?

I spent a fun afternoon quilting it up. I used a rust colored thread for the main leaf portion and quilted it with a tiny stipple. These little stitches look so darn cute.

For the white background, I pebbled away for about one-half hour and filled it up. Sometimes it is so satisfying to work on a quick project. When I first started to pebble the white portion, I quickly remembered that I don’t really like to FMQ pebble patterns and thought I would regret it. But with such a tiny project it didn’t really matter. I was done before I could even get annoyed with the tedium.

For the border I quilted little leaves and berries but it is nearly impossible to see because the thread matches too well. It was good practice but really, I have to look very closely to see it. Kind of funny.

The dusty green binding wraps it all up into a sweet little mini. Perfect for fall.

Now that we are approaching fall, I need to start getting my Etsy shop stocked for the holidays. The Chemex cozies that I make are definitely my best seller around Christmas which means I need to get busy. Yesterday I cut fabric for five covers.

Selecting the fabrics is fun but also a bit of a challenge. Looking back at what has sold well over the past two years, the favorites are definitely gray, blue, black, and red tones. Also, the two fabrics with the coffee theme text prints (in cream or black) are usually good sellers. These are the last two I could cut from that fabric so I need to purchase more of it.

I love to make a few with novelty fabric. I have done some with bicycles for coffee drinking cyclists and another one with Marvel comics on it which made someone very happy. Last Christmas I had a custom order for a cozy made with Star Wars fabric. I am debating making a few fun ones like this but choosing a theme is hard, kind of a guess as to what will sell – if you have any suggestions, please feel free. I truly love your input. For now, these will get me off to a good start.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Remember, I am hosting Handmade Halloween on October 4th!! Link up any blog posts, new or old, that are related to Halloween – costumes, decorations, quilts, even fun recipes. Let’s make it a fun round up of all things Halloween! I will tell you that I have had some really nice prizes offered in support of this party. Go write a post and come back and link it up. This will throw your name in the draw – maybe for a win! See you then.

Linking up today with the best of the best. See the top of the page, under Link Ups.

This is a good weekend to shop Craftsy! They have some great discounts on kits and supplies for their End of Summer Clearance. Take a look. This sale runs through Sunday night, 9/18/16.

(I am a Craftsy affiliate.)