Bags for Little Ladies

I just had to share some of the wee handbags I've tried out this week.  Ideas are still zooming around my mind, but these first ones have certainly got me in the mood to make more.

Of course, Moo had to get in on the act and try the handbags for size, which got me thinking - maybe there's room for a range of Little Man Bags?

Pip pip, Lady B.

It's in the bag

I recently had a rather big brainstorm, with flashes of light and more than a considerable number of sparks flying, and decided out of the blue to start making and selling bags.  Handbags, tote bags, wee funky bags for kids, purses, make-up bags, you name it, I feel the urge to make it.  I can hardly wait to get to my machine each day now and try a new pattern and see what lairy and crazy or cool and gorgeous bag I can whip up.  Of course, this has opened up a whole new avenue of potential spending - a disaster for a compulsive purchaser of anything crafty, such as myself.  (I am thinking maybe you are the same, eh?)

So now, to add to the stashes of fabric, I have buckles, and gigantic buttons, and handles, and magnetic snaps, and webbing, and lordie knows what other new goodies!  Please don't tell Mr Flo - he'll cry.

Add to that the excitement of finding so many online free bag patterns to print off and try out, and wowser, there really is no end to the fun to be had.

That said, I must be off now and faff with the strap for a wee monster handbag - it may be for a child but it still has to have *just* the right handle!

Small Businesses Need Help - Crafty Or Otherwise

I've become more and more aware that small businesses, especially crafters and artisans, are finding the recession every bit as challenging as the bog kahoonas, and that the recent changes to FaceBook have for some made matters even more, shall we say, interesting.

I've been reading up and trying to make sense of what's going on, what changes to social media mean for small business, and how people can best try to stay afloat and - dare I say it - even do blummin well despite the roadblocks.  There's lots of dross out there, lots of "well yeah derrrr" stuff that even my old granny could have figured out, but also some top notch crackingly good advice and help.

So I though, rather than read it and digest it and use it and keep it to myself, I'd do the right thing and share it with anyone else wanting to know what's what.  As a result, I started a wee FaceBook page called Flo's Small Business Low Down where I (and hope others will share too) can share what we find.

Together we can make it work.

Summer shorts and boardies time

Well it's soon gonna be *that* time of year... you know the one... where the big orange orb in the sky is in full bloom for hours and hours a day, the water is warm, and the jandals get a good airing.  Time for the chilly bin to be dusted off and the BBQ to be fired up.  It's SHORTS TIME!

I love summer, not just for wearing shorts and t shirts and sandals and suncream, but also for being able to make shorts and skirts for MooAndFlo. So today I whipped up the first few pairs, and here's a sneaky peeky...

Crafts v. Sweat shops

When people find out I make clothes and sell them, I get one of two responses:

"Ooh good on you, what do you make?" and then lots of enthusing about craft fairs and small businesses selling quirky and wonderful things...

OR

"You could get those made overseas at a fraction of the cost and then sell them here - you'd be rich in no time" and a lecture about how me working for below minimum wage is madness...

So here's the deal:  I sew because it's therapeutic.  I sew because it is a wonderful feeling when someone buys something you made.  I sew because the thank you emails and photos really do make my day.  I sew because creating something is just so much fun.  I sew because it's a good way to keep learning something new.  I sew for more reasons than money. 

As for hiring some poorly paid sweat shop workers, often children, almost always female, to whip some stuff up to make line my pockets, well the thought appalls me.  I'm no saint, but seriously, are people really just focused that much on the dollar sign?

So, next time you are torn between buying something handmade by a local crafter and buying something mass made, just ponder who made the garment you are looking at and why.

If Confucius could sew...

... he would have had a whole new list of sayings:

Confucius says

• no matter what fabric you buy, your customers will want the one that's run out
• you will run out of cotton half way through a fancy stitch
• the busier you are, the more likely it is that your overlocker will jam
• never underestimate the importance of ironing before you sew
• despite having ten different coloured pins, you will always drop the one that matches the carpet

10 step programme

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.

I like to think I can stop at one print, but once I've started it just seems to start a domino effect and before I know it my trolley has 15 bolts in it, some of it the hard stuff like quilters' cotton.  And I tell myself, okay, well I'll just get one metre of each, that's not so bad... then I see the 50% off sign and soon I am sneaking 2- and 3- metre cuts into my unmarked brown shopping bag and hoping no-one will notice. 

So I'm asking you, as my friends, please don't offer me offcuts.  Don't ply me with remnants or fat quarters.  Keep your bolt ends locked in a cuboard out of reach.

Please help me to help myself.

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.