Finding your Niche

It's weird when you find a niche.  I was used to our store getting maybe 50 hits a month, in 2 weeks if we were lucky.  Then I started making apron dresses for the store and everything kind of exploded.  Now we (usually) get at least 50 hits a day an a lot of interest in our stuff - not just the dresses.  And this is one of those completely random things because, well to be honest, I never intended to make apron dresses a staple of our store.

The first apron dress I ever made was for a woman that I LARP with.  I was generally unimpressed by it, but it's what she wanted.  Then another woman that I LARP with said she wanted one, but with lacing up the sides so it was more form fitting.  Well, the Dagorhir homepage has a very simple pattern for one, so after a few modifications to their pattern, it was done.  I liked it much better than the first dress I made, but still I had wanted to focus on basic garb in our store and apron dresses didn't fit terribly well into that business model. That said, sometime business models need to be adjusted.

Then it was time for Ragnarok (a nation-wide Dagorhir event) and my husband was going to be away for a week getting beaten and inebriated repeatedly.  Before he left I asked him what projects he thought I should work on while he was gone.  He (to my surprise) immediately said, "Make a bunch of apron dresses. Bitches love apron dresses."  Well, I may be taking liberties with that last bit, but that's the gist of it.  

I was a little shocked.  I'd think that Bocksten tunics, cloaks, or mantles would sell better.  I mean, look at the demographic that we're essentially aiming for - LARP, SCA, Dagorhir, Medieval Reenactment.  I'd think that focusing on men's garments would yield more sales.  WRONG.  Sometimes I'm a damn bonehead.  As a woman LARPer, I should have been more open to the idea of focusing on items for female clientele.  My husband saw that and he's generally an oblivious kind of guy. 

Now I generally make 2-3 of these a month, whether for a friend or to sell in our store.  They are, hands down, our best seller and the one item that brings people to our store.  While they're there, they tend to browse our other stuff - to my husband's surprise (Out of the blue he sold a handful of mugstraps and skirt hikes a couple weeks ago.  He was giddy like a little kid at Christmas.).  This is the power of finding your niche.

Projects for May

So, I worked my ever living guts out getting ready for our May LARP event.  I had a ton of orders to fill and *somehow* pulled it off.

The doublet tore on account of my customers beefy shoulders, so I am making him a new doublet and selling the one pictured in our ETSY store once I mend it.  I didn't account for him going all Incredible Hulk on me, so the next one will be reinforced... and larger.  It will work well for a smaller chest and be beautiful.

I also tried out my Mongol Coat pattern and it worked magnificently!  My customer loved it and it really looks great on her.  If I have time on my vacation, I'll probably make one for the store as well.

I also worked on a couple bocksten tunics.  Every time I make one I get a little better at it, which is good because it takes forever and a damn day t sew one!  I also tried out my 2 gore bocksten pattern, but didn't get a good picture of it.  I did end up modifying my pattern for it though, so I've updated my previous blog to reflect the updated pattern.  In any case, here's one of my 4-gore bockstens all done and looking dashing!

Finally, I had a last minute order for a friend who needed something to be made "magic" at our LARP.  He wanted a mantle that would pass as high enough quality to be magic and would help him look more "druidy".  The difficulty was that he wanted black or grey material... hence bunny fur and green trim.  I was really happy with how this turned out.  I may have to make one for myself one of these days.  Oh, and fun sidenote  - rotary cutters slice through rabbit hide like friggen BUTTER.  ; )

Oh, and you may have noticed... my wonderful husband surprised me with my very own dress form.  I love it sooooo much.  Not only does it make taking pictures of my projects easier, but it keeps me from making him model dresses for me.  Win win.  =)

ALL THE PATTERNS!

So, I've been working pretty diligently the past couple weeks.  So much so, in fact, that I haven't had time to post anything new.  I've been working up a few new patterns that I am going to try out in the next week or two and I thought I'd share them.  They have my customer's measurements written in (and various other notes I wrote myself), but could easily be modified for other shapes and sizes.

The first is a 2 gore apron dress.  I made a couple for a customer and, while it was relatively easy, I think I like more flounce in the skirts.  The bonus of the 2 gore apron dress is that it only takes 2 yards of 60" wide material.

The second is a 4 gore apron dress.  This one calls for loops or rings at the sides to gather the dress around the body, which gives it a more fitted (and IMHO flattering) look.  It takes a half yard more fabric, but is well worth it.  The added volume in the skirts and tighter fitting bodice really look so much nicer.  The rings are a PITA, but I'd rather do a bit more work and have my customers go "WOW!"  

The next pattern is a 2 gored Bocksten tunic.  I worked it up because I have several customers who want cotton Bocksten tunics (hence why it's based on 45" wide fabric).  While I have nothing against Bockstens (in fact, I think they look really nice), I needed a less time consuming alternative that gave the same look as a traditional Bocksten.  This gives the customers the look they want for the price they want without me having to pay myself next to nothing per hour to do it.  If a customer wants a traditional Bocksten, then they'll need to pay for a linen one - it's the only way it makes economical sense for me to make it for them.  I've also included a pattern for this based on 60" fabric.  

This next pattern, I'm really proud of.  A customer told me he wanted a shirt like Legolas wears in LOTR.  I found a bunch of stills from the movies, checked out a couple sites that had already explored re-creating the costuming from the films, and worked at recreating it in a way that was both appropriate for what my customer wanted it for and would work with the materials I planned to use (the real deal has hand etched leather and all sorts of detail that 1) I don't want to do and 2) my customer doesn't want to pay for).  So, it turned out to be a modified doublet/surcoat.  I'm setting down to sew this project this weekend and will post pics/commentary afterwards.  (I was looking at this this afternoon thinking that I may need to modify the sleeves... so if I do I'll make a note of it when the project is done.)

I have also had a recent request for a hooded mantle and found a couple really good tutorials and patterns online.  I applied those ideas to what my client wants and figured out how it would lay best on my 60" linen  (I wasn't sure just how much material I would need).  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. =)

Finally (and man am I looking forward to trying this one out - also a "this weekend" project), I had a request for a Mongolian style wrap coat.  A customer wanted something that would be considered a surcoat for the purposes of her Dagorhir unit, but wanted something that would be a bit more flattering to her figure than a normal surcoat or tabard (i.e. something that would make her look like a girl on the field).  I found a site that had a decent historically accurate pattern and tweaked it from there so it laid out nicely on my 60" linen and added in a couple more gores for her (she likes flounce).  I've included the directions I worked up for myself (pardon the crappy handwriting), which may be helpful in understanding the pattern (it's a bit INTENSE!). I think it will end up very nice (will post pics).

So, that's what I'm working on.  I hope you enjoy the patterns.  I hope it saves some people some time when they set out to start a new project.  Comments/constructive criticism is always welcome.  =)

The Beginning

So when we started our Etsy store, my husband wanted to name it "Leather and Lace".  I told him that it sounded like some sort of S&M store, and we settled on "LARP Essentials" instead.  Win for me.  =)  We started the store last summer some time (I could look and find the actual date, but I'm lazy) and I'm only just now starting to look at our crafting as a second job.  It's a good second job to have.

I thought, when we started, that the store would be more successful than it's been.  In a way, it has been, but not in the way that other Etsy stores are.  We sell occasionally on the site, but more often our orders are coming from people within our little LARP community.  Not good for our numbers on Etsy, but good for business.

It's strange to me because I always had these skills (though I have grown in leaps and bounds in the last year or so), but our friends didn't know that I was willing to craft for them until we started the store.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that not all of them knew that my skills were for sale.  Now I have orders scheduled out for a month or two and am spending nights and weekends happily sewing for them.  It's a good problem to have.  =)

I'm hoping to use this blog as a way to document my projects, especially those custom orders that don't make it  onto our Etsy page.  I want people to be able to see the kinds of things I'm working on, what I'm capable of, what I'm working at figuring out, new ideas and techniques I've learned or created, and I want to be able to look back in a year and see how far I've come.