More on the booth & business

Thanks to everyone who chimed in in comments below or by email. The majority liked the hanging idea, and in searching Store Supply Warehouse I found a rolling rack that measures 4’ wide x 2’ deep and folds flat for transport. We’ll have that in the next month or so; hopefully will pick up when we are in the Harrisburg area and save freight costs. Will post pictures after the show at York, PA in June.

Regarding business, I contacted a SCORE counselor with questions about setting up at Houston. That won’t be this year, but I will be learning more in the next weeks and months, and hope to be able to go to Houston in 2011. So far, while the counseling has been a reality check, I’m not yet ready to throw in the towel – rather, I’m energized! “Watch this space!”

Reworking the booth

Hi – have done some boring, but eye-opening number crunching in the past couple days. I've figured out, with the help of a SCORE counselor and www.accountingcoach.com, how much I need to do in sales in order to just break even at the shows I’m doing the rest of the year. If I were to add Houston, I’d have to double that number. That won't be happening this year, alas. Because I have to be serious and business-like about this whole venture, I just plain have to sell more. In order to do that, I have to make my fabrics more accessible in the booth. To the right is a picture of a recent booth setup. It’s not bad, but the inventory is spread out on the tabletop and is difficult to sort through. The pieces range in length from 1/2 yard to 4 yards, and vary in width from 44” to 60”. So I think I have to go vertical, maybe with some sort of mini-bolts. Probably something like some quilters use to store their stash on - it needs to be easy to sort through, and show enough of the fabric to attract interest. It also has to pack away quickly and not weigh a lot. Foamcore or Corruplast are a couple ideas we discussed. I think for the sake of the budget that I will start with clean cardboard destined for recycling and cover it with some clean fabric to protect the hand-dyed goods. Then if it’s a useful system, mess with the shape and size a bit, then commit to a more permanent product. What have you seen? What do you think? Thanks!

Discharge on black Kona

Have gotten some more discharge done. Here are some pictures of some ho-hum items, compared with some of the others at least. Each of these were done on Robert Kaufman’s Kona cotton, purchased black. (Click on the link at right to shop DippyDyes.)

Follow-up: a couple people have had questions: these were all dyed in an immersion bath of Clorox diluted with an equal amount of water. The amount of clamping and the amount of fabric exposed to the bleach makes all the difference.

Classes on website

Finally! I have scheduled classes in dyeing, discharge and appliqué and posted them on my website. Appliqué is a monthly evening class held on the second Monday of the month. Well, this isn’t the usual picture of a quilt in progress, but I couldn’t resist. The quilt is done now, and the dog is gone, but he always makes us smile. The blocks are from Jane Townswick’s Artful Appliqué II book, which students can work from if they choose.

The dye class is an introduction for folks who haven’t dyed before and the discharge class won’t teach dyeing, but for people who plan to discharge only commercial fabrics, the dyeing step is not absolutely necessary. They are being held the first and second Saturday of June, and class size is limited to 4 people. Classes will be held outside; in the event of rain we will be in the basement or the garage. Here’s a link for a little more information.

That’s it for now; back to putting products on the website. Thanks for looking!

For my sister

Hi Sister Sister (think little Ronnie Howard)– here are the pictures I promised months ago! The main blue fabric is on the right side. Each piece is cut off at the top a little. Thanks!

Back to work!

So much has been going on since returning from Lancaster. Tonight I have started updating my website, dippydyes.com - updating the calendar, adding products and classes, and remembering how to work the program. In the studio, the heat press has arrived, so I have started processing some Nu-suede yardage. (Pictures coming soon.) That fabric was very popular at Lancaster, especially, and I need to dye lots of it and the poly-cotton blend to sell at the Chantilly, VA show, which attracts garment sewers as well as quilters. I'm looking at adding polyester scarves to dye and sell, and have been trying to dye polyester fiber for felting, with mixed results. Have done a little experimenting with devoré, and some discharge work as well. Also, I have a couple speaking engagements this spring and summer, and I've been asked to write an article about snow dyeing for American Quilter! Here's a link to the calendar page - hope y'all can come see me sometime. Now I must go work on a sample!

Hampton show was a success, (sort of)

Hi all, and greetings to the new friends who visited my booth at Hampton, VA. Did some number crunching - the booth, one dinner out, and hotel rooms are covered, but still spending money for the privilage of dyeing cloth. Here's a chart of how the sales broke down, which the accounting side of my brain appreciates:
Snow dyes account for 31% of my total sales, so I'm headed downstairs to do more before the snow is gone. But yardage amounted only to about half my total sales, so variety is a good thing, as well as requiring less washing out.
And I've posted a photo of the booth - it doesn't change much, so this will give you an idea of what to look for.
Don't forget to say hi to my long-suffering DH. He's the best.