Would you like to make gifts or holiday decorations for yourself and others but just don’t want to bother with getting the supplies, making a mess in your house and then having to clean up that mess? The holidays are hectic enough without the added hassle of all that. Instead, take an afternoon off and join us at My Eclectic Mess in St. Charles for two hours of crafting fun. We’ll provide all the supplies, know-how and best of all, the clean up!

This is the perfect activity to share with your child, sister, mother, best friend or neighbor. You’ll get time together to share in the making of memories as well as the cool crafts you’ll complete.

November 22, 2-4pm: Wool Felt Mitten Ornament

Join us to make a cute wool felt mitten ornament. This ornament makes a great tree decoration or gift tag. It is open on the top so you can fill it with a gift card or monetary gift.
 

December 6, 2-4pm: Home Sweet Homes

In this mini-class we will each make a tiny chipboard and paper “gingerbread” house to hang on our tree or decorate our table top.

December 13, 2-4pm: Stamped Gift Wrap

Make unique, one of a kind wrapping paper using hand carved stamps made from inexpensive materials and techniques.

December 20, 2-4pm: Polymer Clay Votive Holders

Celebrate the winter solstice and help bring some light back into your long winter with this special candle holder. Learn polymer clay cane making techniques in this fun and informative class.
 

Pre-registration required one week in advance of the event. A $10/person non-refundable deposit is required to hold your spot, space is limited. Classes will be cancelled if a minimum number of participants (4 persons) are not registered on week prior to event. Deposits will be refunded in the event of cancellation.
All classes will be held on Saturdays from 2-4pm. Register with a friend and save $30/person or $50/couple.

More information and a sign-up form available: Downloadable Brochure

Above are the selections from Amy Butler’s latest, Midwest Modern 2. I hate to say it but her newer stuff is quite often as not getting a “meh” reaction from me. I only selected five from the new colorways and added two from the original Midwest Modern to round out my current selection. I also added four prints from her Daisy Chain to match up some of the orphans from my first order from this line. I still think some of my numbers must have gotten mixed up on that first order because I *know* I ordered some of these dark blues and pinks that didn’t come in my first order. (That’s why I’m taking pictures this time so I know what I decided on!)

I’m also a little frustrated annoyed disappointed that her colors don’t match across collections. She has an olive in her Midwest Modern and one in her Daisy Chain that are close but not quite. Also I’ve found that often she’ll have a pattern/colorway in a collection that doesn’t really *fit* with anything else in the collection. I read on a fabric blog recently that Kaffe Fassett keeps pretty much the same color palette from one collection to the next and adds and subtracts to keep things fresh. But that way if you have an older fabric in your stash you can still find something new to coordinate with it. Of course my impression of Kaffe Fassets collections is that he just uses ALL THE COLORS so it doesn’t really matter!

A new line and new to me designer is Snow Flower by Dena. This was one of those bundles of fabric that I opened and my reaction was, “oh yeah!” I wanted it all, but you know that isn’t happening. So instead I did what I’ve learned is the best way for me to stock fabric, I select one or two of the colorways in a collection and go from there. (I’m sorry I can’t find this collection online anywhere yet.) After I decided which colorways I want I pick and choose from there. I loved the brights and black set in this collection so I chose a wide selection of these. I really don’t have a lot of really vivid brights and no black at all right now in my stock so this will fill in some much needed holes.
   
I’m also really in love with acid green and chocolate brown right now and aqua with green is a hot combo too. I think this collection is going to be really popular. I know I’m looking forward to sewing up some bags or girly dresses out of it this winter!

My Moda rep was also in at the end of last week with her bag of goodies from Quilt Market. I don’t have pictures of what I selected from her but rest assured, it is awesome! They have added some new designers who are really adding a fresh face to their collections.

You can also go to her blog to enter to win a free bloomer and pinafore set!

There just so happens to be a little person of the female type on my shopping list this year. If her Mommy (you know who you are, MYLENE!) happens to read this go to Margaret’s shop and let me know which one you like best!

I put together kits of my eco-tote shopping bag a while ago. I’ve had them here in the store and I have sold a few. But I finally got my act together and photographed them and listed them in my etsy store.
 
A couple weeks ago one of my online friends sent me a link to a rag quilt with the suggestion that these would make great holiday projects. Of course I ran right out to the front room, grabbed some bolts and started cutting and sewing!
 
This is my first one made with squares of all the different holiday flannels I have. It is so soft and cuddly! But then I looked at all the coordinating smooth cottons I have and had to make another.
 

This one is made with the Jennifer Paganelli “Bell Bottoms” line. I added batting to this one too but I don’t like it so I won’t suggest that to anyone else. Maybe a layer of plain flannel sandwiched between the regular cotton would be nice. Flannel would add a little body and warmth without making it stiff like the Thermolam did on this one.
Today I added my first kit for these to my etsy shop: Rag Quilt Kit
Tomorrow I hope to have time to put together a kit out of the Bell Bottom fabric and get that listed too. Of course if you are local and would like a kit you can always stop in the store and pick out your own fabric combination.

Happy Sewing!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Things at My Eclectic Mess aren’t going great. Some days they are barely going at all. I’m in the midst of trying to figure out how to move forward and what direction to take. The projections and plans I made a year ago are worthless now. The money I had to start with is all gone and the bills and credit card balances are piling up. Things have cost much more than projected and sales still haven’t reached even the barest minimums that I had projected. I spend many a day here at the store all alone coming up with great project ideas, classes, and events with no one to share them.

The biggest glitch in my planning is that classes, clubs, and camps didn’t get filled up like I had proposed. I had projected a couple different scenarios when doing my budgeting. One was worst case: 10-20% enrollment in scheduled classes, summer camps, birthday parties and sew-by-the-hour. The other was best case: 90-100% enrollment. What I didn’t plan for was zero enrollments. The plan was that with summer camps and budgeted start up money, I’d get through the summer months. By fall I was supposed to have my classes paying the rent at the minimum, and sales of merchandise paying for new inventory. Best case scenario was that by Halloween I’d be able to add another teacher or a part-time salesperson so I could be open 6 days and have someone to cover the front room when I was teaching classes. All of these projections have fallen short and I’m barely covering expenses let alone having anything left for reinvestment in new inventory.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is just getting the word about what I do and what I sell out to the right people. Advertising costs a lot of money and needs to be eye-catching, informational and motivational to do the job. I’m telling you now that it takes a lot more to accomplish that than I ever thought. I still haven’t found the perfect mix. I did work with a local small advertising group to try to find a way to do this but I had to pull back on that because the cost was way beyond my current budget. We will be implementing a few small changes to the front of the store in the next few months to try to take advantage of my Main St. location and communicate what I do here more clearly to passersby.

Currently I’m looking at two different directions for the future of My Eclectic Mess. I see now that I cannot fulfill my original vision by myself. This doesn’t make that vision any less viable it just means it is beyond my abilities as one person. So I must now decide whether to give up complete control of my dream in order to see it realized in some manner or to scale back my dream to a size and scale that I can handle alone.

The first option is to continue moving forward with my original vision. In order to do this I will need help. I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have the skill set, financial know-how and marketing knowledge to do this all alone and I can’t afford to hire professionals to help me do it. I need a partner to fill in my weak spots. What I do bring to the table are innovative ideas, creative talent, customer service know-how, retail experience, merchandising abilities, industry knowledge, the ability to teach my skills in an approachable way and a great passion for what I know this business can be. I had a vision and I know in my heart of heart that it can be a success. Every week someone comes into the store and tells me how much something like this is needed in the Fox Valley and how happy they are to have these products and my expertise available to them. A week doesn’t go by that I don’t receive some kind of supportive comment or expression of admiration for what I’m doing here. Believe me, these are what keep me going and keep the anxiety and worry at bay.

The second option I’m considering is to scale back and regroup the business. So far the thing that has been paying the bills is fabric sales. The fabric industry is seeing big growth right now and I’m really excited by the new designers and lines I see coming out now. I am considering finding a smaller place or even seeing if I could rent a partial space from another retailer in the area and focus solely on fabric sales. This would enable me to continue to bring what I do to a local market and to work with customers face to face while putting more focus on selling my fabrics online through my Etsy.com site and also move toward setting up my own e-commerce site. If I took the classes, sew-by-the-hour, kids programs and camps out of the picture I would need much less space and thus, less rent and utilities. In September and October Etsy fabric sales were the only thing that enabled me to pay rent without having to dip into the family savings. I could also generate some much needed operations money by selling my classroom equipment.

I’m still trying to decide which of these scenarios is the right answer for me and My Eclectic Mess. The first one really depends on the universe delivering the right person at the right time to be the partner that I need. The second one is only slightly dependant on my finding a new location that costs about half what I’m paying now in rent and utilities while still being somewhere that my local customers can find me.

A third option that is somewhat related to option two is to find another small craft-related retailer or two that is facing similar dilemmas who would like to group together. Because I will probably have to at least temporarily give up the dream of being a truly eclectic craft store, I’d love to share my space with a bead/jewelry maker, yarn shop, stamp store, clay or glass studio, etc. Maybe the future of My Eclectic Mess is to become a craft retail cooperative rather than an independent multi-craft store. I know that many if not all of my customers do multiple crafts. They knit, sew, stamp, scrapbook, bead, weave, spin, collage, paint, and on and on. If they could go one place (other than the big box stores) to get it all and to find unique higher end supplies, they’d love it. I thought that was what I was going to be but I know now that I can’t at this time. If there are other entrepreneurial minded crafters out there that have thought about opening a store that caters to their specialty but have been afraid of jumping in alone, maybe we could work together. Or if there is another small retailer who thinks that what they do compliments what I do and is facing similar challenges as I am maybe we can combine forces and knowledge and help each other out.

This post is not about me whining about how tough things are right now. I know they are hard for most of us in this economy. This is not about me wanting to make money. I don’t intend to make an income from My Eclectic Mess for many, many years, if ever. One doesn’t go into small retail business with that intention. I just want to keep it and my family solvent so I can continue to bring the products and services that I love to others and to know that I am contributing to my community and using my skills and knowledge in some way. It also isn’t about making anyone feel guilty for not doing more. If you’ve stopped in to the store (buying anything or not!), posted a comment here, sent an email, given me an idea for an event or class, made one of the projects from my tutorials, told someone else about my store, or even just read this blog regularly, you’ve done something to support me and I appreciate it.

What this post is about is me assessing the situation and making an effort to find solutions to the problems I’m facing. It is also about me being honest with myself and with my friends and customers (who I’m happy to say on many levels are most often one and the same). I’ve spent the majority of my 40+ years on this earth being staunchly independent and trying to muddle through life on my own power. I’m finally learning that sometimes I need help and the only way to be sure to get it is to ask for it. So here I am being very Oprah-like and asking the universe to give me a gift. I’m putting my wishes out there and hoping the universe sends me the help I need.

So anyway. If you are in the area today stop in for cookies, apple cider, and wine. Plus I have in store specials and product demos planned for this afternoon.

Today she brought in the fabric and the wooden frame her carpenter built for her and we tackled it together. We did some math, measuring and digging around in the basement for a few little supplies until we completed this awesome awning!
 
And we had a lot of fun doing it too. She has very little sewing experience but she was perfectly capable of “following the scalloped line” and sewed the little edging perfectly on the first try. Then we had to get “Girl Scout creative” with our staple gun with a too short cord and no working extension cord and a little more garbage picking to put it all together.

All in all a very satisfying project and now Cammie can tell all the visitors to her basement Ice Cream Parlor that “I made that!” and be deservedly proud of her achievement.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE HALLOWEEN?
Artgirlz has such cool stuff anyway but I just fell in love with their special Halloween items. Friday after school Emma and I played with the mixed bag of black and orange felt balls in various sizes. They call them their pumpkin and spider collection. So of course I made a few of each of those! I used the teeny-tiny balls with seed beads to make eyes on the big spiders. Strong thread and a short piece of brown pipe cleaner makes a really cute pumpkin.

The Witch Kits are my favorite. (I also have two similar kits for Christmas, an elf and a tree.)

She came into the store with me today and on our way we stopped at Joann’s (yes, even I still shop there on occassion!) for materials. We found this metallic stretchy fabric that looked like magical tree bark or something. I added three colors (black,brown and tan) shimmery tulle and some dark olive green cotton knit and we had the makings of a Woodland Fairy costume.

Going by her vision and sketch plus a few ideas of my own this is what we came up with today. The gathered tulle and petals didn’t have enough give to fit over her head so I had to come up with a way to close up an open back. I refuse to put zippers in Halloween costumes so I decided to make loops and lace up the back of the bodice with black satin ribbon. This left the problem of the “hospital gown effect” in the back of the skirt. I solved that by making one more green petal and hand sewing it to one side of the skirt and putting a hook and eye closure on the other side. She also plans to wear a pair of black stretch velvet gymnastic shorts under it on Halloween.

It was a lot of fun working together on this project and coming up with an original design. This will probably be the last Halloween costume I’ll get to make for one of my girls so I had to go out with a bang!