Monday, December 15, 2008

Maddie & ME to under go some changes

Regardless of the impending government regulations that could restrict my ability to make and sell children's clothing I am going to go ahead with the planned changes for Maddie & ME, Children's Handcrafted Couture.

I started Maddie & ME locally and off line in August of 2007. Sales were good and people seemed to like my one of a kind way of doing things here in the area. I originally started with the idea of making items for child and mother in coordinating styles and fabrics, hence the name Maddie & ME. Then I realized that was NOT feesable since it would be near impossible to guess what size the mother and what size the daughter might possibly be so although I will still make the sets on custom order request its not something I list and sell regularly. So then I opened the etsy site trying to keep with the idea of one of a kind. Maddie & ME just celebrated our first year on etsy Dec. 10, 2008. Its been a wild and wonderful year and through the process I've learned a lot.

I've decided to clean out my shop and revamp it. The reason for this is because what I seem to come across is almost every item I make I hear "Love it, but can you make it in ___ size?" This means that my one of a kind items, though useful in our small town where shopping is limited is NOT the way to go on etsy. What I plan to do is to offer several (I'm thinking 7) different styles and with those styles fabric selections. Instead of getting small quantities of fabric and making one of a kind items I plan to order larger quantities of fabric and make items to order. The quality and attention to detail will remain the same. The availability for custom sizing will also remain a constant in my shop as will custom orders for the hard to fit child.

I also feel that by making these changes I will be able to devote more time to my family and duties as a mother and wife (in addition to being an employee to my own mother and business owner of two businesses myself). I just feel like I've been spinning my wheels making all these items that everyone seems to want in a different size so I am emptying out my shop of ALL stock items and am selling at 25% off and also willing to take trade from other sellers.

3 comments:

LilacAve said...

lovely write up, story,and explanation. I hope the changes work well for you. I think they will!

Jazzy Jemz said...

I hope it all works out in the end and that ppl aren't like, love the outfit can I have it in blue? Don't try to be such a people pleaser, that is one thing I have learned in a short time in business. Everyone wants something different- but someone does want your product- they are out there! Best of luck!

Robin@creations-anew.com said...

Maddie...the changes sound great! Good luck with them.
RObin
CreationsAnew

Duck Tales Inflation Lesson

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Please note that all designs sold by Maddie & ME, Children's Handcrafted Couture AND Mommy's Little Helper, Bath & Body for the Soul are the intellectual property of the owner and are subject to all Copyright protections as provided by law.