A Business Is Born

People ask me all the time how I got started with my own business so here's the answer!

I've always loved sewing and I've always had a huge bag obsession. I loved bags so much but I could never find the right one for me. They were too big, or the wrong color, or didn't have pockets where I needed them or whatever and I soon realized the only way to get the "perfect bag" was to make it myself. I used patterns at first but even that had problems - what if I wanted it bigger or wider or just plain different? I started modifying patterns to suit me until I was comfortable enough with the essentials to be able to come up with my own patterns to suit my needs.

When my first child was born I made my own diaper bag and matching hand bag. I got some really pretty decorator fabrics - a deep red with gold dragonflies and a coordinating red and gold plaid - which, at $20/yard seemed like such an extravagance! I made my bags and used them everywhere. A friend of mine in my son's playgroup saw it and insisted on having one of her own. Which would have been great but I had no interest making bags for other people. I was busy enough with my baby, I had so many more bags I wanted to make for myself, I was worried she wouldn't like it and then what do you do, and I just didn't see how I could find the time to spend days making something for someone else.
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But she kept asking and asking and finally I broke down and said Fine. I'll make you a bag. So I did. And then another friend in playgroup saw hers and had to have one, then someone else saw hers and it kept going like that until I found myself reluctantly running a pseudo business that I didn't even really want!

Mostly I was just scared. I was worried that with a baby I wouldn't have enough time and energy to put into a business, I was nervous I would make a bag for someone and they wouldn't like it and I'd have wasted all that time and money and have the uncomfortable task of figuring out what to do next, what if my baby got sick and I wasn't able to finish something on time, and I had no idea how to organize an actual business - all the forms and organization that is needed for every single little thing. Ugh. I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean in a tiny raft.

I found out as I went along that my fears were mostly unjustified. I worked very hard perfecting each design before it was available to sell and people really seemed to like them. I got comments every time I carried one of my bags out in public and I never get tired of the gasps when I say I made it myself. I managed to figure out a schedule that allowed me to work while my baby was sleeping but didn't overwhelm me. And the business organization just came naturally. It helped that I started small, only taking orders when I had time for them and because I was making each bag separately as the orders came I didn't have to shell out a bunch of money for inventory to start up. Advertising wasn't an issue either - ever since I made that first bag almost four years ago I've had more orders than I can accept and it has all been through word of mouth.

It's not that it was all roses and I've certainly made my fair share of mistakes. I did things at first that took up too much time and energy - like making my own business cards trying to save money. Turns out it's cheaper and so much faster to have them made for you! And you don't have to deal with the aggravating task of feeding each piece of business card paper into the printer and cursing when it comes out crooked! The summer after I started my baby was a year old and I decided I could put more energy into my business since Jack didn't need quite so much attention from me anymore. So I booked myself up. Then Jack stopped taking his morning nap (cutting my sewing time in half) and I got pregnant with my second child which left me totally exhausted. Turns out it's a lot harder than I thought to be pregnant while running around after a toddler! I was embarrassed to have to tell people that I wouldn't be able to make their bag. For a long time I didn't have a place to keep my sewing supplies out, so sometimes during Jack's nap I would have just enough time to get out my machine, lay out my fabric and sit down before he would wake up and I'd have to put it all away again. I now have a portion of the living room blocked off for my sewing "office" which works out so well for us. I'm primarily a stay-at-home mom, so being able to work while watching my kids is essential. I'd love to have a little studio in the backyard, with a big window of the ocean, nice music playing, I think painted wooden floors would be nice and a cozy couch where I could nap while dreaming up my designs - but I live in the real world and the only place I'm going to get anything done is right in the middle of all the action. If I leave the house to check the mail my boys will find something to destroy.

So, in short, I just sort of fell into my business and it all grew organically by trial and error. Some things worked, some things didn't, sometimes it was exhausting and a lot of the time it was fun and exciting. Being paid to sew was just about the coolest thing I could imagine!

I'll go over a lot of the particular things that I learned and found helpful for me, but that's how Kate McFaul Designs was born!

And So It Begins...

In high school I sewed my first bag. It was a quilted shoulder bag for carrying books and it turned out quite nice - except the straps were flimsy and unpadded and cut into my shoulder every time I put, well, books in it. I also sewed my first outfit which was a pair of flannel shorts with an elastic waist and a (dreadful) matching top. Following a clothing pattern was confusing and frustrating and I had no idea what I was doing. I think I still have that outfit, but if I do, it's buried in a box somewhere in the garage. I made a huge pillow which became my dear old cat's favorite place to sleep and is now a big floor pillow for my boys to play on. I also learned to crochet in high school, and my first project was a little mouse hanging off a leaf for a friend. The first "mouse" was such a scary, mangled little thing it soon became a joke in my house. I put it in my mom's car when she wasn't looking and she quickly stuffed it in the glove box. Occasionally I'd pull it out and prop it up on the steering wheel, or sit it in her chair, or hang it from the rear view mirror and when Mom would get in the car she'd gasp and laugh and stick it back in the glove box. Poor deformed mouse.
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My first projects weren't great, some of them were downright scary and I didn't know what I was doing, but I was hooked. I had caught the crafty bug and there was nothing I could do but wallow in my wonderful illness and let it consume me.

My mom taught me to sew on her old Singer - one of those old black Singers with the gold trim from the 40's that go forwards and backwards and that's about it. My great-grandmother passed the machine down to my grandmother, who taught my mom to sew on it when she passed it down to her, who taught me to sew on it when she passed it down to me, and now I have passed it on to my three year old son Jack who has already sewn his first pillow and two little drawstring bags for his fabric and notions. Jack was so excited to learn how to sew, he hugged me and told me he loved me about every ten seconds while I was teaching him. I wish I had that effect on all my students! Or that he acted that way when I ask him to pick up his toys. "I'll just watch you clean, Mommy," is his usual response.

My projects got a little better throughout high school and I even made the dress I wore to graduation - a sleeveless yellow sun dress with darts and all. Mom even showed me how to finish the neckline with a bias strip of fabric. I didn't quite finish it though. You couldn't tell under my graduation gown, but I never got around to hemming the bottom...

In college I did anything crafty that I could afford with my limited budget. I bound books, did linoleum stamp carving, made mosaics, I crocheted a huge, intricate, fringed bedspread, learned to draw, did watercolor, acrylic painting, a little more sewing - really anything that looked interesting.

And so it began - my love affair with crafting. Painting glass, molding clay, making my own candles, soap and paper, knitting, felting, quilting, screen printing - I've even done some stained glass work. But my biggest passion will probably always be sewing. I make handbags, diaper bags, baby slings and have recently fallen in love with designing my own clothes. I've built myself quite a nice little sewing business, too.

This blog is meant as a record of my journey, to chronicle my many projects, to offer simple instructions on a variety of projects and to help people starting out see what goes into building a business. I hope you enjoy what follows!