Short Run Itty Bitty Zipper Pouch Project

Short Run Projects

I like to think of short run projects as you pay me marketing. This item, will not be sold in my shop. I take a paycut but I also get one of my items into the hands of several women. So instead of one of a kind items, it is a one of a kind item that is exclusive to a group or organization or store. It is very much like wholesale but in this case they are not being resold and which is why I like this kind of project.

To get your mind around a short run project, you’ll need to know exactly the cost of the materials and how long it will take you to complete them. Give yourself some extra time so that if something comes up, like your child missing school or you get sick that you’ll be able to complete the project on time. Think about how you will be packaging the items and include your brand image with the package. This is your chance to capture the audience.

How do you get short run projects?

My neighbors have been so good to me, they are always looking for ways to give me these short run projects. Being involved in the community and getting to know your town.

About this project

The materials were not huge for this project but it was very labor intensive. I had to hire a sitter because it was vacation week at both of my girls schools. Even though I finished the sewing part of the project there is still one very important aspect, packaging. The project was more than 20 hours in the making. I purchased a rotary cutter (not sure why I didn’t own one before) and that made the cutting so easy!

• 90 zippers
• 2 yards of green fabric
• 2 yards of white fabric
• labels
• lots of thread

Crazy that something so simple could take so long but when done correctly, a zipper pouch can be cute as well as handy!

Let me know if you have any questions or if I missed a point that you’d like me to highlight.

My best, Jen

Holiday Shopping @ The Itty Bitty Bag Company

   

My shop has more than doubled in size in two days, hard to believe after the number of items I sold at Wellesley Market Place. If you click on the image, it will enlarge it so you can see the detail. What I want to point out to everyone is that on the left hand side, you will find “handbags ready to ship”. These are not custom order, they are ready to go out the door, no delay!! Also, most of my accessories are ready to ship even though they are not in that category. I want to point out another important section, titled “Customize Your Design”, these items are not ready to ship and need to be made. As of right now, I have enough custom orders to keep me busy until December 6th. I will continue to keep you posted on my status of when I expect to complete these items. I will do my best over the holiday weekend to catch up and create some bandwidth to allow additional custom orders.

New items to my shop include: new mini totes, mini key fobs, skinny zipper wristlets, belts, small zipper pouches and zipper bags. All of these items are ready to ship. I have close to 90 items that are ready to ship, so there should be plenty to choose from but keep in mind with all of the custom orders I receive, I may not have time to add to inventory.

I will be running a Black Friday through Cyber Monday promotion but it does not apply to custom order designs, gift certificates or bundled gift sets that are already at a reduced price. If you should check out using my promo code and you include one of these items, not to worry, I will contact you and we can figure something out. The promo code for this holiday shopping weekend is BLACKFRICYBERMON  it has to be exactly as shown or it will not go through, you will receive 20% off your total order. I will turn on the code Thursday evening  and it will end Tuesday Morning, to account for time zones.  This will be the only sale that I am running through the holidays. I am one tired bag lady but I am so grateful for all my recent business, custom orders, & my Vineyard Kinda Life order.

I guess I should safely warn hubs that I will see him after New Years. LOL.

**Don’t forget you can always give someone a gift certificate to my shop, I have a standard $40 gift certificate so you can see what it looks like but it can be ordered in any amount in US dollars. Just send me a convo.

Another Vineyard Kinda Life Wholesale Order!! Yay!

A recap of my Vineyard Kinda Life Fall/Winter Order.

Sold exclusively @ Vineyard Kinda Life, Martha’s Vineyard, Main Street, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. Some items will also become available in my Etsy Shop.

I was so happy that Catherine & Susan reconnected with me for another order. Here are some pictures of the finished product. As I mentioned before, wholesale orders take a very long time to plan and then execute. Designing new bags or items can also be a very lengthy process. After talking with my dear friend Patti from Easton Place Designs, something to think about when designing something new is charging a design fee. Hunting down the right fabric, working with a design until you’ve perfected it, is weeks of work that typically isn’t calculated into the overall cost. Establish from the beginning how much time you need to complete the order and if it is a busy time of year, you have a lot of shows, that it could take even longer. A best case scenario would be having 6 months to prepare and execute so that you don’t have to choose between your wholesale order and your shop. That is a tough balance, throw in falling down the stairs (yep! I did) and then getting very sick (first time for strep), and still all the joys of being a stay at home mommy. It was too rushed for me. So I am going to follow-up because I really like working with this shop to make sure I give myself enough time if they should decide to do another order. Being honest about what you can accomplish is a professional thing to do.

Here are some pictures of the finished product: 2 styles of handbags, key fobs, zipper pouches and wine cozies. It was a great order and as you all know, the Vineyard is very special to me so it is such a great shop to showcase my items.

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Pictures of my bags at VKL

A very dear friend Patti was kind enough to take some pictures of my handbags being sold at Vineyard Kinda Life (Vineyard Haven, Marthas Vineyard) while on her vacation. Thanks so much Patti! 

I was so happy that not only are they displayed so nicely in the store but they adorned the front window, very appropriately hanging from a vintage canoe paddle.

Vineyard Kinda Life Pics by EastonPlaceDesigns

Working with Vineyard Kinda Life was my biggest project to date. It was a wonderful happen chance experience and I am so happy to share these pictures with you.

Patti, thank you for the pictures and your hard work. You should check out her amazing paper lovelies @ Easton Place Designs 

I love that fans have become friends. And without Itty Bitty, I would not have met them. That is the best part about my job. I’ve met so many great people along the way.

My best, My love Jen

Wholesale orders

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I thought it might be fun to share my experience of this last wholesale order and not just the final pictures. Wholesale orders are a lot of work and when your craft is not your full-time job and you have a 2-year-old and a 6-year-old at home, it is even more work. In the end, I am so happy and excited about having such a great opportunity but I found my human limit.

The whole process was 27 days. The process began on June 22nd when I received an email from a Vineyard Kinda Life (VKL). We spent the next 5 days talking about the design, searching for the right fabric, crunching numbers so that I would know exactly what the cost and labor would be. June 27th I created my first design and over the next 6 days while I was still looking for fabric and whipping up my initial 7 designs for Catherine (VKL) to approve. On July 3rd I received the go ahead to create 49 burlap beach bags. July 5th the first shipment went out, July 12th and 13th for the next two shipments. Over those 27 days, I spent approximately 50 hours working on this project. I cut 98 pieces of canvas, 98 fabric handles, 196 pieces of interfacing, 49 bands of fabric for the front of the bags, 98 pieces of burlap and 98 pieces of fabric lining for a grand total of 637 cuts.

Every detail was very carefully planned by me in order to maximize my work production. Working on this order in an “assembly” type of production saves time. It makes it easier on your brain to break out the steps. If you are constantly changing the steps then it becomes more labor intensive and takes longer.

I was pretty proud of myself when I was finished but wished that the project was over a quarter and not over a 15 day production cycle. Typically I spend 2 hours a day in my shop sewing. Other time throughout the day might be devoted to pictures, uploading products to the website, marketing via twitter and Facebook, or communicating with clients. A lot goes into this small business.

So as I said, I now know my limits and more importantly what I would be capable of once my youngest daughter starts kindergarten. I hope that this story inspires you to test and find your own limits but remember that we are human and we need to take care of ourselves too. And most importantly, taking care of my family which is my reason for being home. I look forward to more projects like this in the future. My best, Jen

It’s a “Vineyard Kinda Life” for sure!

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I have been working very hard on my next big thing! I received a request a couple of weeks ago from a shop on Martha’s Vineyard for 50 burlap beach bags. The store name is Vineyard Kinda Life, so if you are planning a trip over to the Vineyard this summer, please stop in to say hi for me! The shop is located right on Main Street in Vineyard Haven Massachusetts. I have 7 styles currently that will be available for purchase at their store in limited quantities (7 of each design). Once I get through this order, I already have a request to come up with some other colors for her shop. Here is the photo gallery of the handbags I created for Vineyard Kinda Life. So very excited about this order, not just the size or the design challenge but also because this is my families favorite vacation spot of all time. We have so many wonderful memories of time we’ve spent on Martha’s Vineyard, now we have one more!

Darien Democratic Town Committee DTC 25th Annual Lobster Bake

It was a lot of work but I am finally finished with my order for the Darien Democratic Town Committee DTC 25th Annual Lobster Bake. I completed 100 key fobs to be sold at the door. I am also donating 3 burlap tote bags (2 medium and 1 large) to be auctioned. My favorite item is again one that presented new challenges for me. I made the perfect democrat hostess set. A 1950′s style Apron, 10 cocktail napkins and 2 pot holders all in the democrat fabric. I am sure we’ll put the hostess set in a nice little gift basket with some other items, again to be auctioned off.

30 Key Fobs for the Darien Girl Scouts in Connecticut

I received a custom order for 30 key fobs as an appreciation gift for the Darien Girl Scout Leaders. The time frame was a bit tight, only a couple days to complete the order but so excited and happy to do it.

I gift packaged them and included a printed card that said “You are the key to developing girls of character, courage and confidence in Darien Girl Scouts. Thank you for being a Girl Scout leader.”

Itty Bitty Bag Company available this Spring/Summer….

I am so happy to announce that my Itty Bitty handbags will be available this Spring/Summer at Seaport Studios in Westerly Rhode Island. You can view these handbags on my flickr photoshare!

Seaport Studios Collection

If you are a retail boutique store and would like to custom order handbags for your store, please contact me. Minimum orders and price sheets available upon request. jen@ittybittybag.com

Each of my handbags in unique and love to do original designs.