Stocktaking

With the return of the sunny weather here, I was able to do something I have been wanting to tackle for some time.  At the last couple of sales, my stock has been pretty hurriedly packed away, and has not always gone into the correct boxes.  The best way I have found to store my stock is by price - then I make sure I have a range of items of different prices out.  Works well, as long as everything is where it should be.  But it wasn't!  Not only was stock in the wrong boxes, but much was not even in a box!  I had bags I had given to other people for events they were attending, plus lots of new items, all over the place.  So I got it all outside and all out of the boxes, and then sorted it.  While I sorted, I photographed - both the stock I have and the individual items I am running low on.  Here are the results:
£1 and £2 items:

 

£3 items:

 and I don't think I need to make any owl phone cases for a while!

 £4 items.  This price range needs some new input - lots of the bags here are a couple of seasons old and haven't sold, because they are not very nice!  I need to make some more of these "low end" bags.

 £5 items.  This looks better.

 £6 items.  A fair selection, but more wouldn't hurt.

 £10 items.  More stock needed but the items sell well.

 £12 items.  The flower bags are always popular...

 ...and other items in this price range also sell well.

 £15+ items.  Slower sellers, but great when they do sell!

 Christmas items.  New stock (and new ideas) needed here - I really only have the two sizes of stockings.  I need to look at what else will work well in denim for Christmas items.

 And her is the finished stock, all safely (and neatly) packed away, ready for my next sale at the end of August.

Casuarina House bags part 1

I completed the first ten bags to send to Kenya for the children of Casuarina House' Christmas presents.  A friend from Church is going over there in ten days (jealous? Me? Just a tad) and offered to take some of them with her, so today I made a big effort and completed the first ones.  Actually, putting the bags together went really quickly, and sitting in the sunshine in the garden to tidy threads and put the drawstrings in was a really pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
So, ten down, only fourteen to go.  I have set my embroidery machine up ready for names again, and have already embroidered three more names though these still need the Casuarina House logo adding.  After I finish those, my order of 30 t-shirts arrived yesterday, ready for me to embroider the logo on!

I'm sharing this post at the following link parties:

Serenity Saturday	Polkadot pretties	Saturday Sew and Tell
Sew Crafty Saturday	Strut your stuff Saturday	Once upon a weekend

Wash bags

Extending my use of scraps (see last Wednesday's post) I hunted through my stash and found some oddments of wipe clean table cloth to team them with.  I used the same method as for the small cosmetics cases, but this time made pouches which were 4 blocks by 3 blocks, making them 12 1/2" by 9 1/2".  The wipe clean lining is almost waterproof (the holes made by the sewing make it a little porous if you tried to hold water in it!) and also give a good firm shape.

As you see, I had three different wipe clean fabrics in my stash.  These worked well - I hope they will be popular Christmas presents later in the year.
I'm sharing this post at these link parties:

Happy Hour Fridays	Find a Friend Friday	Anything Goes
5Days5Ways	30 Handmade Days	Flaunt it Friday

Cosmetic bags from scraps

I love playing with different fabrics.  I tend to use more expensive ones (ie those I have bought rather than been given) for trimmings and bindings.  My bindings for bags are typically 2" strips - and invariably there is a small piece left at the end of the binding.  I hate waste, hate throwing good fabric away, so have been hoarding these pieces.  Some get used for owl wings on phone cases, but my box was overflowing with pieces not yet used.

I joined each 2" strip to a similar length piece of denim.

I then cut these into 2" strips.

These strips were joined in pairs to make blocks like this:

The blocks ended up as 3 1/2" squares, so I cut denim blocks the same size.  I alternated the blocks to make rectangles 9 1/2" by 6 1/2".  I cut lining to match, sandwiched a zipper between the front and lining, squared off the base and produced these:

Cute little cosmetics pouches - or anything else you might like to use them for!  Easy to make, and used up some scraps as well.  Result!
I'm sharing this post at these link parties:

Create and Share	Made by Me	We Made it Wednesday
Show off your stuff	Whip it Up Wednesday	A Creative Princess
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Pretty Shabby	Whatever goes Wednesday