The Sewing Room

Kaz2904

Could you hand tie it like some quilts are done?
I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't get it through the machine to quilt it, do you mean it's too thick or is it too big? I've been following crazymomquilts blog and she has a tutorial for stippling on there.

I have just dug out some quilt covers from the car. They were given to me by a work friend the other night and I need to get them out of the car as it's a bit full. They're a bit stinky so I've put them in the machine to get rid of the smoke smell. My sister wants me to make her a quilt for her baby who's due in September. I think I might make the top out of these duvet covers. I explained that they were expensive to make but she doesn't care, she won't be paying for it will she. TBH, I won't be rushing to make it because it'll leave a sour taste in my mouth to have it demanded and then she probably won't appreciate it anyway. I probably sound like a right biatch now but I strongly disagree with her lifestyle and think she should get off her bum and get a job. The world does not owe her a living. Grr, rant. Obviously grumpier than I thought today

Savvy_sewing

genieuk wrote: »

Thank everyone for the thumbs up with my makes people want me to sell some, but a) Wouldn't know how much to charge and b) wouldn't think they were good enough and afraid that they might go wrong.

Mooloo love the little outfit soo cute.

I had a meeting with the Business Links person.
He said that the usual starting blocks are

a) Cost of supplies and x 100%
Plust the cost of your time at at least minimum wage time of £6 an hour.
( the standard wages for seamstress doing alterations etc is actually £15.60 - government advise).
Then you have to add your USP. thats your unique selling point.
what ever that may be.
this means it will depend on what the market will stand.
there is no point in doing it if you dont earn enough.

Well thats what I was told anyway!. I sell off bits on ebay bids just to get my work out there, but it doesnt cover my costs was just getting me some exposure, and feedback.
I think you have to be realistic. You cannot compete with mass manufacturing, you have to remember there is a return to basics and a higher demand for homemade/handmade and individual works. Just because most of us here on MSE are a bit broke, or very careful with our money on the spending side, it doesnt mean that we have to under value our work, and if we were in the right places we would be able to demand the correct prices.
I say go high, then if they dont sell, then you can have a "sale"
If you underprice yourself and decide to put the prices up, then you loose the risk of repeat sales to those who have already bought at a lower price, they will not necessarily think that the price increases are justified. where as a reduction at a "Seasonal Sale" is more of a bargain to the purchaser.

I hope that this will help some people, as it has helped me.
Not that i have got anything to sell yet! Making for the family is only money saving, not upping my income!
Oh well, onwards and upwards everyone.
If we all get our stuff out there, its probably a good job we all are so far flung! (Unless its just on the internet then location doesnt really matter.).
Exposure is what we need, and good reviews.

Other tip.
Ask those who have been satisfied to give you a feed back, and use them in your advertising.
(Even if its word of mouth- you can repeat it on your flyers, but written evidence for any portfolio is a good idea.

Keep a record of all of your makes, photograph album to make a portfolio, as when they are one offs etc, when they are gone you cannot show them, so photographic evidence is key.

Um, off the top of my head thats all I can think at the moment.

Savvy_sewing

mandy_moo_1 wrote: »

hi, i've been having a read thru this thread, and just wondered if i can pick your brains?

i'm making a padded throw to go over the sofa........its made of one big piece of thickish fabric, then sheet of 4oz wadding, then the backing fabric

i've managed to stitch all the layers together around the edges on the machine, so now i have a massive thick throw....but i cant for the life of me get the bloomin thing thru the machine to stitch loads of squares all over it, you know, to make it look quilted

does anyone have any ideas what i can do, cos at the moment it just looks like a blanket!! and i really want it to look quilted!

thanks xx

Ah, problem.
I think you will have to do it by hand.
Taking buttons through it style.
?
I would have probably put false stitching on the fabric before putting it in the machine, and then stitching it by hand every few inches or so through all layers? But thats really not much help to you now. sorry,.:o

mandy_moo_1

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Could you hand tie it like some quilts are done?
I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't get it through the machine to quilt it, do you mean it's too thick or is it too big? I've been following crazymomquilts blog and she has a tutorial for stippling on there.

its not so much thats its too thick to go thru the machine, its that its so big! its about 3 metres by 1.5 metres

i've never heard of stippling, so will try and find crazymoms blog and have a read of that....thanks guys

Kaz2904

Oh her blog's fab! She breaks hers up into little bits to do. Of course, I haven' got that far yet

rufusdog52

Evening everyone. I am well chuffed with myself, have sold my first item from my Folksy shop.

Also we popped to Dunelm Mill on way home today and their sale is on. Wanted some more wadding for my quilts then after I had got that I saw some end of rolls for £2.99 a metre. There was one roll of a nice beige vinyl with cream or white spots on so asked for a metre and it had just under metre and half left on roll so lady let me have the lot for £2.99. Thought I might try to make some bags with it. Has anyone used vinyl for bag making and if so is it best to do the seams on the outside and then cover with bias binding or what? I have never used it before.

I have nearly finished my Dad's quilt, just in the middle of sewing on the binding. I have some pink and purply squares cut out to make a new quilt, think I will hand quilt this one as I didnt like the machine quilting.

clairewop

woohoo well done rufus

MissPixie

Well done rufus!

irishgirl62

Happy days rufus!!:j:j well done!

PootleFlump_3

rufusd!!!2 wrote: »

Evening everyone. I am well chuffed with myself, have sold my first item from my Folksy shop.

Also we popped to Dunelm Mill on way home today and their sale is on. Wanted some more wadding for my quilts then after I had got that I saw some end of rolls for £2.99 a metre. There was one roll of a nice beige vinyl with cream or white spots on so asked for a metre and it had just under metre and half left on roll so lady let me have the lot for £2.99. Thought I might try to make some bags with it. Has anyone used vinyl for bag making and if so is it best to do the seams on the outside and then cover with bias binding or what? I have never used it before.

I have nearly finished my Dad's quilt, just in the middle of sewing on the binding. I have some pink and purply squares cut out to make a new quilt, think I will hand quilt this one as I didnt like the machine quilting.

Hi Rufus, I used oilcloth to make these. Best thing to do is either get a teflon foot (you can normally pick one up on ebay for about £4) or get some scotch tape or masking tape and stick it to the underside of your sewing foot (doesnt work as well but works). You can use binding if you prefer or just topstitch as normal. Vinyl is thinner than oilcloth so it should be a bit easier to get through the machine. My tote bag is oilcloth but its lined with vinyl from Dunhelm and worked fine through the machine - you do sometimes have to put a bit of pressure on it to push it through. Would check what needle size you using too as it needs to be a bit bigger than if you were just sewing cotton.





Well done on selling your first item! Im in the process of setting up a shop and a facebook page but am a bit scared at the idea of putting anything up for sale incase people hate it!! At what point do you tell HMRC? Im assuming I need to do it right away but not sure.....