When you're waiting for a bus...
Posted by Claire on 21st Jan 2022
Good afternoon sewists!
Great news, we've even more fabrics to inspire you, in fact double the number I was excepting to tell you about!
So as the title said, fabric deliveries are a bit like buses - none come along & then they all come at once!!
The trouble with having a small shop, with no storage, is the rush to clear deliveries before they become a health & safety nightmare. They were a bit of a major trip hazard for a while, as you lovely customers must be able to sense/smell new fabric & always pop in straight after a delivery!! But still, unpacking these bundles of fun beats going to the gym for exercise, in so many ways - pretty to look at, tones the arms & the brain (thinking of what to make with them!) and most of all - they smell much better than the gym!!
Once unpacked, they need checking to make sure, they are what's on the delivery note. Then I need to enter all their details in the webshop, photo's need taking (that has to wait for some decent daylight!) and then editing for webshop. Price tickets need printing & writing (old school, still done by hand!) Finally, the really tricky job, finding shelf space for them. It's a bit like a giant fabric Tetris game, moving current fabrics to squeeze in the newbies & then you find one is on a bolt that doesn't fit on the shelf...! Or there's that odd fabric, that doesn't fit in your groupings of materials, so it tends to get moved frequently!
The good news is though, they are all listed, photographed & on the webshop (I'm still putting labels on them & finding them homes though!!)
One of the deliveries was of Dead Stock fabric, this is end of manufacturing lines, so rather than go to landfill (as a lot of textiles end up) we have a supplier who travels Europe & buys it up. Their Sales rep comes to us with an Aladdin's Cave of suitcase samples! You never know what you're going to see & so end up buying things that definitely weren't on your shopping list (sound familiar?!) Sometimes, we get to find out which manufacturer has been using them, so be on the look out for Ralph Lauren, Liberty, Zara, M&S, Barbour & Top Shop, in our latest arrivals!!
Have a Very Happy Sewing Weekend
Claire x