setback

This is the look of despair. With a seam ripper.

I knew the entire time that I was sewing the small and large card holder pieces of a wallet I am mass-producing to sell on etsy.com, that they were too small.

I forgot to take into account the seam I would sew when attaching them to the billfold part, and sure enough, I could not coax a credit card nor Metrocard into the pocket of the one I tried to finish. So my 50 small rectangles of fabric, all fused and nowhere to go. I don't even have more fusing to start anew yet. Let alone the sanity.

I am trying to not think about it too much and keep the momentum. I have spent about 24 hours on them at this point - from sketching to patternmaking to color theory to cutting to sewing, ironing, etc. It is a painful process, but I will finish this. The goal is to have 5 of each of the 4 designs I cut pieces for, not counting the faulty pockets. Inventory, baby.

I am reading the Make It blog with aplomb, getting inspiration from her efforts. I can't recall her name, but she is doing a fabulous job. I also love the mention of her local small business resources. I encourage all would-be and even established entrepreneurs to seek out the usually free and completely legit small business services in their city. I know from experience they are staffed by professionals whose sole purpose is to help you help yourself. Sounds silly, yes, but since most of the ideas that come through are garbage, they will be more than happy to help someone with a solid, sound business plan. Or, help you write one if you don't have the foggiest idea how to.

It always amazes me how few people take advantage of the resources available. Those are your taxes, people. And if you want to think of the very good odds that your idea is probably one of the best to come through their doors, you could be up, running, and successful in no time.