Decisions, decisions...

So I've got a selection of kiddies clothes ready for opening an online store and I'm wondering where to do it.  There's pros & cons of everywhere, obviously, so I'm just not sure where to start.

There's Etsy  - mostly handmade things, 

Ebay - everyone knows ebay.

Both would be a good forum, but there's drawbacks to both.  Ebay is SO huge that one little online store of specialty kids clothes would be lost, unless I want to pay the bigger fees per listing to get bold and highlighted items in the search results.  Then Etsy, I'm not 100% sure but in the fine print it looked like I couldn't then sell anywhere else online.  Or maybe it was just that I couldn't promote the items anywhere else through the Etsy site.  Meaning, having a direct website in the listing description so that people could buy the items directly from me without the listing fees of Etsy.

Then of course, there's a personal website and Facebook.  I've actually seen a few shops recently promoted on Facebook, and the owners then take custom orders through Facebook postings.  Drawbacks here are that people don't go to Facebook looking for items to buy, and the cost of setting up and hosting a direct website is a bit beyond my finances at the moment.  

And then finally is how to promote myself...?  Posters up on the local message boards?  At school and kindy?  Swimming lessons?  

Anyway, I'm off to take photos of all the gorgeous things I've been making and put them up in posts...

The mosh(pit) of Henrietta's...

So, I have added to the collection.  The green gingham one in the middle is TechnoBoy's, and the blue floral on the right is mine.  I pushed in.  I had planned on doing the kids first, but I NEEDED a new pincushion.  So by the time I got two of them done, I was so annoyed at putting all my pins into a ramekin that I pushed up in the line.  And now I have a gorgeous new Henrietta pincushion.

Another little dress...

After much fiddling and fussing with fabrics, and patterns and which fabric was going to go where and all of that...  I finished another little summer dress for bubby.

I'm not sure if you can really see it in this photo, but the skirt is a double layer, dusky pink on the bottom layer and the floral on the top.  And it's got a little zipper under the left arm, so is pretty easy to get on and off.  But it's just so CUTE! and so GIRLY! and I can't wait for her to wear it.

We have to be careful at the moment, she loves little dresses...for about half an hour.  Then climbing stairs, jumping on the couch, rolling around on the floor, all of those activities aren't good fun with a dress on.  So she starts pulling at the skirt and crying to get this damn thing off!  But for that first half an hour, she's just the most adorable little living doll of a bubby!

Summer dress

Well, now that the weather is starting to warm up, I thought it would be a good idea to start some sewing for the kids again...  And another trip to my favourite shop (the patchwork fabric shop), and I found some gorgeous new material for the little DD1.  It's just so adorable, that I had to make her a little summer dress, shoestring straps for the warm weather, but it had to have lots of material to show off the cute little pattern...

Henrietta the Turtle

I finally got the Henrietta Turtle finished.  It's funny, but kids can be so enthusiastic sometimes.  I actually bought the pattern last time I was at the patchwork shop just because I need a new pincushion.  The last one I had got left in the kitchen and ended up feeling a little greasy from all the stir-fry that I've been trying out lately.  So I bought the pattern with the intention of making myself a cute new pincushion.  Suddenly DD5 wants a Henrietta, now DS6 also wants one.  And while I'm in the mass production mode, I'll make one for myself and one for the other DD, who's only 1.  So when the herd of Henrietta turtles is finally made, I'll upload photos of them too!  BTW - what's a collection of turtles called?  Is it a herd?

HELLO!

And welcome...  I finally got around to creating a blog.  Now I just need to find the time to post!