Looking Forward: Making My Business Amazing

Ok listen. This is not a post that I thought I would make public but since I

published (the first writing assignment)

the last (the second writing assignment)

three (the third writing assignment)

I guess I may as well let you know my plan, my goals and my dreams for myself. This may be a little disappointing for some people who are holding out hope that I will be returning to spinning and fiber full time. I am not opposed to accepting offers to teach or speak but it won’t be my main focus. Sewing is in. Spinning is now just for relaxing and fun.

Let’s start with the biggest long term dreams and work to the more easily achieved goals. All the way through I will also be talking about my whys for all of these plans and intentions.

You know that designer named Christian Siriano? I watched the season he was on Project Runway and I loved him beginning there. Now he is making amazing gowns with giant productions of fashion shows. Honestly I can see myself doing similar things. I have a ton of ideas. So maybe my first focus for that direction could be a fun fashion show in Detroit or Ann Arbor…hm

The thing that I think can lead me down the big gown path is designing and making fantastic custom wedding gowns, bridesmaids dresses and separates for ceremonies and other special occasions.

Now you all know how much I love a skirt for every day wear. At the same time I want the clothes I make to I would like to build my audience who love Disney. There are so many ways to dress for Disney. Each park has Dapper Days and so many people love to Disney Bound which is a way of dressing that brings the spirit of a Disney character to your clothes without looking like a full costume. There are groups and Facebook pages and clubs full of these people. I just need to get noticed by them. I would hope that this type of work which is super fun for me would lead to quarterly trips to Orlando or California to do photo shoots of my latest creations.

None of this includes ready to wear. All of it is a focus on one by one production. A focus on one client at a time. The perfect dress or skirt for each person to fit thier particular shape. I believe that all of us can look and feel beautiful regardless of our size. I fully believe that clothes that fit correctly are the key. One of the problems with ready to wear clothes is that they are made to fit one shape which is actually nobody’s shape. The best thing you can do for yourself if you buy a dress or skirt off the rack is to take them to a tailor/seamstress to have them fit to you.

Of course I love making one of a kind things but my real purpose as I see it is helping women feel awesome in their clothes. I want to help women not be afraid to stand out. I want them to love to get noticed.

Based on my goals I have a few things I want to learn or improve. I would like to be able to make dresses for people who aren;t close enough for me to fit them personally so there will be some long distance experiments where people will send me their measurements and I will send them a finished dress. I haven’t done that yet bcause it makes me a little nervous not to be able to have a fitting with someone and make adjustments. One idea I had was to make a muslin for the person that they then put on and have a friend pin at certain points and send it back to me to make the final pattern from. But I’m not there yet. I may start those experiments this winter.

I am leaving for a Disney visit with my sister in the next week and I have 2 skirts made for her and 3 new ones for me. We will be doing some great photo shoots while we are there. I’m super excited about that. Then in December I actually have another trip to Disney scheduled in celebration of Ryan graduating high school this year. What that means is another opportunity to make a few new Disneybound or Dapper Days style outfits and get more photos on location.

Remember earlier when I said I would love to visit Disney quarterly for photos? Well, this year I’m halfway to that goal.

So let’s review. My greatest goal is to honestly continue making custom dresses and skirts for people. I am interested in amazing gowns for special occasions as well as every day wear that is just that little step above or little bit extra so when my client puts on the skirt I made for her she feels elevated and maybe even a tiny bit overdressed which I think is never a bad thing. I want her to feel amazing and beautiful, confident and almost invincible in the thing I made for her.

Now through all of this I want to be able to pay myself what I am worth. I want to be able to feel confident in my pricing. I am not building a business of inexpensive things. My pieces could be thought of as investment pieces. Some people may need to save for them. But I use high quality materials and construction techniques that take extra time. There is no way that my cotton skirts should be compared in price or value with a cotton skirt from Target. But my cotton skirt will last for years and continue to look great. I will no longer apologize or feel apprehensive about charging a fair price for a well made item. I know that there are lots of people who are willing to spend a lot of money for a dress they will wear only once or twice for a special event but I am a firm believer in quality over quantity when it comes to my closet. It’s something I have always believed and have been willing invest in high quality pieces for a very long time – even when I’m not sewing them myself.

I hope that you will continue to follow along with me on this journey to build this business. It truly is a passion of mine.