Coffee and Chat 5
This week we are going to meet mother and daughter Etsy shop owners, Suzanne and Jenny. They run daisyfleur, a fabulous shop full of clothing and accessories for little girls from babies to the under 5’s. They specialise in vintage style pinafore dressed (or jumpers for the US clients!) and pretty dresses made from Liberty cotton lawn for special occasions such as parties or weddings.
- When did you start crafting?
My mum, Suzanne, started sewing a long time ago and made many of her own clothes in the 1960’s and many of my clothes when I was a child in the 70’s. She always encouraged my creative side from a young age and we spent many happy hours togther sewing, knitting, scrap booking, making collages, baking and making cards. My mum was a primary school teaches and we always had fun trying out ideas for crafts for her pupils to make.
- In your fabulous shop you have so many lovely things. Do you both make everything or do you have specialist areas?
Suzanne specialises in the liberty dresses and I make the pinafore dressed, but we both make all our own designs. We both enjoy making the accessories such as the bags, purses and hats as well.
- Which are you favourite items?
We both adore out matching sets made from luxurious Liberty lawn fabric and we’re very enthusiastic about our new sunhat range.
- Where do you get your inspiration from?
We get inspiration for new items from new fabrics, pictures we see in books, new dress patterns, items we see in magazines and each other! Often the style and texture of the fabric will determine the kind of item we make on that particular day.
- How do juggle family/work commitments with running a craft business?
Fortunately there are two of us so we are able to share the running of daisyfleur. We both sew but share out the other sides to the business. Suzanne is retired so has a little more time then I do – I have a full-time job. Suzanne uploads all of our items to our Etsy shop and runs the stall at our craft fair. We are members of a craft group in Lincolnshire and have a stall at most of their events (http://www.tempopromotes.co.uk/). I take care of our marketing and look after the blog and twitter pages.
- Where do you see your business in a years time?
We have only been trading for just over a year and we are very pleased to be in profit and to have achieved success both online and at craft fairs. We hope to continue to increase our sales and to make more of our popular items, as well as extend out range to include the many new ideas we have!
- What avice would you give to someon starting a career in crafting?
I think we have been very lucky to be able to start our craft business together and it is great to have the support and to be able to share the burden of the less interesting side of the business – admin for example! If you do have a friend or a family member you can link up with, we would really recommend working together as you also work together creatively and spark ideas off each toehr.
My second piece of advice is to be patient. It does take time to grow a business and there will be times when you feel you aren’t making any preogress, but time will tell if you are going to be successful or not, so do give it a fair chance.
And finally, learn from your mistakes and monitor which items sell and which don’t. There is no point in spending hours on a design you love if it doesn’t sell. React to your sales and be flexible.
I hope you have enjoyed meeting Suzanne and Jenny and make sure you check out their fabulous Etsy shop daisyfleur.
Tags: clothing, Coffee and Chat, daisyfleur, Etsy, girls, interview, pretty, vinateg
August, Coffee and Chat | Anna | 
August 4, 2010 4:47 pm | 
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