A little over two years ago, I had a big birthday (Not telling which one it was!) I had spent years being a stay at home mum and decided it was time for me to get back out there.
I have always loved making things and had seen an advert for an embroidery machine and that was it, decision made!!! Looking back now I was clueless about the amount of work involved in learning to use my new machine. I spent weeks going back and forth to the local sewing shop, where the very patient owner would help me with everything from threading properly to tension, needles, fabric, stabiliser etc, etc. It was the steepest learning curve. I would use my poor partners t-shirts for practise and I now cringe when I see some of the basic, puckered designs I see him wearing.
I loved that first machine but when we saw a commercial Brother 6 needle come up at auction, I got very excited at the possibilities. It was a game changer and I love it. So a new machine, a reorganised workspace and a very understanding family have been the foundations of a blossoming embroidery business. My daughter takes my photographs and reels and does my social media, my partner models some of the menswear items and, being an engineer, is quite handy when things go wrong with the machine. It really is a team effort. My long suffering extended family have had embroidered things for birthdays and Christmas ever since.
We started on Etsy with embroidered children's sweatshirts and slowly added other children's accessories, such as aprons and now we have added adult t-shirts and tote bags (My partner is a huge motorbike fan so creating t-shirts for him helps)
In January we finished work on our website, another steep learning curve.
Things I have learned along the way; Persistence is essential, starting a business from scratch is so hard but extremely rewarding.
You might be good at sewing but to run an effective business you also have to be good at designing, promoting and selling, accounting, sourcing quality stock etc etc.
Social media is a crucial part of selling anything these days and having a teenager around is brilliant for learning the ropes.
The minute you take you eyes off the machine it will do something weird and you'll have to start again!!
The little failures are as important as the little wins.
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