Inconvenient Timing

After 6 months, we are starting to see more regular sales in our Etsy shop. It is great - the other week, each morning I checked my notifications and had an order nearly every day. And they have gone around the world, mainly the USA. Who would've thought that!

But I go on holiday next week, leaving 50% of Scissor Sistas behind to run the show. Which she is more than capable of doing but what if we sell out of something and need some more making? She is the leather guru, knitting maniac and in charge of supplies and posting. I only sew and do the Social Media. I tweet like a tweeting fool (apologies to our followers who sometimes think I am tweeting like I've had too much caffeine) and hope that I keep our items for sale visible.

Despite being real-life sisters, we are 80 miles apart and stock has had to be sent across the Pennines, to and fro, to cover holidays. We need to build up more stock, we need to extend our stock lines but cannot continue to have to sent it around to ensure we can meet potential orders. When she goes away in September, do I have to try and run the ribbon printer?

So I need to sew more duplicates. I need to stop drinking tea and do more sewing.

And go on holiday without worrying that it is an inconvenient time!

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Busy, Busy

This has been a great week for us on ScissorSistas and we hope we continue to make things that you all want.

Only 2 weeks until ScissorSistas is down to 50% when I go on holiday. But don't worry, our Etsy shop will still be open and the other 50% will still be creating! In the meantime, in between holiday sewing & making sure the family have everything we need, we are still creating.

A friend is undergoing chemo and I made her a shaped cushion to rest her arm on, to alleviate some of the discomfort she is experiencing. She loves it so I will be listing some in early August - you can't beat a happy friend, can you? Her cat is being fostered until later in the year and the very kind lady looking after it is going to receive a couple of bandanas from me for her dog, Lemmy. He is very cool about having a cat around so it is my treat. Luckily, cats don't like bandanas so the fostered cat doesn't need one! Here is cool Bat Cat, as he is known..

So I will be listing some dog bandanas shortly as well as some baby bandana bibs too, to co-ordinate with some other baby items in the shop.

And I MUST stop buying fabric......

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Interesting times

I had a comment this week: "I didn't realise you were Scissor Sistas, I thought they were a professional company". On the face of it, I knew what my friend meant - "wow, you're Scissor Sistas" but it could also be taken as an insult - "I didn't think you could make stuff that good".

Hmm, the dilemma of crafting then raises it's ugly head. Hand made crafts don't always look like 'shop bought' items. Some aren't finished with great care but the majority have beautiful touches and are one of a kind. And with that comes a price tag that a lot of people think isn't worth paying.

My husband suggested I made some cushion covers to sell - there are too many beautifully made ones already so I won't be trying to compete but I compared the cost of hand made with shop bought. Not a great difference in price between a large department store price and a lot I have seen on Etsy, for example, but no comparison between the options & workmanship available between the two.

Economies of scale and a staff of hundreds (or more) are not within our grasp but we still need to make a living.

Unless a talented crafter themselves, our customers need to consider our time & effort as being worth a few extra pounds on what they would pay from a department store. While I was a student, my then-boyfriend-now-husband and I used to spend our food money on art. Not art that cost us thousands, or even hundreds, but art by local artists that we liked & would enjoy. Craft items are the same to me - you buy them because you love the item and want to use it/look at it and this in turn rewards the maker so they can make something else (or buy food).

So go and support your craft fairs, spend your money on something that no-one else will have. And feel smug about it!

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