My Sewing Blog

This year I haven't done much sewing. Things haven't been great with my shop either. In one of the last posts I made here from over a year ago, I think I said something about having 80 sales. Well, a whole year later, I have 93 sales, so it looks like I've only had 13 sales since then. There was a while when I didn't have a lot of stock left in my shop, but I uploaded a bunch of stuff in March. Usually when I upload things, they sell pretty quickly, but this time, most of the things I listed are just sitting there. The listings even had to be renewed recently because they hadn't sold, which is pretty unusual. I haven't really been keeping up with Etsy. I pretty much never visit the site or the forums anymore. I do everything through the app. It could be that the algorithms have changed or that more people are using paid advertising, so people never see my stuff. Or it could be that I'm just not selling anything people want to buy. I haven't been keeping ...

When I was looking around at patterns and links for all things cloth pad related, I couldn't seem to find anything about the costings for making your own. Since I plan to sell them for profit, knowing how much they cost to make is important. I'm not sure I've got it quite figured out yet, but here's what I have so far, in case it helps someone. The base has two layers of flannel (or flannelette as it's sometimes called, or winceyette or brushed cotton!). There's also a layer that backs the topper piece. I was able to cut enough pieces (top, bottom and base of topper) from one metre to make 9 pads. That was 9 assorted size pads, so I can't say how many regulars or XLs etc you could make from a metre. The flannel I bought was £3.60 per metre, making each pad cost £0.40. If you picked a fancy quilters flannel or designer/organic flannel then it would be more like £12 per metre. That would almost triple the cost per pad. For the topper I used a printed flann...

Once you start making nappies, cloth pads seem like the next logical step. They mostly use the same types of fabric as nappies so it's a good way to use up some of your scraps. I know they're only tiny, but I've never been a fan of sewing them. The wings would always turn out uneven, or there would be some kind of fancy quilting needing done that I'd always get off centre and overall, my cloth pads would look like they were sewn by someone who'd never used a sewing machine before. I actually stopped using the ones I had. I planned to make more, but the thought of making a bunch of uglies put me off. I was doing some research before I opened my shop and I found that cloth pads are a big thing. This is great, because think of how much waste is being saved from landfill! They're actually pretty mainstream these days. I mentioned them to a few people and ended up finding out that two people I know use them! Since there is a market for them I thought I'd give...

Well hello! It's been, um... seven years?? since I last posted here. It was fun for me to look back through old entries. Who is this darling baby I kept talking about?! I have a bunch of teenagers and a boy who will be 11 this year. I haven't been sewing much at all over the last seven years, just a bit here and there. I did finish that quilt in the last post though! I have mainly been focused on writing. I thought maybe I'd try to get some of my work published and make money that way. We moved house again in 2016. We actually own our own house now! Recently I got round to unpacking my sewing things and re-organising them. I found that I had a LOT of fabric. Much of it was nappy making supplies. I had always bought more than I needed with the intention of selling things, but when you never get a full nights sleep and can't even manage to get to the toilet alone, starting a business is pretty low on your list of priorities. I know some people manage it, but I'm n...

I've given myself a challenge. Finish up one project every day this week, starting Monday and ending on Sunday night. Mondays Project. Cloth pads from the Fern and Faerie patterns. Two of them needed over locked together and they all needed threads trimmed and snaps put on. Three of them are the #304 Foldable Wing pattern, and the others are made with the tops from the #303 Contoured tab pattern and the wings from the foldable wing pad. The patterns are interchangeable, so you can make any combination you like. I thought the tabs would be too hard to over lock around. It turned out the wings were hard to over lock around and they look kind of horrible and messy, like they've been sewn by a 7 year old. No more over locked pads I think. When I get round to making some more I will turn and top stitch them instead. The maxi sizes look pretty good (they're the medium ones) but the mini pads look kind of useless. I can't imagine using them. They are q...