Mama Kate » baby carriers

Downtown Lafayette Farmers Market

Katie — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:08:42 +0000

I’ll be at the Farmers Market this Saturday slingin’ slings. *laugh* You should come downtown to visit and check out all the other great stuff at the market! Hope to see you there!

New Listing

Katie — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:00:22 +0000

Tonight was a sewing night for me. John and the boys are at his parents’ house and I am at home alone with just me and my sewing machine. Well, I’ve also got my dog and 2 kitties here keeping me company. So, let’s get to the point of this blog post, shall we? I have a new fabric that I found for my slings! I really love the way it looks on the Natural Linen. If I had any Ginger Linen left, I would definitely pair this fabric with it, but I’ll just have to wait for my next order for that. Anyway, here is the link to the listing, and below are some photos. Enjoy!

(My Mom had the idea for the clothes line. Thanks Mom!)

So Happy

Katie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:03:00 +0000

There’s going to be a lot of tooting of my own horn in this post, so be warned.

So, my slings are selling. I’m not making enough money to retire, but my sales are definitely rising. I am thrilled! Thanks to all the lovelies who bought one, I hope you love it! And as I’ve been selling online and locally, I decided that having my slings in a store or two would be a good way to try to get a few more sales. My Midwife offered to let me sell them at her little shop in her office. So of course, my slings will be there! I can’t think of a better place to find a baby wearin’ Mama. Seriously, if you are having a homebirth, I’m betting you wear your baby. Another place I had in mind was Gretel’s Fine Gifts. I have loved this little shop ever since I discovered it, and later found out the owner used to work with my Dad. Small world. So, after stopping in and showing Gretel one of my slings in use with my adorable babe, she agreed to let me sell them in her store! Thank you, Gretel!

So, from all the local orders and getting slings made for these two shops, my Etsy shop has been suffering. I either haven’t had the time to add new listings or I don’t have the materials for the new listings because they are being used for slings I’m selling locally. So, I’m slowly figuring out where to go from here. I definitely need more linen on hand than I’ve needed in the past. As well as all the other stuff that goes into making a sling: thread, accenting fabric, and THE RINGS. You can’t forget those rings for the ring sling!

It’s just so amazing to watch my little business take this step into success. I’m so thankful that this has all worked out. I’m able to stay home with my kids and not starve because I have a wonderful husband that works and wholeheartedly supports me staying home. And to top off that, I have time to focus on my business that I’ve made from something I love doing.

Anyway, enough of that so-happy-I-could-cry stuff. Here are a few of the beauties I have made for Gretel’s store. I can’t wait for my linens to get here so I can duplicate these and list them in my shop!

P.S. I’m not sure why the pictures are all crammed like they are. Annie? If you are reading this, help!

The Ring Sling

Katie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:09:50 +0000

My new sewing project that I am now in love with and want to make 10,000 more of is the ring sling. I ~~needed~~ wanted a new one, and decided to try making one for myself. After all, I can sew. So, I gave it a shot, and it’s actually a pretty fast and easy process. After the first successful sling, I made another. This one I made a little differently. The first one I made (mine) I doubled up the linen. My idea was to make a thicker sling for winter, but it turns out I don’t prefer thick to thin. The fabric gets bunched in the rings and doesn’t easily slide through when tightening. So, the next sling I made, for a friend, was just one layer. It turned out very nicely. Tonight, I finished my third, and it is gorgeous. I used a fancy stitch and added a pocket on the tail that was an old cloth napkin given to me from John’s Aunt. I’m really happy with it. But, I did find out that using a more intricate stitch takes quite a bit more time. The consistency among all three is using the accordion fold for the shoulder. I have one made by another lady with this fold, and I love it. It looks nice and distributes the weight evenly across the shoulder. Through trial and error I hope to figure out 3 core styles for my slings. When I get that figured out, I will be posting them in my Etsy shop and my website. I’d also like to look into selling them locally. I’m not sure which retail store I would go to, but I know I could try selling at the local CHOICES meetings.

Here are a few photos: