Despatching road block sorted!

Whahey! I'm back - I never really went away but life got a bit too complicated for a while there and since this whole little business to be is still in a holding pattern it moved onto a back burner as well for the summer.  Amazingly for me I still want to do it!  Indeed have been getting quite pissy about not being allowed any time to get on with my project.  But, at last, here I am as the dust settles on the various shenanigans of the last 6 months.  

Hot of the press meet "Sylvia" gorgeouse gray lace with a few sequins for sparkle

I made 2 aprons in quick succession and am very pleased with both of them.  I've decided to chill out about the Glamour Aprons - they cost what they cost because they take a lot of time to make and that's not because I'm a slow sewer its because I make them well - haha and I'm a bit scared of my overlocker.  Well, there you go, there's one little challenge gauntlet to pick up.  But not right now.

One of the main things that has been blocking progress has been trying to get to grips with the packaging and postal stuff.  I'm am very proud to announce that I have just ordered my first batch of boxes, tissue paper, plastic sachets and bags!  I know this doesn't sound like a big deal but, since I'm not exactly dealing with large quantities, indeed I don't really intend to ever reach factory proportions I've had to make a few compromises as per my packaging desires.  I did want a really sexy box but since most of them come from China and are exorbitantly expensive I decided to dial down my delusions of grandeur.  I am thinking that the Glamour Aprons really do need to be in a box anyway, haha and the moment I'd located a box I realised that I had to buy another box to pack it in. 

Ginormous sigh here but a major thumbs up to the people at Raja who spent hours explaining to me how envelope dimensions worked and locating various products for me.  Indeed I have to say that my dealings with these lovely people completely made my day and made me feel that I can really do this.  They really weren't snotty when I explained that I was only just starting and didn't think I could use 500 plastic envelopes.

Next step must be to sort out my stationery.  My visiting cards came out rather nicely but I've now got 2 designs on the go and should really plump for one or combine them or something - bit more thinking needed there.  Nevertheless I'm going to need some sort of sticker for my boxes, cards to put in the box and probably letterhead for the bill. At least.

So, I've missed the summer and the outdoor photo opportunities but I'm sure I can come up with something really just need to give myself some time and space.  The aprons look really nice on my real Edwardian dress makers dummy so maybe I should run with that and just put the dummy in odd places.  I'm also thinking that odd angles and close-up wearing the aprons might work well and maybe play a lot with colour.  You see I just need to think a bit….

Raw Materials Reconnoitering

This post was written in May but has only just made it onto Blogger.

It was really more of a wish than a plan - come up to Paris and find some really cool fournisseurs for bits and bobs for my aprons.  Clignancourt and Montreuil were a bust but this morning I went to Vanves and found some great stuff.  I don't think I paid too much although I didn't really haggle that much either.  The great thing is that I've made some cool contacts with at least 3 stall holders.  I'll probably have to go back and do the maths though to see what my pricing is like, but I dont mind charging a lots for an apron made of antique lace - all the lace I've bought is really quite beautiful.  But I really do need that visiting card so I think that will need to be the priority when I get back and to make sure that its done and printed before we leave for Littlehampton so that I can start dishing it out in the UK, because I'll probably find other fournisseurs there too.

I'm also ruminating about the mantras thing, and someecards and the fact that I could probably put together some pithy feminine sayings and have a photo of my apron somehow as an illustration and get them going viral.  I think I need to check out vintage life again and see if I can't find something, otherwise I've got those quotes I saved from the calendar - Ideally they need to be on someone - I could possibly photoshop the aprons onto an illustration.  The idea of a photo shoot gets pretty complicated when you think about wardrobe (haha other than the apron, that is) 

I might actually be thinking of several different "cards" at this point.  On the one hand there are the slightly saucy ones and "women with attitude" stuff that could, eventually go onto Glamour Aprons fb and get shared around whereas I did want a postcard to pop into the package explaining that its OK to get an apron - so, that's not the same. Then there's the photo shoot which could just be plain gorgeous and wouldn't need pithy comments.  I wonder if I could get away with photos on the mannequin with the pithy comments. The easiest thing would be to do illustrations.  The photo shoot is annoying because I should know someone who could do the modelling for me and then we could just have fun one afternoon dressing up and taking photos.  The only person I can think of is Carol and I think she'd be too self conscious. I'd need to lose some more weight (but maybe not that much more)  

Essentially I could put together 10 sayings for 10 photos with a mise en scene to go with it then I'd just have to parachute in the model, i'd need to think about what the apron would be worn with (never blatantly saying "you can wear them naked") - ridiculous really, I should know someone and then I think "well, since its going to be your clothes and your props why don't you do a Cindy Sharman and photograph yourself" strictly speaking there's no harm in trying and since it'll all start with the saying, that'll be quite cool - after all Cindy Sharman exposed at the Jeu de Paume.  I don't want to be stick thin and wouldn't want a thin nor a young model anyway, so maybe I do fit the bill.  Would be fun trying anyway. 

Need to make the gorgeous new aprons first so that gives me time to shed a few extra pounds…I think Ragnar could help with lighting and things like that.

So I need to get the lovable aprons done, only 3 anyway, the utility aprons, 3 again and the glamour aprons - although I'm sort of thinking that the photo shoot should just be Glamour Aprons.  I suppose the lovable and utility aprons can double up on the quotes and scenarios, even the outfits…

I need to get in touch with Loic and order thread, bias binding, rickrack, satin ribbon possibly…maybe try to source these myself on the web. possibly even some industrial lace. Just stuff that I can bung on à tout bout de champ!

Starting Block? What Starting Block?

Haha the starting block I haven't left yet.  Still not been to the Chamber of Commerce, might have found an accountant but haven't contacted him yet so I'll save any news about that one when, and if there is some.

Trial run for the 1 yard apron in lightweight blue spotted cotton

Sewing day last week had me working through the instructions for a free 1920's pattern  by Amy Barickman from a yard of fabric cut on the cross.  It was the fact that it was cut on the cross that intrigued me and I wanted to see how it came out.  Strikes me that in order to benefit from being cut on the cross the fabric needed to be heavier than my lightweight cotton but there's definitely something to be done there especially since I plan to make my loveable aprons out of linen…but then I might not, it's great to be so decisive. 

I would really, really love to spend some time thinking about all the paper stuff I'm going to need, trying to get to grips with designs and branding ready for when I can order them - I'm thinking this afternoon may be a good call. I feel I need to have some sort of postcard, or collection of postcards that explain what I'm about or why people shouldn't be offended if they've been given an apron as a gift - haha obviously it needs a bit more work than that on it.  Also would like some labels, visiting cards, correspondence cards (postcards could double up?) stickers would be useful just for starters!  

I might as well confess now that I'm doing the Canva design tutorials whenever I have a few minutes, just to make sure that I haven't missed something, I'd like to do all of them before launching myself on the paperwork, but they're quite quick so I don't see why I couldn't manage that this aftie.  

The design for the man apron is getting somewhat complicated with his nibs wanting some sort of lump in the front - after proper investigation the lump is supposed to be sausage shaped and he hopes it will keep the ties in place - men and their sausages eh? Anyway leave no stone unturned, I say.

So, that's it, today I shall try to "nail" my branding this afternoon - aha! maybe that means that some time next week this blog will no longer look the way it does today! hehe watch this space…

So, Where Do I Start?

Here is where, I start by writing down what I'm supposed to be doing - incidentally I'm wearing my own utility apron, though I think I'll have to come up with a better name than that.  

My mate Wend suggested that I get in touch with the local "Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie" which I hadn't thought about doing but would probably be as good a place as any to get started.  I'm rapidly getting to the point where I'll have to create the company just to move things along.  

Met with the bank manager last week and she asked me how I'd got the idea of making sexy aprons - embarrassingly I realised that if I'm a serious entrepreneur I should have all this "spiel" off pat, which I didn't but I did remember the first "Glamour Apron" and told her the story of my sister's hen night, so salvaged the moment.  

Think I'll have a bit of a surf for French structures for helping budding businesses. I mean, what am I supposed to do about accountancy? Stock and all that stuff?  There must be an app, but which one? 

Bought some fabric on line last week which was fun (if a bit naughty) but I got inspired by my projected men's range - yup those sexy waiter aprons haven't left me.  Even better, when the fabric I'd bought on line turned up, some of which I had chosen for the men's range the first thing my husband said was "can I have one?" I nearly fell over!  Since I was thinking about the men's cooking aprons I thought that meant that he wanted an apron to start cooking.  The next day, all became clearer; he wanted one of my utility aprons!  Its still brilliant that my entourage is asking me for my stuff - I can't remember any time in the 23 years that we've been married that my husband has actually asked me to make something for him, of course I do make things for him and then get miserable when he doesn't wear/use them but he's never actually asked for anything.

I've decided that this has to be a good sign.  However, unfortunately for hubby he had to get in line because mum's apron was to be the first off the assembly line.  

Utility apron for gardening/shop keeping mum

The original pattern instructions called for "awesome fabric" for the front pocket.  This is one of my favourite vintage fabric finds and is supposed to be reserved for making a sofa cover but I keep telling myself that I can spare a bit to make this or that.  And last week "that" turned out to be my mum's utility apron.  Yes the name has stuck.  I'm still not quite there with the design but I'm getting there.

Getting this one out there pushed me into getting some documentation sorted out.  Well sorted out is probably a bit generous; I flung together a postcard to try to explain what it is and why she shouldn't be offended to receive an apron as a gift.

I'm getting quite excited about the social implications of the apron and how it is in deeperate need of love and rehabilitation. Without doing any formal research (yet) it looks to me like the sixties saw the end of the apron, or more likely its move into a craft apron because we women got liberated and apparently didn't just burn our bras.  Then we worked out that we still needed aprons so we started wearing men's aprons (the one's I call the barbecue apron).

Last week at my friend Wend's house we were chatting in the kitchen while she made dinner and she'd put on her apron (yes she is on my list of people to get a new apron, but since I'm going to design it specially for her it might take some time) and she pointed to the back of the kitchen door: a whole load of aprons.  I realise that I too have the collection of aprons hanging up in the kitchen and you know what they're all the horrid barbecue variety often with something funny written on it but not really loveable.

So that's my mission to get people back to loving their aprons.

Looks like the name "utility apron" is going to stick by the way.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, hubby really, really wanted that apron so, in the end I dug up my prototypes and had him try them on.  First lesson: he wasn't that keen on tying it behind. Second lesson: he really really didn't like the zips.  So he ended up with the sugar bee crafts prototype and promptly stuffed it to the gills with mobile phone, keys, gloves, hat, tissues, torch and specs. So, there will be a fourth utility apron: the man apron.

Still need to find something to gauge a price for rental of my facilities, my first attempt at contacting an accountant ended with an automated email reply saying "busy for a month go away" which didn't really make me want to work with them.  I suspect I can do my own accountancy anyway, but I do need some way of keeping the books.  Get thee hence to the Chamber of Commerce woman!  

Going Professional

Vendor's apron as per pattern free from http://kitschycoo.blogspot.fr/2009/05/craft-vendor-apron-tutorial.html

Had a bit of a design epiphany last week and started investigating the utility apron.  Ended up putting together 2 from free patterns (http://www.sugarbeecrafts.com/2011/10/utility-apron-tutorial.html and http://kitschycoo.blogspot.fr/2009/05/craft-vendor-apron-tutorial.html)  on the internet and then coming up with my own design for me - the idea being to replace the need for a handbag.  Hmmm now that its made I'm not entirely sure, but I know that I'd be quite happy to wear it around the house and the usefulness for sewing and gardening can't be underestimated.  Its always the issue: where do girls get to put their phones?  And for me that ends up being phone, keys, glasses, tissues - if I'm in the garden that's secateurs, scissors, seed packets, wire ties, gloves and, I'm guessing because I haven't tried one yet but scissors, pin cushion, tailors chalk, stitch unpicker for sewing.  So, I'm still in the gift category and if I keep them simple they shouldn't take too much time to make.

So, I'm moving away from the glamour aprons and into the utility aprons, I'm also realising that I want to make really stylish aprons that can go into the washing machine - sort of "now I'm baking I want to wear a pretty apron" there are aprons out there in particular from "Anthropologie" but I'm sure I can do just as well, if not better.  Definitely need to get the price down a bit for them.  

I think all my aprons can still be unique but I do need to be able to mass produce them using a selection of patterns (as opposed to making the pattern up as I go along  - and not keeping a record of it!) So, that makes 3 different ranges: the sexy/glamour hostess aprons, the relentlessly utilitarian but stylish utility aprons and the pretty protections for people who enjoy being in the kitchen and what you wear is part of the experience.

They're all going to be "aprons you love" I'll stick to the all being unique since its definitely going to be a struggle to find the fabric.  Talking of which I've spotted my first fabric on the internet, maybe I'll treat myself, more my business when I get back.

Got some bad news this morning: the overlocker can't be repaired, she said difficult to find the part and that her guy had just given it back.  Embarassingly I'm guessing that the overlocker is possibly more than 20 years old so maybe it is time for a new one.  I'll have to see what I can still do with it and see if I can't manage without an overlocker to start with.  Definitely need a new sewing machine though and a decent iron wouldn't go amiss.  So suddenly the business plan comes into focus again, doesn't it?  

I need to work out how much I can spend on fabric, of course this is all rather vague at the moment since I don't even have any patterns so I don't know how much fabric I need to make these lovely things.  Only the sexy/glamour aprons are really a unknown quantity .  The utility aprons are going to be variations on a theme and should be quite easy to cost out.

Here's a thought, are there baking aprons and cooking aprons? I want my aprons to be the sort of thing that you can be wearing when your guests arrive, even part of the outfit?

Here's the odd thing, the new ranges feel really quite contemporary as opposed to the original vintage feel of the hostess aprons.

So, I'm off to Paris am hoping for a lurk around the fabric shops, maybe even getting to buy some useful bits and pieces, haha namely things that I've seen people using on "the Great British Sewing Bee"

Ah yes, I started writing about being professional.  I know a lot about being an amateur, I've always thought of myself as a "gifted amateur" and I have always believed that the difference between an amateur and a professional is that the former doesn't get paid for what they do.  Early on I learnt that some sort of training could make a difference, qualifications, establishments frequented and contacts gleaned from them all goes some way to the identity of the professional, not least the confidence that these things give to a person in the marketplace.  But, all in all, I have always believed that success is often brokered by just "how much" a person wants it.  And I always assumed that I just didn't want it enough.

I came to a bit more of a grounding conclusion last Thursday when I churned out my 2 utility aprons during another rather short day - so not so bad on the timing front as it happens.  Professional is about the attitude and with the attitude comes work practices, disciplines and efficiency.  None of which I have!  Of course, I could have; I am by nature rather organised and careful and really quite self disciplined when I need to be.  But last Thursday, in the throes of making aprons, I made a right old mess of my workroom, I must have lost at least an hour continually looking for a pair of scissors or a stitch unpicker, kilometers trotting around the table to get my pin cushion and fabric was left on the table both used and unused when it should not have been there at all!

All it really needs is some thought, but when you're a merry little amateur, gifted or not, non of that matters you're just playing.  I actually got annoyed with my own mess!  So, the work room still needs a bit of work.  I think I need a hand sewing station, somewhere covered with a nice blanket or something.  The ironing board needs to be on the same side of the table as the sewing machines.  Need to have some sort of storage for haberdashiery and maybe get some stock in (enough for 1st year's activity?).

The utility aprons are bouncing around my head at the moment: gardening apron, sewing apron, knitting apron, cooking apron, vendor apron, cleaning apron, handbag apron. festival apron?

I keep thinking about that woman who makes aprons and keeps telling her customers "buy her some beads"  There needs to be something to stop women being offended by being given an apron as a gift.  Maybe I need to write something about apron traditions - the finery, given to each other, not domestication and work part of our heritage as women.  We need to own our aprons.

Going to Paris means that I might be able to meet up with someone for some advice about how to set myself up - its all whether I want to pay right now or not.  He's a lawyer and I'm sort of wondering if it isn't more a sort of accountant that I need - probably both. 

I'm a Pathetic Dweeb

The latest creation "Marianne" all that red white and blue just made me think patriotic

Like you haven't already guessed from my gibbering on on this blog!  Well the source of my dweebery is that I was supposed to start work at 9H30 this morning and here I am just sitting down to business and its 11am - an hour and half late for work, that sort of thing would get me into trouble if I had a boss and since I'm the boss well! Rocket up the arse matey!   I can account for 40 minutes, that part of the original timetable didn't allow for which was taken up doing exercises and yoga and, whilst I agree that a work day should not necessarily be an exercise free day, I should have organised this better and probably got up earlier for example.  Oh yes I ran on a bit on the personal correspondence too, again by at least 30mins add to that a bit of domestic faffing around and that explains the 90 minutes fallen by the wayside.  I'm wondering if I can't work later to make up for it, lets see.  I might get away with 30 mins for lunch and possibly an extra 30mins before supper.  That'll have to do.  

Hmmm not exactly the way Richard Branson or Bill Gates must have done it but then, this is my business and its not going to cost me my health, nor my sanity, so I need my sleep and my exercise.  Just have to watch it next time.

I managed to do the pricing thing and the business plan last week and both have turned up some interesting thoughts and decisions.  Not least the necessity for me to institute some sort of timesheet system.  Haha just spent a minute dithering wanting to go off and put together a sexy timesheet for me to fill in - decided that can wait and I'll pop it on the todo list, meanwhile, scrappy bit of paper while I finish this.

Number one decision and discovery - my aprons are going to be really quite expensive, correction they're expensive now that I have factored in 1 hour of plain sewing but since the apron I made on Thursday took me 3 hours they are moving into the extraordinarily expensive range - and that wasn't even an embroidered one or anything special.  There are a number of things slowing me down, so, I'm not that worried about this at this stage but it is something that needs to be addressed.  I'll probably end up talking about this on a later post since its all about work flow that hasn't really had a fair run for its money yet.

But, here's the thing, it was fantastic to actually come up with a price that truly reflected what had gone into making the object.  I know, its not rocket science and all business people already know that - there's a sort of "duh" bumping around in my head.  But here's the thing everything I make is always very intricate and labour intensive, its usually beautifully made and gorgeous but it takes me a long time.  What this means is that I have spent my entire life making stuff, loving making it but never actually trying to sell it because it would just be "too expensive".  I have always gone on the premise that no one would ever pay me for the labour, let alone the quality and creativity of my work, of course what I'm thinking is that I wouldn't pay for it and, possibly I don't know anyone who would but that doesn't mean that no one would pay for it, does it? And that's what this whole palaver is about, trying to find out if anyone will buy my work for what it cost to make it.

My mother has this annoying habit of referring to profit as any money you make over and above the price of raw materials, it is possible that she is merely expressing an attitude that is prevalent today, I'll have to hope not, because the reality is that labour is a cost and time is not paid for with profit, profit is just that profit.  Even now I'm bashing back the little voice in my head saying "yes but thing is only worth what someone's prepared to pay for it" - we're learning that bitter lesson trying to sell our house at the moment, and anyone who's had to sell their home with negative equity knows, its a bitter pill to swallow.  

Anyway, my aprons aren't houses are they?  And I have more control over my outlets (theoretically, at least) and, here's the thing, if I can't sell my aprons for what it cost me to make them, then I won't sell them - I would like to think that over the fullness of time I will either work out ways to reduce my costs or find customers who can and will pay the price but if I don't try, I'll never know.  

I read about a woman who opened up a dog bakery in Paris the other day - so, if there's a market for baked goods for dogs, surely there's a market for my aprons…I believe the comment that was made was something like "if the figures stack up anything is possible". Do you know what? I think I'll contact him and ask if I can quote him on here.  Mutter, mutter another thing on the todo list… 

I did the business plan too, I could since I'd thrashed my way through pricing, its only written out and not looking sexy yet (but that will come) but there was one part of it that gave me pause for thought.  Come to think of a a few bits, even all of it, but the one that's had me humming and haaing all week is the bit about goals.  The blog said that it was a good idea to set goals to work towards.  I'm still essentially in a "holding position" as I write this.  My aprons are posted on Etsy and are for sale but I haven't really "launched" yet.  I've got most of the social media accounts lined up but am not really completely conversant with what I'm doing with them and they'll all need a bit of polishing.  And then there's advertising which I will need to move to at some point, particularly given how expensive my aprons have become overnight.  So, a logical goal would be a launch date.

I don't think you launch with only 9 aprons for sale - I wonder how many I would need? The sewing day last Thursday made me realise that I need to invest in some better equipment - not just repair some of my existing kit.  And then, of course there's the packaging and stationery to pay for - I'd love to do a proper photo shoot too.  

Ah yes, that's all the fun stuff but what about my company status? I need to get to the bottom of that and make sure that every thing is above board and, I dare say, that's going to cost money too… so, the long and short of it is that I'm going to need some money to get started.  Fortunately I won't have to ask anyone else, banks, parents, friends - which of course, no one ever really wants to do anyway, but because we're trying to sell our house, one fine day, we'll have a bit of spare cash and I'll be able to invest into my fledgling business, and, who knows, maybe even pay it back!  Of course the big question mark with all that is when is the house going to be sold?

But that can be my deadline - I'll have at least 3 months warning before the funds will be available, which will give me 3 months to get my act together.  Big sigh, there, I really think I need my excellent photo shoot to launch and am wondering if I can take the photos and be the stylist and just hire a model.  Of course, that's the problem when you're a one woman band - everything takes just a bit more time and you don't necessarily have all the skills - finding a photographer might be a plan…

In the meantime I'll just plod on making my gorgeous aprons and building up a stock and working out how to speed up the process without losing quality or individuality, and my latest little discovery, try to fathom Canva and its many secrets…

The Price Isn't Right...yet

Introducing Evie my latest apron inspired from a 1920's pattern made from some of my "expensive" fabric

So, this is clearly going to be the way of things… start off the day with a "collecting of thoughts" and post it on blogspot. Two main jobs on the horizon today.  Sorting out my pricing strategy and putting together a business plan.  My goodness just writing that down has got me all hot and bothered and I've had to take my jumper off!

Last week I started rootling around the Etsy website looking for information and ended up perusing what they call their Shopkeepers Manual, I think that's what it was called (haha idiot! its called the "Seller Handbook") but it seems to be basically a collection of informational blogs.  Two in particular caught my attention the one about getting the price of your product right called "How to Price like a Pro" by Abby Feuer and the other one about the importance of a business plan "How to Write a Creative Business Plan in Under An Hour" by Caroline Cummings.  

Of course I haven't done any of this stuff yet, just been letting it rattle around in the back of my head for the last few days but, to be honest, the pricing thing has been an issue right from the beginning.  The way I came to my price in the first place was to see how much everyone else was charging and then charge just a little bit more knowing full well that that wouldn't get me anywhere near my costs I suppose the idea being that I needed to get them out there and that I could worry about price later.  Well, they haven't exactly flown off the shelves and after having read the blog about pricing I realised that by not pricing my aprons properly I wasn't really taking them or me very seriously. 

I have also come to realise that there's not much motivation to be had from making something that won't make you any money.  So, given that the aprons haven't sold at the cheap price (albeit that I haven't been knocking myself out to promote them either) I might as well charge what I want since they're not selling anyway.  Aha now there's a freudian slip if ever I saw one "charge what I want" that could mean anything but of course what I want is to be paid for my labour (at least) and my creativity(at best) so, what I want is not exactly the Earth.  

Of course there are a few unknowns in the mix too.  "How to price like a pro"  suggested paying myself a minimum wage that's going to take some looking into and I'm guessing that employing myself here in France is not going to be the cheapest option but, of course the idea behind that is that the business has to be sustainable even if you're only doing it for a day or two a week.  Thank goodness for the internet is all I can say.  The other imponderable - now I'm guessing that that's not even a word in English but the spell checker hasn't twitched so I'll go with it - is my raw materials.  I can't even remember where I got a lot of my fabrics let alone how much they cost.  The best I can do is "that one was expensive".  Of course any fabrics bought in the future will be systematically labelled and there will be book keeping to keep track but, to start with…I really will just have to pluck a figure out of the air.  I could also function on a sort of budget: that I don't get to spend more than a certain amount on fabric for an apron for example - naaaaa that's not going to work what about the gloriously sequinned peacock apron that just sprung into my head?

Here's the thing, all this serious stuff has meant that I've really had to force myself to work today, I really, really didn't want to sit down to do the sensible stuff.  And then I realised its not the fact that its the sensible stuff its that I'm taking this seriously and therefore finally, after all this time committing to my own little business.  Its funny really, I never really had myself pegged as a commitophobe, but then running my own business has been a dream since childhood and, for some reason I've always shied away from it.  Actually, more to the point, I've refused at the last hurdle.  

There have been a few endeavours in the past and I've always found reasons to move on to something else, but the blog about creating a business plan "How to Get Serious About your Etsy Shop" really put me on the spot - talking about fear of failure or success. 

I was just thinking about how I'm a bit of a harsh critic of aprons and am thinking that that's all part of the trying to back out of it type stunt and then musing about the fact that I have decided to stand my ground on this particular venture and wondering "why this one?".  I find the answer to that one is easy, "because I know its right" ; its right for me, its right for now and its doable.  But here's the funny thing, of all the things that I have ever made and sold or talked about selling people close to me are the least impressed by the aprons, they just don't seem to get them.  I'm thinking most particularly about my little sister, Nicky, who, strangely was the recipient of my very first "glamour apron" 7 years ago on her hen night.  Nicky died last Christmas, she was ill for a long time before hand, and was someone who had a real zest for life.  She was always very encouraging about my creative endeavours and always telling me how I should sell this or that item but never really got the aprons.  So its a bit ironic that I have decided to push through all this angst and dithering and do this thing precisely because I want to make my life count for her.  Still that just makes it all the more real.  I'm the one who has to believe in my product, oh yes, me and my eventual customers.  

And that's what Etsy had to say about writing out a business plan, even if its just on a sheet of A4 and only takes an hour (haha here's hoping) its a commitment and makes the whole thing real.  Whoop, whoop I'm going to grit my teeth and come out of this with a proper business and I'm not going to knock my lovely aprons ever again!

Onwards and Upwards!

So, what's being going on this week?  Oh yes, I was challenged to wear one of my own aprons to the Sunday lunch I hostessed last weekend.  I thought it was quite a valid point so I did.  I ended up wearing Hedy and loving it.  I took the photo somewhat drunkenly after the event but it did look lovely.  However my short crocheted dress did make me realise that I need to make a few aprons that will work with short dresses…Its also got me mentally going through my wardrobe wondering which apron for which outfit…are those glamourous photos going to turn up on the horizon soon? In any case this ain't one of them...

Now, where were we?  Oh yes, last week I managed to get the right photos in the right places and posted the most dreadful french version of my Etsy pitch on my shop in the spirit of "get something up there".  The plan for that one is to become part of the French Etsy community and then do an exchange deal where I check a French shopkeeper's English and they check my French - of course that sort of relies on equal abilities in the 2 languages and equal work load… maybe not such a good idea.  I'm in France for goodness sake! this really shouldn't be that hard to deal with so I'll move on with a mental "note to self" to get that sorted soooon.

So the new aprons "Belinda", "Gwendoline" and "Evie" finally made it into the shop and so to the world!  "Racquel" didn't make the grade in the end and will remain a curiosity made from a recycled fur coat. I didn't want to stir up an ethical storm and anyway the fur was so old it really was falling apart.

So, my little social empire has a few foundation stones and a lot of ambition.  I'd like to find some sort of "news" story about aprons for the FaceBook page and I suppose the Google+ page although that's still the mystery it was last week, maybe I can get to the bottom of that this week?

That's Feedly, FB, Google+, maybe Twitter, no, definitely Twitter (I'll do that this morning too!) Pinterest, FlickR and of course Etsy.  I'm thinking a little Tumblr activity wouldn't go amiss either.

I need to be looking after the shop a bit and sorting out this Treasury lark which looks like a lot of fun and basically getting to grips with marketing on both Etsy and Pinterest - I've been getting emails about this stuff so maybe now I need to pay a bit more attention.

And then, of course there's the merchandise!  Mustn't forget that.  I've been worrying about sourcing my fabrics for a while now and have done a tentative search for vintage fabrics on line but, the bottom line is that I don't think that's going to work for me.  I need to feel the fabric and see it move really, and a lot of the time its the fabric that inspires the garment so…. I've decided that I need to get serious about "brocante" and start systematically going to any that are announced locally.  I've already scoped out fabric shops in my nearest big city I'm now going to be searching farther a field and, of course, there'll always be Paris.  So I won't worry about that too much.

I'd like to get the packaging looking really lovely and find some nice boxes for the ultimate  gift experience.

Oh yes and the new product line!  I've decided that I want to make ties too!  This makes the fabric sourcing even more difficult but I think that's the whole point.  I've been sewing for years - practically all my life and the reason why I stopped a few years ago was that I got fed up of not being able to find the right fabrics… I'm thinking now that I just didn't try hard enough.  And of course I've always got the option of making my own fabrics - for the ties at least.  Its strange how the ties and the aprons seems to belong together, both part of the cocktail era somehow.

Mrs Apron on Pinterest

Haha! That's me! Me and hundreds of others of course, but I like to think I'm doing something different but given the scope of the Web there's bound to be someone out there diddling around with all this social media stuff and possibly even making a bid to be Mrs Apron, at least on Pinterest.

I'm getting the feeling that it really doesn't pay to think things through too much as far as social media is concerned and that the way to go is "with the flow".  I rambled on about gift suggestions and clever marketing, I've even signed up to some sort of Pinterest marketing blog.  I well and truly got my knickers in a twist about what I should be doing and when and for how long and then, thankfully, I read a blog that just said "Chill, just be yourself".  Sound advice in all matters as it happens but in this particular instance it allowed me to put my knickers back on.

1943 Cocktail apron by Mainbocher. The peplum would have been the ultimate decorative apron worn purely for effect rather than function. The construction is such that it is form fitting and has an interesting shape around the hips. The bouquet of flowers used to accent this piece is a testament to the fact that all Mainbocher's artificial flowers were beautifully crafted and voluptuous. Via MMA metmuseum.org.

Creatively I find Pinterest to be an amazing tool, I, like millions of others, mostly women I think, also really, really enjoy the pursuit of images.  For anyone who doesn't know Pinterest yet; its sort of the 21st century's digital answer to scrapbooking - not something I ever learnt to do but this modern version is a lot of fun.

So, rather than using my Pinterest account to push people to my Etsy shop I've decided to use my account as an inspiration tool for ideas for my apron making industry.  What has happened is that, where most people on Pinterest have a few hundred boards and one of them is about aprons or vintage aprons, all of my boards, well, nearly all, I couldn't resist a quick vintage dresses board, are about aprons.  I've ended up categorising the world of aprons.

The mind boggles at all the different sorts of aprons there are out there, and there's a few that I haven't added because I think they are off subject... for the moment things like butchers' and bakers' aprons, nurses aprons.  Ha! even as I write that down I'm thinking "but nurses aprons are sexy" anyway, "not now" is my attitude.

Here's the list as it stands today: hostess aprons, cocktail aprons, half aprons, full body aprons, smock/cobbler aprons, drop waist aprons, bib aprons, transformation aprons, festive aprons, wedding aprons, craft aprons, working aprons,  barbecue aprons, funny or theme aprons, children's aprons, antique aprons, national costume aprons, crochet aprons, contemporary aprons, apron patterns, photos of aprons, dirty kirtle... phew! impressive heh? I had a bit of a marathon session last night on crochet aprons and was truly amazed at how many lovely things there are out there, and, of course those are just the photos I found on Pinterest, I haven't even started looking elsewhere.  I reckon to be valid all of my boards need to have at least 100 aprons on them - well, I've got to aim for something haven't I?

The whole process ends up being quite instructive, I mean, I had no idea what a wedding apron could be, a quick look last night came up with 4 possible uses: a) as a hen party gift that the guests at the party could write messages on b) as a his and hers gift c) as a protection for the "somewhat pricey" wedding dress from food and drink and d)something to wear as part of the wedding outfit.

What is becoming clear to me is that the world of aprons is remarkably complex and, what initially attracted me to aprons, the glamorous 1950's hostess apron is just the tip of the iceberg.  Women have been wearing beautiful aprons for centuries and the idea wasn't to protect their frock, possibly to display their handiwork but mostly to wear some finery.

At some point during my pinning someone mentioned that black aprons were for mourning - now there's a thought, that I should maybe research before creating the corresponding board.

Whenever I come across someone else's board that is dedicated to aprons I follow it and this morning I am following 347 people!  Its true that not all of those people are going to be passionate about aprons that that's just my off the cuff following, I still need to look for the apron fetishist pinners.  The world may have shrunk with the internet but social media seems to have made it infinite.

I now know that the spanish for aprons is delantales I'm sort of wondering what the singular must be, but its cool that I learnt that while I was having so much fun.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put a blurry photo on the last post and I think I'll try to post my favourite find from yesterday's trawling.

Aha, yes, for info there are 4 more aprons finished and photographed just got to get their descriptions done then I can launch them on my unsuspecting, if somewhat scattered and minuscule public!

Onwards and Upwards

Blimey! I've just realised that I really have to try and do something interesting here now. 

One of the side effects of my getting properly digital in order to sell my totally undigital aprons is that I've ended up finding a whole load of old school friends on Facebook.  Hello Dunalley Primary Class of '73 if any of you have tracked this down! Lots of wandering down memory lane and has had me rummaging around in all the boxes of old school stuff that I've just moved from pillar to post all these years.  And by "all these years" I mean a lot of years. I am staggered at how dull I was!  I've just posted onto the group the timetable I put in my project for a visit to Goodrich Castle and Tintern Abbey.  Even my school report has nothing of any interest in it.  No quirks no character at all!  To be honest I'm amazed anyone in the Dunalley group remembers me at all, I'm not sure I would.

So, now, here I am and I need to be interesting.  I suppose I need to be more "of interest" than interesting.  I need to give this blog some sort of focus, its not going to be enough for me to dribble on about nothing in particular if its going to get people interested enough in my aprons to actually buy one!  So, I've decided to use this blog to try and thrash out some sort of strategy.

1. The aim is to sell my aprons

Just having my aprons for sale on Etsy is not enough to get them seen and the blogs and facebooks are about getting the aprons found so that when someone does a search on Google for that special gift they end up finding my aprons.

Of course there are lots of people who love aprons already and even collect them, so I need to be visible to them too.

2. This blog needs to furnish a service in order to get read by the maximum number of people.

Yes it can furnish links to aprons patterns and the like but that doesn't really feel right or enough.

My idea right now is that I should help people find gifts...I'm sure loads of other people do that already but they won't be doing it quite like me, will they?  Hang on, I'll just have a quick surf to what that little niche is like. (...) Of course! its mostly shops selling their stuff! So, now I'll check the blogosphere (...)Oh wow there are some real heavy hitters out there - check this one out http://www.thegiftinsider.com/index.php.  

Of course there will be loads of people out there suggesting gifts but its definitely an area where its a question of horses for courses.  That's OK so far as it goes but... what about the "Dirty Kirtle" aspect of my aprons?

I've deliberately avoided any mention of this aspect of my aprons on Etsy deciding that the use for the apron is in the eye of the beholder.  Maybe here I could be a bit more daring?  Sort of subtle sexy ideas for gifts for example?  The whole reason I made the first apron all those years ago was because I was uncomfortable with the options available for my sister's hen party. (...) Ooh just ended up on Glamour's 15 naughty but oh so nice holiday gift ideas makes my possible contributions sound positively "vanilla" as they say, well, why not?  maybe that's the missing link? A bit of subtlety.

Lists seem to work quite well on the web, OK, I'm the one who like lists.  Not to mention the fact that it would be fun to do all that virtual shopping on the web and the blog posts can be backed up by a Pinterest board... on no! another online logo required.

Sort of more in the line of sensual gift ideas perhaps?

Sweating Blood Here

Note the big gap in blog entries - that's because I have been doggedly trying to put some social media buttons on this thing! But I have not given up and finally, yesterday, I managed with the help of someone on the Blogger forum, oops I should, at least, have credited him here. I'm really sorry, whoever you were, but I can't find you back - unless you're in my history... hang on...found you Deepak Kamat! here's your link https://www.blogger.com/profile/09720758850729600278 and you truly saved my bacon with "Social Media icons - Making it inline." You and Martin Leblanc at Iconfinder.com and his blog "How to add social media icons to your gmail signature" have allowed me to produce that nifty little line of icons at the top right of my bar to the right.

I am inordinately proud of this and those little icons lead to all my other web presences, which, hopefully, will be of interest to you, my reader. That is, of course if you're interested in aprons, and, more specifically interested in glamourous, silly, sexy and pretty well more decorative than useful aprons.

Of course this is the strategy as mapped out by my book but I shall explain for anyone who hasn't dabbled where I have.

I make aprons out of vintage fabrics and off cuts and generally anything that inspires me. My aprons pay lip service to the idea of the 1950's hostess apron that I think is pretty sexy and how the happy owner of one of my aprons decides to wear my apron is entirely up to him or her. Indeed I learned a long time ago that its best not to explain your art, people who like what you do have their own understanding of what you do and its best not to disillusion them. So I don't explain my aprons, they are what they are.

I offer them up for sale on Etsy.com where I have my own shop called GlamourAprons and where I can accept credit card and payment by eBay. Cool. Ah, I haven't mentioned this before, but I live in France so any purchases will be despatched from France with the incumbant postage fees.

My blog here is to give a more human aspect to the GlamourAprons shop, possibly even represents a sort of shop assistant. I can of course be contacted via Etsy (they call it a convo), but, here you get to know me a bit better, and what my aprons and I are getting up to. So really, you get to know a bit more about my product too.

I have set up a page on Facebook for Glamour Aprons although I'll admit that at this point I don't really know what to do with it just yet.

Next to that is the button to my Google+ page which, at the moment just shows posts from here but in time, that too will have apron relevant stuff on it. I am hoping to use news feeds to post on both Facebook and Google+ but up until now I haven't really found anything that entertaining about aprons, after all there's only so much you want to read about Grandma's apron and how you remembered her at the kitchen sink and, as I have already mentioned, my aprons aren't really about that. I may need to get imaginative here. But that's the next job now that I've sorted out those Icons.

The St Patrick's day Sexy Hostess Half Apron

The next button is for my Flickr page - for anyone who doesn't know Flickr is a photo sharing site so I am using it for photos about my aprons (as opposed to the 5 "packshots" per apron allowed on Etsy), how I make them and anything that I feel is worth taking a photo of - like, for example, the half made St Patrick's apron, upstairs that's waiting for a bit of inspiration and that I'll post here too.

The final button is for Pinterest. Pinterest is a wonderful universe for anyone who loves looking, almost a visual odyssey I think it can best be described as a collection of digital scrapbooks. My sister introduced me to it and it wasn't until I wanted to see some examples of vintage aprons that I really got hooked. My relevant board for here is called Apronerie and I have pinned to it aprons that I like or patterns that I think might be useful and even the odd photo of women of the fifties wearing their aprons just a whole bunch of lovely things really, and, of course my own aprons.

Since I'm only in the beginning throes of all of this, although I have opened a Twitter account, I really don't know what to do with it, so until I start tweeting, and more's to the point, find something interesting to tweet about I'm not providing a link to that.

And then of course, there's here, which in true Blog tradition is just me burbling on about whatever I have to say on any given day, with the proviso that it has something to do my aprons or trying to promote them or sell them.

Now this little diatribe has got the juices flowing about alternative points of interest for Facebook and Google+... watch this space.

Striding on Through

I'm being quite disciplined about reading my RSS feeds although I suspect that I could do better with my choice of alerts - I'm assuming that that's something that "matures" with time as I try different alerts. The RSS alerts has me reading other people's blogs quite a bit and makes me reallise that I really can't be just leaving this little missive in its plain, unadorned state.  I've just been reading a blog called 3am teacher who's also a seller on Etsy and it looks like a masterclass in what I should be aiming at. Oh hey I'll give it a link here, why not. Well, that's an object lesson if ever there was one, I didn't mark it "save for later" so its been read and gone! Maybe I can find her through Etsy...found her! http://the3amteacher.blogspot.com/ duly bookmarked for perusal later.  Always good to have a benchmark, I say.

Puppy Isis Sleeping on the Photo shoot!

Meanwhile I've been having a blast on Pinterest - My sister plays games, I bounce around Pinterest.  Wierdly people are following me at the moment, I think I must be being offered up to newbies, I think I'm supposed to follow them back.  I'll do that next I think.

Actually the best bit is the Apronerie board I've created.  Pinterest does have a separate section for businesses but after reading the conditions etc and given that I'm not making any money yet I've decided to put the business side of Pinterest on hold, for the moment.  Getting a few people following my apronerie board already and a real Pinterest pro has not only followed me back but invited me to join her group board on vintage aprons!  I know, I know anyone who hasn't discovered the wonders of social networking might think I'm getting overly excited about an automatic email response but, here's the thing, because I am now a member of her group board, I get to post on her board, so guess what I get to post? my "vintage style retro hostess half aprons".  I think I might be getting the hang of the selling thing.  Anyway I won't abuse and I'll post as many non sales posts as sales and that should be OK there are plenty of other sales posts up there and quite a lot of modern aprons.  And there's there's the wierd thing...

... haha 15 minutes later.  It caught me again.  I thought it would only be polite to give Margaret Riggins a mention since she is the source of my excitement, I only went to my email to find her name and caught myself creating new mailbox's for the various pinterest activity and then decided it would be nice to follow my mate Wend who's just joined and there you go, wandering off into Pinterest!

So, back to the lovely Margaret.  She's almost got herself an apron shop on Pinterest, with, as far as I can see a very respectable collection of various aprons from around the world.  I have to wonder what she gets out of it and how can I repay her kindness and what I've come up with is that she wants posts on her boards and to be followed.  So there you have it.  Thank you Margaret.  And now I need to work out how to link to Pinterest from here.  I'm not sure that 3am teacher is on Pinterest... oh yes she is... she's got a button...

That's a surprise I've got an address http://www.pinterest.com/Tracythevan/ that's my perso Pinterest, that would sort of argue for a GlamourAprons pinterest wouldn't it, and then fess up to being a business, and, come to think of it, doing it sooner rather than later would stop people getting directed to my perso pinterest instead of my apron Pinterest.  haha there it is "Big Sigh".

And, there we go http://www.pinterest.com/Tracythevan/apronerie/ is my board for aprons as it stand at the moment, oh dear I may need to do it all over again for the business one.  By rights I should do a link to lovely Margaret Riggins too http://www.pinterest.com/1953liz/vintage-aprons/ well, that's her vintage aprons board.  Ah, it strikes me that my photo doesn't look very nice on Pinterest, although lovely on Etsy, I need to crop it... "Big Sigh" again.