A bit of a sort out

I had a massive sort out of my fabric at the weekend, it did my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder no end of good. I am one of those people who needs to tidy my desk at the end of the day, I just like things to be  neat and tidy (preferably at right angles to my desk if I am feeling particularly stressed.)

But while my desk has been tended to, my fabric stash has been slowly consuming the cupboard in which they sit. To the point where I couldn't find fabrics I knew I had without a mammoth search, or even worse, going out to buy a replacement.

These boxes of fabric have been playing on my mind for months so I finally got some time this weekend and sorted them out, phew am I glad! I can now see exactly what I have, they look pretty and I am able to mix and match patterns and colours easily (I really should have done this months go). Although these are just the cottons, the rest are in a box under my desk!!

Notonthehighstreet.com

I have somewhat neglected my blog in recent weeks, this is mainly due to my new new shop. I have noticed that since I became a partner with noths.com  (two months ago) I am now receiving quite a number orders dropping into my inbox each week, which has meant I haven't had time to blog to share how it is going.

It is a lovely feeling when someone orders a product that you make and it's even more special when it is a bespoke 'made to order' product. I love taking the time to add little embellishments, to make each piece unique and special, I like to use lots of buttons (I love buttons, especially old red ones). My new shop allows me the time to add these extra special touches as I don't need to spend quite so much time working on promotion and marketing as notonthehighstreet mostly do that for me.

They have a very comprehensive CMS system which allows you to control the many variables your product may need, such as colour choice, customisation etc. Which allows the buyer to be very specific about their requests, but in a way that is also manageable to the seller.

For example my personalised bunting has a choice of fabrics for both letters and flags, it has a choice of motifs and also includes a section in which the buyer can type the name required. I have taken two orders for this in the last week and it works very smoothly.

I attended a workshop last week at noths.com HQ in London and came away enthused with a head full of ideas for new products and how to alter existing designs, I also have to say they are a thoroughly great team of people and I feel very privileged to be a partner.