I may have to close my business

I took this from a forum I frequent (The Babywearer) to alert everyone to some new legislation that it's in Congress that will put an end to a lot of small business owners in the baby field. If this legislation passes as is, I will have to close my business effective February 2009, as I will not be able to afford the costs the government is imposing on small business owners. Many other baby related businesses will be closing too, so this will also effect you as a consumer. You will not have the choice that you have now when looking for baby products. The products that are able to remain will cost more, as the companies will have a higher cost to produce those products. The government has made statements that acknowledge that this will be horrible for our economy, but they plan to proceed with this act anyhow. They don't care! Some are calling the day this policy goes into effect "National Bankruptcy Day." We all need to contact our representatives and express our concern. This needs to be rewritten or some exemptions need to be added in. I am totally for lead free toys and I did think that something needed to be done. I am a mother too and I don't want my teething baby sucking on contaminated toys. I just want them to do it in a way that doesn't kill businesses like mine that are not selling stuff like that (there is no lead in fabric!), even though my products are used for babies. Please get involved!




TBW Statement Opposing the Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act

There is little more important than keeping children safe. However, The Babywearer is gravely concerned about the impact of the pending Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act. We believe that if this Act is enforced, there will be serious economic consequences on the child/baby product industry, and specifically to manufacturers of babycarriers.

The Act would require ALL manfacturers - including small business owners who sew their products by hand and artisans who sell to help support their art - to submit each piece of their product for cost-prohibitive government-approved testing. Each component - buttons, threads, fabrics, padding, etc. would need to be tested. The cost and extent of this testing would be impossible for any small business to afford.

Thousands of small businesses will be forced to close. Consumers will have fewer products to choose from. In the babycarrier world, the only products that will remain will be ones those that are manufactured en masse - and are widely considered inferior to those made in smaller quantities.

The date that CPSIA is set to be enforced has already earned a nickname by many experts: "National Bankruptcy Day."

Please write to your Senators and Congressperson and express your concern about the CPSIA.

More information:
Petition- http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

About the bill- http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html

Read more about what's being dubbed National Bankruptcy Day here- http://www.cpsc.gov/ABOUT/Cpsia/legislation.html

New fabrics

I have three new fabrics that have just arrived. They are all stretch cotton sateen and you can see them on the cotton slings page on my main site.

Lots of updates!

I told you I was trying out some stretch fleece slings. I actually haven't been able to get them sewn up yet. I was sick and I had craft fair last week. Those take a lot of preparation time. On top of that, I got several orders last week. So I was really busy. I only have one sling I'm working on this evening and then I'll be making the fleece slings. I apologize to anyone who has been waiting to see how the slings turned out.

My slings are going to be available in a store soon! I'm really excited about this. I was approached by a shop in Old Town Fredericksburg that would like to sell my slings. They saw one of my customers wearing one at the mall and liked them so much they want to sell them. It's going to be spring before this happens, but I'm really excited nonetheless.

I will be updating the website over the next few days, so you may notice a few changes. I'd love your feedback!

That's all for now!

Next craft fair location

I just wanted to let everyone know where my next craft fair appearance will be. I am going to have a booth at the Christmas Attic fair in Falls Church (http://christmasattic.org/ca.home.html). It is supposed to draw about 2,500 people, so it might be a little hard to find me. This will be the show's 29th year, so it ought to be good. Here is the pertinent info:

Corpus Christi School at St. Anthony's Catholic Church
November 15th, 9am-3pm
3301 Glen Carlyn Road, in Falls Church, VA, at the corner of Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) and Glen Carlyn Road.

I am excited about this event, as it is about an hour away and will give me the opportunity to expand into a new area. This show will be my last craft fair for the year. I love doing these shows, but they take a lot of time away from my family. I will be taking a little break for the holiday season. I will still be making slings during this time and will be available for appointments.

Brooke Point Craft Fair

The Brooke Point craft fair went well! It was really cool to see two ladies that purchased silk slings at the craft fair last weekend wearing their new slings! They both told me that they loved them! That made me really happy. I sold a few more slings and talked to several interested people who are going to check out the website. I am really starting to get the hang of doing craft fairs. I think I might need to get some kind of banner though, so people can know immediately who I am and what I'm selling. I don't see a whole lot of babywearers in my area, so some people walk past me trying to figure out what it is that I'm selling because they've never seen a sling before. How sad!! This is why I need to get slings out to Stafford and Fredericksburg!

Stretch Fleece Slings

I have had a request for a stretch fleece sling, so I have been looking into fabric that would be suitable for such a sling. I experimented with some last week, but it's not going to work. I found something yesterday that I think might work out really well, so I am going to sew two up this week and I will test one and have someone else test the other one out. If we like them, they will be available for sale on the site in about two weeks. I will keep you posted!

Colonial Forge Craft Fair

The craft fair went really well! This fair has a lot more traffic than the first one I went to and there were lots of small babies around. I sold a few slings, which I was quite excited about. I hope the ladies that bought them love them and use them a lot! I had a lot of interest in the slings and many people took my card. While there, I found out about a fair next weekend that is supposed to be bigger and better, so I am now signed up to have a booth at that one. The dress form I bought came in really handy and I got a lot of comments on it. I'm glad I bought it. Now I need a banner, so that people know who I am and what I'm selling right away. Micah was with me the entire time and he is such a great baby. He was in the sling for about 5 of the 6 hours, and is just so content in there. I brought a pack and play for him that I had at the back of my spot for the times he wanted to be down to play. Here are some pictures that another vendor took for me. The baby in the background is her daughter. I told her she could put here there while she took the picture. The second picture is Micah and I next to the dress form. (Click on them to see the larger version.)







If you are in the Stafford area and would like to visit me at next weekend's craft fair, here is the information.

Brooke Point High School
1700 Courthouse Rd./ Stafford, VA 22554
9:30am - 3pm
$2 admission

Excited!

I'm excited today! My craft fair is tomorrow and I just scored a dress form on Craigslist. This will be great for my booth at the fair. I will be able to have a sling on display for all to see, aside from the one I will be wearing. I will also start using this for the pictures on my website. After the fair, I think I will go through all the slings I have left (which hopefully will be none!!!) and take new pictures of them displayed on the dress form. Here is what it looks like.

Craft Fair

Next weekend, I'll be participating in my second craft fair. I did one last month, but it didn't go as well as I had hoped it would. It was not really advertised very well, and as a result, there was not much traffic through the booths. I had also never been to a craft fair before, so I didn't know what to expect or how things worked. However, it was helpful in me getting my name out further than my moms group. I have several slings in stock already, but I need to make a few more slings to take with me. I am really hoping to sell several this weekend, as I just spent a lot on fabric. Two of my mommy friends will also be selling at this event, so hopefully we'll be near each other. It will be fun to spend the day with my sweet baby again. He is the cutest little product model ever and I love having him so close to me. If you are in the area, please come see my booth!

Craft Fair location:
Colonial Forge High School on Courthouse Rd in Stafford, VA
9am-3pm
October 25th, 2008

Welcome!

I've decided to try my hand at blogging to keep everyone up to date on my latest goings ons. I have a couple things I've been working on right now and several things coming soon. I've spent a good deal of time this weekend revamping the website. I wanted it to be more user friendly and look a lot more professional. I don't really know all that much about html and making websites, but I'm slowly learning. I think it looks a lot better already and I'm really pleased with how it's coming along. I still want to add a page for testimonials from my customers. I now have online ordering for in stock slings and someone has already used it. That was exciting for me. Soon I will be filming my own instructional DVD. I will then upload the videos to the site and also include a dvd with each sling. I'm also planning a photo shoot. My husband is going to be ordering some professional photography backdrops soon, so I will be waiting on those before I can do the filming and shooting. I'm not sure how long a project like making a DVD will take, especially with the busyness of the holiday season coming, but I hope to have it done as soon as my husband has enough free time. I will keep everyone posted.