advertising

okay girls...i am still falling off my rocker in advertising for some competitors. i have gotten some great feedback and some awesome work!!!

i *think* i will be posting all the info this weekend. just depends on how this week at the machines goes. so, if you are out there and haven't gotten me your info....come on down girls!

off to some beauty sleep. peace out.

confessions of an untidy seamstress

So, i have always said that my motto is "a clean sewing room is an inefficient sewing room." well, i am not disappointing myself one bit this week. in fact, if my motto holds true...i should be pumping out these 200 orders with no problem. starting with...

yikes. look at what louise, my serger just threw up upon opening.

no wonder she was giving me a fit. for those that may not know, sergers are known for their temperaments. you have to speak to them sweetly, hold your mouth just right while using and prepare for the worst...and oh yeah, watch that blade with an unblinking eye before it chomps even the most precious of pieces of fabric. it likes to do that. however, my louise is sweet. she is a work-horse and shame on my for letting her get this dirty.

i will have you know, i got out my handy pressurized air-blower thingy to help the situation out...and i will be finding pieces of dust, fabric and thread in my house for ages.

oh, and as for thelma...you know it is bad when your tension starts acting all screwy and you have to go in with the hemostats. yes, thankfully i had a prior career in health care. these tools are quite possibly the most handy-dandy things to add to your sewing bins. i am glad i left the hospital on numerous occasions and found them in my scrubs later.

yikes...was this really in my sewing machine? yes it was, for a second there i thought it might be a long-lost family pet. phew. bad part is...this was just part of it. goodness.

oh, and although i JUST cleaned up my collection of coffee cups (this tailor enjoys her java) i knew it was bad when i couldn't find the spool of thread i knew i just bought because it was hiding behind a mug. oh, and just ignore those girl scout cookies over there, okay? and if you see jillian michaels...don't tell her you saw those. she has already kicked my booty once bad today, and i will be okay if i don't give her more reason to be brutal.

oh...and why is there no counter-top space on my 8 foot long sewing table?? wait, where IS my 8 foot long sewing table? oh, there it is...under piles of hoop-la.

why do i always seem to have a box of blanks sitting on my floor waiting to be sorted and put away? i mean, i feel as though i do this weekly. maybe my supplier has it out for me, hmmm.... Also, don't be thinking I am crazy with the dog food bags, as I have said before...I am green, I recycle and those become my trash bags. :)

okay, if i was sitting at my machines and turned to look behind me, this is the disaster i see. naked baby doll, some of louisa's sandals, a bean bag, a vacuum that needs to get to work, some girl scout cookies...darn, forget you saw those too, an alligator xylophone, i mean REALLY??

and for the most important part, work-room safety. let us not forget safety, right? well, from day one the fear of God was put into my about gingher shears.

my mother told me they would cut my finger off. i was not allowed to use them or even look at them the wrong way. they would grow legs, come over and cut off my finger. well, i was so afraid of the scissors, i almost created an aversion to them. they scared the mess out of me. but, i was lucky to inherit my grandmother's pair...and i finally used them for the first time the other day (well, it was a few weeks ago, but who is counting) and you know what, they REALLY did almost cut my finger off! i mean, blood all over the cork floor...i had to go in for the steri-strips. goodness. so, they are back in their place on my peg boards where i will continue to only give them the most pleasant of looks to avoid the sprouting of the legs.

speaking of fears of sewing equipment, i cringe each and every time i use my rotary cutter. absolutely cringe. thanks again mom. the fear of God i tell you, one would think i was into her sewing room all the time when i was young. hmmm. i cannot even use a pizza cutter without the thought that it is going to instantaneously cut through my finger. i am about to pass out right now just writing about it. well, today, my rotary almost took off my toe. before you try and figure out what in the heck i mean and how that was possible, let me just show you.

yes, see how deep that blade is in the cork? this was millimeters from my pinkie toe. ouch. the blasted cutter just rolled straight off my table (that i am still trying to locate) and tried to amputate little pinkie. not cool. way uncool.

and for the last of it. after i almost had my pinkie toe removed, i slipped and busted my booty. on what did i slip? oh, just one of the bazillion pieces of scrap stabilizer, thread or numerous serger tails that are lying around on the floor. seriously mr. vacuum that is in the corner of the room, get to work!!

that is all for now. thought i would share some humor. my creative bug just bit me again (yes, it is midnight...why it cannot bit in the daytime is beyond me) and i need to get out my drafting paper and hopefully get all the fun new patterns that have been haunting my brain as of late out of my head and onto paper so hopefully some of my cutie-pie customers can own them this fall. get excited!!

oh, and pps - let me just tell you...i have gotten some emails from tailors, and you girls are in for a treat. these mamas are talented and have some cute as mud stuff. hopefully i wont go putting myself out of business. you know, murphy's law. :)

The Face of The Earth...

Okay, have you been wondering where in the world I am? Sometimes I do. The last few months have been a whirlwind over here at brownie-goose and I am still trying to figure out if I am coming on going. Yes, I just admitted my overwhelmedness. How bout them apples?

Anyways, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. I came close, ha...but decided against it. This Spring/Summer line has been my busiest so far as far as sheer volume. Which...it is kinda ironic since I "scaled back." I still have yet to figure out how to handle the volume of orders, timing, etc. Not to mention, the past few months have had a lot in store for my family as far as life goes. Do you ever have those times in which you realize the world just keeps on spinning while you are spinning tires just trying to maintain daily life? Well, I have had that happen a bit over the last few weeks and decided to take a week off and thankfully have such awesome and understanding customers that allowed me to do this. Brownie-goose remains a hobby for me, meaning that it isn't my job. However, someone needs to tell this to me. Ha. I have said many times before that it absolutely blows my mind that people love my stuff. Never in a million years would I have guessed that my business/hobby would have taken off like it did. That being said...I am still trying to keep a balance in which my family comes first. Hence why I limit my orders. I get at least one email a day asking when I will open back up and it hurts me to tell people that I don't know or that I cannot sew something for them. It makes me sad. But, I just can't. I spend every moment that I can at my sewing machine. But, with a 3 year old at home, that time is dwindling as she is so much fun to be around. I spend many of nights sitting at my sewing machine into the wee hours of the morning finding friendship in a fellow monogrammer who keeps my night-owl hours too.

So, where am I going with all this? Well, I just want everyone to understand why I cannot take orders all the time. I am a super control freak, so still am not ready to undertake hiring a seamstress to help with the sewing...not to mention, I cannot afford to with my prices where they are. So, brownie-goose is run by me, all alone. That means all sewing, cutting, ordering, processing, emailing, etc is taken care of by me, while I also try to maintain a house-hold. I honestly wish I could take every order and sew for everyone that emails me and tells me how much they like my stuff. I just have no clue how in the world to do that. So, I am open for suggestions. Seriously. I am anxious about what to do in the fall. Will I have another repeat in which I get over 200 orders in about 3 hours? I just don't know. What I do know is that I want to sew for as many people possible without losing the importance of my family coming first.

So, in the meantime I am going to fall off my rocker. How do you wonder? Well, I am good at falling off my rocker, and this time I am going to do so by advertising my competitors. WHAT? Yes, that is what I said. There are many seamstresses out there that sew gorgeous clothing for children. There are many in the Jackson area. And while I cannot sew for everyone, I want my customers to also know that there are others out there that rock it out too. I am waiting for my front door to bust open with someone hauling me off to the looney bin with this idea (ooohhh, do you think I could get a comfy padded room with food that I don't have to cook or clean for?). But, this is what I want to do. So, if you are a tailor and you sew for the public, email me. If you know of someone that does...let them know and have them email me. I always put on my website what patterns I use, if I use one...so there really are no secrets in my game. I am loving that the dress that I call the Adeline is busting out everywhere. Props to Whole Grain Baby on that brilliant pattern. So, email me at browniegoose@hotmail.com with your info with the subject line being "Advertising" and I will get to putting your info and name out there. This is free. For my customers, I think this will be great. This is not limited to tailors in the Jackson area. Now that I am on the hardwoods after falling out the front of that rocker, I will stop blowing everyone's mind and having people worry about my sanity and get back to sewing for the day while the toddler is content with a coloring book.

So, until the next time...thanks again to all of my wonderful, amazing and awesome customers. You rock, I love you all - and thanks a thousand times over for all of your support!

Just an Update and Some Pics

Okay, not much to say today...other than am trying to get these orders out as quick as I can. But, just to give an idea, I have 10 pages of orders from this second go-round and I am only on the 2nd page. So, while I am getting there...I have also had some other things going on that have kept me from the machines, but am getting back in the grove. This week I know for sure there is one day I wont be at the machines...Tuesday because my sweet little girl turns 3 and we have a fun-filled day planned, and then another day I will be helping Byron to lay the tile in the bathroom. We also have family coming in town this weekend for birthday festivities...so just a bit going on in the land of BG.

Here are just a few pics of recent...