Pricing...

I've been spending a lot of time over the last few weeks pondering many areas of business where I need to improve and work more efficiently and, the age old pricing conundrum.

One area that I have been pondering for ages is custom makes; mainly using customers own fabrics either to make my standard bags and rolls or to make something different. I really enjoy doing these and this isn't a whinge about the opportunity to work with fabrics that I wouldn't usually work with or to deviate from my own patterns. Over the past few years I have had amazing commissions but my business head needs to take over a little more now.

Until now, pricing for these items has been a bit hap-hazard. I always spend time trying to work out how much I should charge, how much people appreciate the chance to have something made in a fabric exactly of their choosing, sometimes using a fabric that has been used for other things over the years and also, I have realised, what I could have been making if I were making things in a batch, which is more how I work today rather than one item at a time.

So, from now on, bags and rolls that I make with customers own fabrics will now cost 80% of the normal cost of that item so for a drawstring project bag, made using that fabric that you bought ages ago but you still haven't had time to make, will cost you £8. I hope everyone is happy with that.

We're going away for an end of summer holidays road-trip to Portsmouth on Sunday so I will be closing my shop tomorrow night. If you want anything next week, get it quick. If you know of anywhere we should visit while in and around Portsmouth, preferably free or cheap, let me know :)