Back to Business

By the time the next Monday morning arrived, I was fired up and ready to get on with some proper work. I still had some ongoing things on eBay- one or two new things I’d found the time to add over the weekend, and some which I’d relisted due to them not selling first time around. As anyone who’s ever been serious about selling on the site will know, you do have to keep on top of how the items are doing, and check regularly throughout the day for any questions from potential bidders- an added task to my ever growing list which I could perhaps have done without!

Then of course there’s the usual start-of-the-week job. Not only the early morning routines of the school run, washing up, washing etc. but clearing up and finding the house after a weekend of having everyone home. Why the house needs so much attention I don’t know! My family aren't a particularly messy bunch; they can sometimes be a bit prone to not clearing up after themselves in the kitchen for example, but nothing major. However, the extra washing up and vacuuming that follows the weekend always seems to be much more time consuming than at any other time! Perhaps it’s just a case of Monday morning blues, and I'm just that much more tired after the busy-ness of a weekend…

Anyway, it wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that I finally got a chance to sit down and do some proper sewing. Not that I actually got any sewing done- just a load of cutting out. One of the disadvantages of having been so up to date of course, was a lack of fabric pieces sitting cut out and ready to be sewn, and so this task became the first step towards getting back down to business!!

The first couple of orders were very straight forward- both to cut out, and then on the Wednesday to get sewn, as they were simple bedding orders of only one quilt and pillow each. At least these were both easy in terms of making, and satisfying as it meant a couple of orders ticked off the list! Having managed to get them both made up and sent out by the Thursday, I instantly caught up to a fairly respectable level, leaving only one more order that was in danger of being delivered late if I didn't manage to find the time to make it up!

This was an order for two dresses, and two little pairs of pants, which meant it was a little bit trickier, and more time consuming than the previous two! I’d cut out the fabric ready along with the bedding sets, so everything was set for me to get down to making them, however by mid-week I was not only battling my family and ever growing jobs list, but a raging cold! It’s difficult to manage sewing when you have to stop every ten minutes or so to wash your hands, so for a couple of days the poor order once again had to take a back seat.

Fortunately my cold only lasted at its worst for only a couple of days, and by early the next week I was feeling much better and able to tackle the order once again. I was looking forward to making this one- I really enjoy sewing the little outfits which make for much more interesting work than my bedding sets. The bedding is great- it seems to be very popular and sells well, and whenever an order comes in for some, I know I've got a simpler task waiting which is nice when pushed for time! But the real satisfaction still comes from sewing the little dresses and outfits that my whole business started out from.

I’d already had one order in asking for the Velcro fastening option, which came in earlier in the year, almost as soon as I’d introduced it onto the store. At the time I wasn't very busy, and it followed my time ill with flu so I didn't really take much notice of how much quicker, or not, it made the outfit to complete. Both the two little dresses I now had to make up had this fastening choice, so I was also interested to see how much easier it was going to prove to be when time was more of an issue- is Velcro going to be part of the answer to speeding up my timescales?

We’ll still have to see, but it certainly helped with this particular order, as once the sewing was finished that was it- no hand sewing on of poppers to be done during the evening. The parcel was able to be packaged up and sent out that same afternoon- leaving my evening free… for folding the washing… and doing the ironing…