A Few Hard Knocks

A few weeks ago I was prepping for the Makers fair in San Mateo. I started several weeks prior to the opening date of the fair--cutting, ironing, pinning and then...time got away from me and I fell short on the sewing and finishing work. So...naturally I panicked! Instead of making less aprons that I could be very proud of, I decided that more aprons would be better and to cut some corners forsaking some of the quality. What is funny is "the cutting corners" goes against the grain of what I believe in, but somehow fear overcame me.

Anyway, I finished sewing most of the aprons, but I still had to sew the pockets and here in lies my downfall...i decided to skip the element that is my own little personal touch on my pockets--Normally, i stitch elastic piquot to the top and it gives the pockets a sweet rutching. However, this time I sewed the pockets, turned, pressed and packaged them up and off to Makers I went.

As they hung behind me on display at my booth--I realized how wrong...wrong wrong they looked. Sure they were childrens aprons, sure the fabrics were cute and they were all ready for market, but that special thing that makes them charming...to me...was missing. That softly gathered pocket looked more like a clumsy, out of place mistake. So, I vowed that after the fair that I would go home and take off each pocket and do them again...right.
                                          A pocket after panick....

And..that is what I have been doing. The bummer is having to take them out of their packages, take off all of the pockets and re-prep everything. But, some of the lessons we learn in life are the hardest(and believe me this was a tough one) The pockets are now all off and the piquot is one them and I am in the process of stitching them back on to the aprons. ---I learned a great deal from this experience. I now know... that I never want to be stuck trying to sell something I don't entirely believe. That at shows--less is more as long as the quality is there because there are no do-overs in this case. Last, I will always set my construction deadlines to be several days from any craft show because nothing good really ever comes from late night, last minute sewing. LAST, I believe that I am lucky enough to take these life lessons with me and learning to build a tiny cottage, craft business takes time, patience and some hard knocks--but they are worth it!

ahh that is better...!