Christmas Dresses, handmade dresses, red retro dresses....

This has been a busy week for Sweet Home Boutique on Etsy. I registered my business in South Carolina, filled several orders, started to set up a wholesale account with Westminster fabrics,  and was featured on a blog! One of my customers was so happy with her purchase, she wrote a whole blog post about my shop.
You can check it out here
http://beaandolly.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-new-favorite-shirt.html#comment-form

I also have been working on some new handmade dresses. I am 8 weeks pregnant with my 5th child, so I am trying to get these dresses made and listed before I start showing. At that point I will be and  building my shop with maternity clothes. I have one more red retro dress that I want to list soon. I have the pieces cut, but I am trying to finish up several more orders before I sew it together.
Another exciting thing is that I made my first sale to England, and has reached 99 sales in my shop...Now in only one more sale, I will have officially have graduated into the triple digits club! 

Here is my newest listing, I know it is a bit early for Christmas dresses, but like I said, I want to list some new regular women's clothes before I start showing and move into maternity clothes.

red corduroy, bell sleeves, black linen belt

In my mind Christmas dresses are the things that you wear to grade school recitals, so that was my inspiration for this dress.

no Christmas dress would be complete without a little bow!

I also felt a bit like Mrs. Clause when I put this on (maybe it was the black boots), so that is fun!

close up!

You can check out this dress, and more handmade clothing for sale in my shop on Etsy here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

how to change your serger thread, quickly!


how to change your serger thread, quickly....If you are like me, it  already takes enough time to  thread your serger. You shutter at the thought of changing it again.  I somehow stumbled upon something about the tie off method for changing serger thread. I did not get a change to read the article, but thought  I would try it based on the title "tie off method"....A serger is also called an interlock machine, and is used to make those pretty neat seams on most professionaly sewn items.



1. Start with your serger already threaded




2. Snip the thread as close the spool as possible, add the new color and begin to tie on



3. Make sure when tying on you secure the knot very tightly.

4. Cut off the extra thread on the side.

5. Run your machine as usual.

VOILA the thread is now changed...

It use me around 20 minutes hunkered over my machine meticulously changing the thread, and with this method it now only takes 5.

                                                                      Happy Sewing!!!
You can check some things I have been serging up in my shop here...
                   http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

Revamp your wardrobe SALE

I added a sale to my shop last night...I labeled it the "Revamp your wardrobe Sale"...Everything in my store is now 10% off, no need for a coupon!! The sale goes until August 20th, and a great way to get some new pieces added to your fall wardrobe...

Here are some popular listings in my shop that are all on Sale

You can find these, and many more listings that are on sale here http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

New Tunic, 1980's flashback

I draw most of my inspiration for my clothing from my early childhood and the sights and experiences from that time...I was born in the early 1980's, so I still saw a lot of polyester pants on my elders, and funky (it's so ugly it's cool) plaids...According to some recent documentaries I have been watching the 1980's were an extremely materialistic  decade...Well, that was not my experience. My mom completely pulled away from the culture of materialism, so that has had a profound influence on the simplicity of my clothing as well...

This fabric particularly reminds me of my grandma's bedding in the room we stayed in as little ones.

you can find this tunic and others in my Etsy shop here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

Business is going well...Since I opened up my shop again, there has never been a time that I did not have orders to work on..I stay busy with my craft.

New fall hooded dress for little girls...

I love this pattern by Patti Young for Modkids. My girls love to wear these. I have also been looking at the fabric I used for awhile. The fabric is Michael Miller's Happy Hills.  After looking it at several times, I couldn't resist anymore and ordered some. This fabric  reminds me of my childhood love of Rainbow Bright

Rainbow Bright dress

you can find this dress and more of my women and childrens clothing here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

Business is also going steady, I am excited to be a new sponsor on the Blog Aisle to Aloha http://aisletoaloha.blogspot.com/. You will see my ad at the top right of her blog.

new skirts for fall..

New skirts for Fall...

Amy Butler Love shirred waist skirt

shown with my yellow belt

the shirred waist up close...this skirt is comfortable

bird skirt with brown ruffle

with my top pulled out

shown with a cardigan



again with the shirred waist.. You can find these and more things in my shop here
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

Some more exciting things this week is that I found out that we are expecting baby number 5!!
Business has been going well, it is steady and growing. I might have the opportunity to sell wholesale overseas soon, so I am also excited about that!!

Organizaton Station...the Situation...


Here is the Situation...sewing rooms are hopelessly messy....It is possible to get everything looking perfect, but the minute you get to work there are strings, fabric scraps, patterns, and pins everywhere..Well, this is not a good thing when you are trying to keep everything in your shop going smoothly 

 So last night while  all of the little ones were sleeping I did my organize mass chaos method I wrote about here...
http://sweethome-rachel.blogspot.com/2010/09/organizing-mass-chaos-and-more.html

this basically consisted of me throwing everything into a big pile, and then separating it...

big pile of patterns, that are now organized and labeled

where organized and labeled patterns go, from the left, girls, boy, and women

the thread was already organized, but I gathered up all of the random spools, and took them to their spot

labels on the drawers

alright, this might seem messy, but it really is organized (and yes, my sewing room is orange, it is the right of every sewing room to contain an odd color wall.

fabrics, I went through each one, and cut off scraps, and placed like pieces together. (It still needs to be fine tuned)
 My green dress form is where I pin all of the clothing that is in progress, and behind that the scissor wall and dry erase board... The dry erase board is where I write all of my orders down, as well as days I plan for them to go out.  As they are complete and go out, I erase them off...The erasing it off part feels GREAT!