Good Business Tactics?

Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July holiday.  We spent the day with neighbors and our friend from Pennsylvania who is in town for the week. 

Over this past weekend my laptop crasheed.  Well, I'm not so sure it actually crashed but when I turned it on the monitor stayed black with a very faint indication of the screen that was supposed to be showing.  I hit the Fn and F8 to brighten the screen to no avail.  Truthfully, I had noticed over the past week or so that the screen was getting dim and I would have to brighten it more and more frequently.  I think I could probably replace a fuse or something, but I'm much too busy to mess with it.  So, I bought a new one.  I really didn't expect the new one to arrive for a week or two but lo and behold, I got a message today that it's on the UPS truck to be delivered today. 

In the meantime, I've been using my old tower computer.  It's funny how we denote computers as old.  The laptop was 5 or 6 years old and my tower is about 7 or 8 years old.  Even for a dog or cat, that's young.  Not so for a computer.  It reminds me of the story of the Singer sewing machine.  The first sewing machine that Singer put on the market was the old treadle machine.  Those machines were so well built that they simple never died.  Mother would pass them onto daughter.  The Singer Company, so the story goes, realized that they could sell lots more sewing machines if they weren't built so well.  They began to, intentionally, build sewing machines that did not last a lifetime.  I still have my grandmother's Singer treadle machine and it still works.

George gets tickled because I call it the dumbing of America.  Just think about it.  If you have a business, you want people to purchase more and more of what you are selling.  If the general population can make what you are selling, then your profits go down.  What if you encouraged the people not to make the item but rather to purchase it from you?  Why would they do that?  One reason is because it is one less thing that they have to do in their daily lives.  One less thing they have to know.  And, if you don't know how to make the item, then you cannot teach your children.  Eventually, if you want the item, the only way to get it is to buy it.  If the item doesn't last long, you have to buy it over and over and over again.  And, if the item or service happens to be an essential item or service, then you are guaranteed business.  All you have to mess with at that point are competitors.  To make it even better, you could gather your competitors into an organization and come up with a reason that the government should pass laws requiring people to purchase your product, or, limiting who can sell your product or service.  That, dear readers, is good business.

Enough of that.  The computer has not stopped me from embroidering and this week we've embroidered more napkins and more market baskets.  The pictures will come later.

C'est tout, mes amis

Another Year of Birthdays

Each year I pick an item to be embroidered for each of the girls in my Mardi Gras Krewe.  For instance, in 2009, everyone got embroidered napkins for their birthdays.  In 2010, everyone received embroidered pillowcases for their birthdays.  This year, 2011, they are receiving bath towels. 

The first birthday of the year in the Krewe is always Courtney.  She loves being the first but says that as the year progresses my creative juices start flowing on the item and by the end of the year, the girls are getting some really unique and creative embroidery, while her's is kind of plain Jane.  I really wanted Courtney to get something special this year, but you never know where the designing will end up by the end of the year.  To start off, it's difficult to put a lot of creative juices into a gift right after the holiday season and the time of year where we are the busiest.  I pondered Courtney's gift for a very long time.  Last year I found a design for a beautiful diva that I knew I wanted to use.  So, while I was pondering Courtney's design, the diva came to mind.  She was only about 2 or 3 inches tall but I redigitized her to 9 inches tall and digitized so her dress would be Mylar.  She turned out beautiful but alone she was lacking something.  She needed some pizzazz.  For a long time I've wanted to work with applique.  I touch on applique every once in awhile but not the in depth stuff that I'd like to do.  Courtney's birthday came and went but the girls had decided to celebrate her birthday this past Wednesday, yesterday.  This week had been so busy that I wasn't able to do much on her design, not to mention that I had orders to fill.  The beauty, for me, of designing is that I can be anyplace, doing anything, and get an idea and work it out in my head.  By the time I get to the design program on the computer, I pretty much have already worked the project out mentally.  Before I knew it, it was Wednesday morning and I needed that towel embroidered and wrapped to give her that evening.  The thought occurred to me to put a large clam shell behind the diva and done in applique.  I could not find a clam shell design that I liked but I did see a star applique that intrigued me.  I pulled the star design into the program and began the process of enlarging.  By the time I got the star to 9 inches, the stitches were all askew.  That just wouldn't work.  I decided to take the 9 inch design into the digitizing program and redigitize the star.  I had never used the applique function in the digitizing program before.  It seemed simple enough.  A star shape is not difficult.  The first time I did it, part of the stitches looked fine but most were not coming through.  I finally decided that I must have the satin stitches too wide.  Indeed, that was the case.  I redigitized and the star appeared fine on the computer.

The star behind the diva looked great on the computer but you never really know until you actually stitch it out.  I used one of the cheap towels that I purchased last year for the stitch out.  Then I had to find and determine what fabric to use in the applique.  I happened on a silky, woven, black fabric that I was going to use, just for the stitch out.  OMG!  After that design stitched out, and it stitched out perfectly, I immediately placed that towel in my bathroom.  It was beautiful.  I used one of the nice, new white towels for Courtney's and added her name inside the black star. 

My plan is to use the stitch out towel repeatedly, washing and drying, to make sure everything is sturdy and doesn't fall apart easily.  Then I think I'm going to use the same design for each of the girls this year but change the colors and applique fabric so each is individual.

When my friend, Turtle, was here earlier this week, she was telling me that she uses Fray Check a lot.  I have a bottle of Fray Check but had just never used it.  I did run a bead of Fray Check partially around Courtneny's star where I felt it was the weakest.  That should hold it nice and tight.  I can see that I will probably start investing in a lot of Fray Check, especially if I'm going to be doing a lot of applique.

Also, while Turtle was here, we stitched out an in the hoop card holder.  It holds business cards, as well as gift cards.  The paisley design is so en vogue and fun.  Another friend of mine told me sometime ago that I should always carry give-aways with my cards, so people can see my work.  This card holder would be an ideal give-away.  Just put my card inside and hand the holder to whoever I was giving the card.  Maybe I'll change the design to say Cajun Stitchery. 

Here Comes The Holidays

It's another wonderful Wednesday.  The weather has been so cool that yesterday I had to close the windows and put on my warm, fuzzy socks.  This morning the windows are closed because George is cleaning the windows and screens outside.  Since this cool weather has appeared, I cannot keep the man indoors. 

I have to renew my driver's license this month and all of a sudden the Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles wants all kinds of original or certified documents, including birth certificate, social security card, marriage certificate, plus 2 documents showing your residential address.  Good gosh!  I guess they are checking for aliens.  Hope I still have this stuff.  We used to have to bring 2 pieces of mail sent to you at your address and we always brought a couple of bills.  Nowadays our bills are paid online and we do not receive paper billing.  I think I'll bring the mail that the Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles sent me in the mail. 

I also have to pay for and get my new vehicle registration and tag.  The price on this bill is almost the value of the car.  Next month we get to pay property taxes.  Oh joy!  I know the economy is down but I wonder if the governments of the people, by the people, and for the people realize that the people are drained.  Shouldn't they go to all of those banks and big businesses that they bailed out and get money from those deep pockets?

Enough of my rantings and ravings.  Have you ever noticed that when it is September, it feels like Christmas is far away, but when it turns into October, all of a sudden Christmas is upon us and we need to get things done?  Last week was September, we were preparing for the festival and Christmas seemed so far away.  We are probably more aware than most about the seasons because the business requires us to stay aware of holidays and such.  This one week has brought on the realization of just how close we are to halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  Oh, and don't forget the elections in November -- just a month away.  In fact, I believe you can start voting early this week.

Ever since we started selling napkins, I've wanted to have a beautiful table setting for every season/holiday.  Last year I finally embroidered some nice napkins and a runner for us for Christmas -- in January.  Now I'm working on Halloween.  Yesterday, I made 8 napkins for Halloween.  I had some orange print broadcloth purchased sometime ago when it was on sale.  Perfect!  I re-digitized part of the little witch that was embroidered on one of our tea towels (and sold this past weekend) and embroidered her on each of the napkins.  The edges are serged.  They look stiff now because they still have the sizing in them, but once washed, they will be very soft.  All of my personal napkins are made from broadcloth.  It's just my preference, but I like those the best.  Our Christmas napkins are the store bought, hotel quality napkins that we sell.  Did you know that there are different sized napkins for different occasions?  A dinner napkins should be 20" square.  A cocktail napkin should be 10" square.  I believe a lunch napkin is about 15" square.

Napkins are easy to make.  I cut 20" squares of broadcloth and serge the edges.  Any nice hem would work.  Weave the serger tails into the serged hem and voila!  You have a dinner napkin.  Use different prints and even different fabrics to achieve a new look for every occasion.  Embellish with lace or stitching for something unique and beautiful.  One of our wholesale stores sells napkins made from organza, poplin and satin, as well as cotton, broadcloth and polyesther.  Experiment.  Most of all, enjoy the process.

Of course, if you don't want to make your own napkins, call me.  We love making napkins at Cajun Stitchery.  Either way, please, please, please stop using paper napkins.

Halloween napkins are done.  Now I'm designing a Halloween runner for the table.  I have a piece of nice, black satin that I would like to use.  Maybe I'll trim it in the orange print fabric.  I'm not sure yet.  I wanted to have the little witch design on either end of the runner with a larger haunted house design embroidered in the center.  The haunted house design that I had in mind turned out to be about the same size as the witch and it just didn't excite me.  I have a design that I plan to stitch out with pumpkins and candy corn that I think will end up being the center for the runner.  The colors are much lighter and brighter (oranges, yellows, and white) and will contrast better with the black satin than a dark haunted house.  The little witch on either end will either have her black attire changed to orange or she will be appliqued onto the orange print fabric.  A black witch on black satin isn't going to stand out very well.

Yesterday, I also did another project for us.  I embroidered a couple more of our own pillowcases.  The design is two tigers.  I did the first one in an orange-gold color and the second in black.  They really stitched out well and we are very pleased with them.  This design would look nice on just about any solid color.  The size is about 5 or 6" wide, so, it's a good size design.

We have lots of projects coming up and make sure you check back for Christmas gifts and decorations.

C'est toute, mes amis.