Tie Tying Tutorial (say that 5 times fast!)

Our ties have quickly become one of our hottest items! To save paper (and who keeps the stuff that comes with the package anyway?) I'm putting the instructions online.


Step 1: Lay the tie and band pieces perpendicular with the tie piece on top of the center of the band as pictured (narrow end at the top). For a longer tie, move the tie piece toward the narrow end of the tie piece and for a shorter tie, move the band down toward the wide end of the tie piece.

Step 2: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece down behind the band.

Step 3: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece over the wide end. This is a good time to make sure the tie piece is centered on the band piece and is the desired length.

Step 4: Fold the narrow end of the tie piece up and behind the neck band. 

Back View

Step 5: Bring the narrow end in front of the neck band.

Step 6: Pull the narrow end down behind the wider end of the tie piece.

Step 7: Hold the knot and pull the narrow end down until it's tight. It may not look right at this stage, but that's ok.

Step 8:  Pull the ends of the neck band straight out, and it should look like this:

The neck band has an extra long velcro closure to achieve a perfect fit for a variety of sizes. The length can be adjusted from 10 to 16 inches. Combined with the adjustable neck band, these ties will grow with your little guy.

Sweet Child of Mine Update

I'm excited to announce that we will be adding Sweet Child number three to our family in March! I will be closing the shop for custom orders on March 10th (subject to change if the little one decides to make an early entrance), so all Easter orders will have to be received by that date. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day orders will not be affected. The store will remain open for in-stock orders which will ship out within two business days. I will do my best to stock as many sizes and fabric selections as possible.

Current turn-around time for custom orders is 10 business days.

Helpful Tagging Tips for Etsy Sellers

I created this post to share with my EtsyKids Team regional group.These are some things I've learned along the way that will hopefully help newer Etsy sellers label their items in a way to get more exposure. 

Each month, Etsy publishes a merchandising report that lists what is trending at that particular time. Treasury curators will choose items that fit the keywords in this report, because it maximizes the chance of their treasury being chosen for Etsy's front page. The items in these treasuries get tons of views! Even if your item doesn't make it to the front page, being featured in a treasury gives you lots of exposure. You can increase your chances of being chosen for a treasury by tagging your items with the keywords from the Etsy merchandising report (of course you need to make sure these words accurately describe your item).

I use all 13 tags in almost all of my listings. Make sure the colors of your item are tagged, because curators use a certain color theme in their treasuries. Be specific about the shade of the color if possible, especially if the color is mentioned in the Merchandising Report. For example, if your item is mustard yellow, or phlox purple, then tag those specific colors, don't just tag yellow or purple. Other things to tag are the season, any holidays or current trends that your item represents, possible recipients (boy, baby, woman etc), occasion (anniversary, birthday, new baby, etc) and anything else you can think of that accurately describes your item. You never know what random thing people will be looking for to curate a treasury. A personal example is a tie I have listed that is made of blue fabric with orange fish and there are small white bubbles. That item was just featured in a treasury today called "Babies and Bubbles". I'm glad I tagged "bubbles" even though it was not a significant part of the tie! Please note, you cannot use tags that describe a potential use for your item like "gift" or "stocking stuffer". (You CAN suggest these uses in the Description section of your listing).  For a complete list of the new tagging rules, click here.

The November merchandising report can be found here. The Pantone Color Trend Report for fall can be found here.

If you have any questions, please ask, and if you have any listings you need help tagging, post them here, and we can all give suggestions.

Christmas Shopping EtsyKids Style

Are you looking for a unique gift for the special children in your life? Are you sick of crappy plastic toys and sweatshop clothes from the box stores? Perhaps you want to buy a handmade gift and support a small business, but purchasing online makes you nervous.

Etsy is the solution to all of these problems! For those who may not be familiar with Etsy, it is a website where crafters and artisans sell their handmade products. Everything in Etsy is handmade, with the exception of vintage items and craft supplies. This is NOT your grandma's craft bazaar! Most of the items are very high quality, and there is a wide variety of items and crafting styles. You'll find clothing for all members of the family (yes, the pets too!), toys, jewelry, art and home decor. The crafting methods range from sewing, knitting, crocheting, wood-crafting, metalworking, graphic design, paper-crafting, painting and much more. Some of you are still hung up on the fact that I said most of the items are high quality. Yes, there are some items that are literally 2 pieces of trash hot-glued together. There are many strange and borderline pornographic things on Etsy. There is actually an entire website (and book) that is solely dedicated to pointing out all of the bizarre and trashy things on Etsy.

This is where EtsyKids comes to the rescue (well only for kids' items, you're on your own for the rest)! The EtsyKids Team is made up of over 600 different shops selling a variety of quality children's items. In order to be approved for membership, shops must have excellent feedback ratings, sell only family-friendly items and abide by the Etsy rules and regulations. Approved shops must also have been in business at least three months, stock a minimum of 10 children's items and actively participate within the team. This means that EtsyKids is made up only of shops who produce high quality products, have excellent customer satisfaction and are dedicated to the team and to their shops.

So go ahead and look here for some unique handmade gifts for your little ones this Christmas. You can also check out the EtsyKids blog to get to know the people behind the great products and to read fun articles and craft ideas.

It's been a while!

Wow, it's been so long since I've blogged! With the responsibilities of running a household, taking care of two very active kids, and running a business, blogging has fallen by the wayside. One of my New Year's resolutions is to follow through on things. I've been working on putting more time into my Etsy shop, so keeping up with the blog is the next step for me!

I plan on not only keeping my readers up-to-date with what's happening at Sweet Child of Mine, but also showcasing other businesses that sell handmade items. I'll probably branch out and talk about other things, like crafts, recipes and gardening too.

Thanks for reading, and I promise to keep this blog interesting!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing!

I'm working really hard to increase my in-stock items! Usually I relied mostly on custom orders. because I don't want to stock sizes if nobody wants them. but I'm going out on a limb. Plus making custom items feel more personal then just making something for stock.

I'm going fabric shopping today! I need more boy styles and I'm going to get some fall colors. I don't want to think about summer being over yet, but I know people like to plan ahead, so I thought I'd get a jump-start!

I hope everybody is having a great weekend! We sure are!

Long time, no blog!

Hello everybody! I took a long hiatus to focus on family, but now I'm back in business. I've been sewing up a storm and have several new items, and many more to come! The best news is that I now have a selection of boys clothing!

I hope everybody is having a fantastic summer!