PLEASE PULL YOUR BLOUSE DOWN!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE PICTURE ABOVE? Holy Face! The neckline is all the way up under the chin, and EVEN the breasts of a MANNEQUIN look baggy. Bleh. People, I want to address an issue that's very near and dear to my heart. Now, I KNOW that all of you rennies (avid renaissance festival goers) are already aware of how to put on a corset or bodice. You pull it on, lace it, and then pull the neckline of your blouse down, as well as reaching in and pulling your breasts up into the best possible position. However, I think that there's some of you who are note quite familiar with all the adjusting that needs to go on in order for these to look fantastic. See below, for the proper way of wearing these.

Phew! It's like a ray of light and angels singing! Perky! Even on a stiff mannequin made of packaging tape, stuffing, and a lot of swearing (yes, I make my own mannequins. Do you really think there's a mannequin manufacturer out there that would make them this beautifully shaped? nah. I'm awesome.) All I did was pull that neckline down. The corsets should be tight enough that it will hold that neckline RIGHT where you put it. Now, paired with a good bra (see more previous post) and you're going to look absolutely seductive. Yes, I'm tell you to pull your dang blouses down! This is coming from a mormon conservative girl, so you KNOW that I MEAN IT! ;)

On another note, thanks tremendously to all of you who purchased on Black Friday. It was a huge success, and the first 15 sales (you know, the awesome ones who got 20% off coupons) all happened within the first 2 minutes after 6:00 (I felt REALLY bad for the lady who was all excited and hoping she had been one of the first 15, and she had just barely bought her corset at 8:30. Blast!) I only do sales like that about twice a year, because....well, when you're selling stuff that you made yourself for THAT cheap, you're not really making any money. You're just barely breaking even on the costs that it took to make all of that stuff. But, the cool thing is that both times I've had these sales, I've had TONS of people purchasing that are brand new to etsy, so they're not only being introduced to the magnificent world of corsets, BUT they're also joining the fantastic marketplace that etsy is. So, thank you again..and pull your blouses down.
Signing off.
Michelle

THE REALLY FREAKING AWESOME BLACK FRIDAY SALE

Hey Friends! It's Michelle! Just some more info about the Black Friday Sale on ETSY-We're thinking we'll start it at 6 am on Friday morning and running it until 10 pm friday night. I'm going to list piles and piles of corsets from my inventory over the next couple days. They will all be starting out listed at their normal prices , and then suddenly and magically, all the prices will drop on Friday. You'll be able to get wench corsets for $35 to $39 and Vixens from $59 to $79! Granted.....I won't be making jack for profits, but I thought it would be A REALLY COOL way to get people to buy corsets who normally couldn't afford them, and then they can become converts.
Oh one last thing! I'll be sending out coupons that are good for "20% off your next purchase" to the first 15 people that buy something from me on our Black Friday Sale!

*PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS!! USE THE MAGICAL TOOL OF THE INTERNET TO PIMP MY BUSINESS!

The GREAT Bombshell Bra!

Hey, normally I wouldn't support a company that plasters soft porn all over their shopping windows in a family environment like the mall, BUT I have to give it to Victoria's Secret-They've made the best bra I've ever had...ever. It's a new bra, and it's called the Bombshell. It has the perfect amount and shape of padding, because it makes you look SERIOUSLY perky, and gives you the most amazing cleavage of all time. We all know that I fully support garments that shape your body and make it look as lovely as possible, and I think all of you are aware of how adamant I am about wearing bras with your corsets. (Seriously, no corset maker can make a corset that's built with a good bra...not even me. Why the freak would I want to put molded cups and underwires into my bodices, when I could let good bra-makers do it, and then I could make a lovely piece of clothing MADE TO FIT OVER IT???) Anyway, if you want to look phenomenal in your corset, PLEASE purchase one of these bras. If you're above a 38D cup size, I would HIGHLY recommend the molded cup plunge neckline bra from Cacique, sold at Lane Bryant.

I'm DANG SICK of women coming into my booth at ren fests and saying that they can't wear underbust corsets because they don't have the breasts for it. That's B.S. We have a wealth of amazing bra makers at our fingertips, and if you're saggy and baggy, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!!! HOLY NIGHT! I had to pester my own mother into wearing sexy, molded cup push-up bras, but when she finally got them on, she looked 10 years younger. I have an 87 year old great-grandmother, and her little chests are still WAY up there, because she's worn the right bra all of these years (granted, she actually has little permanent indentations in her shoulders where the bra straps have been digging in all of these years, because she tightens them all the way!)

And to all of you who still refuse to wear a good bra or a bra at all with your stuff, you can disagree with me all you want, but I'm still the sexier, perkier one at the end of the day. People, you have the power to look amazing. Now, GO AND DO IT!

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here in a lovely leopard print bra, and I look fantastic.
*sorry to any men that read this blog. You shouldn't have had to sit through this rant.

This is me Crying Tears of Shame

I just had a girl on etsy asking me if I would make hoods to hook onto her corsets. Because I'm a kind and obliging individual, I told her I would be glad to make the hoods and asked her to take pictures of the fabrics she currently had the corsets in, so I could match them exactly. She sent me 3 pictures, and they were all of the knock-off guy's corsets. My pride has been seriously wounded. Just when I had finally made piece in my heart! I read this big article about forgiveness and about how when we let things go, we unload great burdens that are weighing us down. I realized that I had so much hatred for this company, and it was just poisoning me, so I told myself that bit about flattering being a sincere form of...admiration...what is that quote? OOOoh, imitation being the most sincere form of flattery. Thus, I figured that, with how much he's shamefully copied me, he must adore me more than my husband does! He must think I'm an absolute GODDESS to imitate my creations that much. MAN ALIVE! Anyway, and I decided that, for the people who want a costume to wear to one single event, and they don't mind if it feels cheap (just like the ones that come in packages at the Halloween Store), then he's a marvelous company. He gives the people what they want, and they don't have to fork over their well earned cash. I decided that it was cool that people could "look" like one of my dang sexy customers from far away. Neat. It's almost like they could belong to our club of awesomeness, and they didn't have to go through initiation.

Wow, I'm off subject. I just wanted to say that I'm working through the cycle of forgiveness all over again....(I still get angry every time I see a cheaply made bodice out of my patterns.) and maybe I never let go of my bitterness in the first place. Dang.

I actually like Ugly

So, we've gotten to the end of the year, and we're trying to calculate how much supplies we have, and what we are in need of so that we can continue onto next year full force! The other goal that we have it to use up all of the little yard or half yard pieces of fabric that we have folded in neglected stacks on our shelves...oh, and we want to use up the ugly fabrics. Ugly, you say? Why the devil would someone make something ugly? Well, I've come to a realization-not everyone likes the same things that I like. This particular notion struck me when I was dealing with one of my customers last week (I believe you know who you are. I'm not mad! Just flabbergasted!) and she didn't like ANY of the fabrics that I had had in my booth at the Las Vegas Festival, nor did she like anything on my website, OR anything on the two fabric websites that I referred her to. And I had this horrid little mini-attack of....well, I don't even know what it was. It's just that there's all these people that go onto American Idol and brag about how all of their family and friends tell them that they can sing SO well, and then when they get up onto the stage, they screech out some painful pop song, all of America sits at home and laughs at them, and Simon tells them it's rubbish. Why was no one honest with them????Furthermore, what if I actually pick ugly fabrics, and no one is freaking telling me!!!????

I posted these pictures on purpose, because this is a good example of a fabric that I KNOW is awesome, and I actually DO KNOW that lots of other people won't exactly fancy it. I like the look of textiles that appear to be some nightmarish carpetbag gone wrong. I like really horrid olive greens and colors that look like the only appropriate place for them is on tacky kitchen appliances from the 60's or 70's. However, when I pick fabric for my company from which I will make corsets, I take some very serious things into consideration. First, I strive to cover all of the most basic colors-Black, red, blue, green. Those seem to be the ones that are easiest to match. I've noticed that when there is an "in between color" like puce or chartreuse, people aren't nearly as drawn to them. Second, I try to reflect on the countless emails that I've received that have requested something specific (I would say 80% of the "color request" emails I get are asking for purple.) or a specific pattern. Thus, when I shop, if I see a purple (which happens about once a year) I pounce on it and purchase the whole bolt and whatever else they have.

Which brings me to my next point. I know that some of you get frustrated because I don't have exactly the fabric you want, and I'm a complete slacker when it comes to updating my fabrics page on my website, but let me take a moment to defend my honor. When I'm shopping for fabric, I usually have to have several thousand dollars in cash that I stick in my bra and walk into the shop with. Cold Hard Cash speaks so poignantly and bluntly. I also have to purchase THE WHOLE ENTIRE BOLT of fabric to get a good deal. There's not a fabric store out there that is interested in providing me with 4 and 5 yard pieces of a vast selection of fabric, and letting me have them for wholesale price. Now, when you're in the wholesale world, a bolt of fabric can be anywhere from 50 to 70 yards. EVEN if I had something magical happen, and I was able to obtain the gorgeous quality upholstery fabrics for a mere 7 DOLLARS A YARD, that would still end up being easily $420. In the end, I have a lovely fabric, but I still just have one color option. (Oh, by the way 7 dollars is a splendid price, and if I were to just purchase a few yards, the retail price is more like $20. Ouch. Goodbye, profits.) So, let's do some quick math.....actually let's not. Math is boring. Let's do some B.S. estimations. So, even if I wanted a barely reasonable selection of 8 fabrics on my website, I would have to drop $4000 to meet that end. Do you guys understand what I'm saying? I hate to tell you, but I'm not exactly that rich.

Back to the main subject...sort of. We trying to save up the money to get new fabrics, but it may be a few months. I may have to give up my great love for fancy cheeses and MAC makeup, so I can actually afford it in the end. I do want to promise you that we have a lot of splendid things coming up this next year for our company. I am learning something new every single day about how to run things more smoothly, how to make a better product, how to deal with customers in the best manner possible, and how to get where I want to go with my dream. All of your advice and input has been absolutely crucial in developing this company, and I promise to continue to listen to you guys, because I actually think that, in your case, "the customer is always right."

Halloween 2010 Pre-Planning

Well, I'll be honest with everyone. This Halloween season kicked my rear. I've never felt more inadequate, stressed, defeated and beaten as I did for the whole month of October. I never want to repeat another month like that in my life....EVER. It wasn't the volume of orders that we had (good glory! I'll never complain about that!) or the two festivals that did it to me. I think we just need to figure out the best way to take orders so there's as little confusion and frustration as possible. I've talked about this with the midwest branch of my company (my brother and his wife) and we decided that for next year, we would have a "rewards program" so to speak for customers that followed some guidelines we're going to come out with. It will be based on things such as-how early they order, how quickly it's paid for, and how and when you send us the measurements for custom orders. For instance, next year, near the end of September, we will feature lots of really fantastic Halloween costume corsets, HOWEVER, the price on the items will go up each week until Halloween, when they will be at the highest prices that we would ever sell our items at. The reason is that the procrastinated orders nearly killed us. I totally understand procrastination, I'm guilty of it, and I'm trying to purge it from my life, but we're just saying that we're going to REWARD the smart girls who plan ahead. So, essentially, you could pay $100 for a corset at the end of September, of you could pay $140 for the same corset at the end of October. We'll also be sending out really fantastic coupons along with the early orders, so you can get splendid discounts on your next purchases.
I'll be coming out with an official list of "guidelines" for getting customer perks, but we want you guys to know that we're not just doing this to save our own skins. I'm trying to make it so when people order from us, it's pleasant, painless, well communicated, and that you guys end up getting a perfect product and looking spectacular. And I'll let you in on a little secret. There's lots of odds and ends type of corsets laying around my sewing shop that haven't been listed on etsy or artfire for whatever reason. When I get customers that I really like working with, I generally look around my shop to see if one of those corsets is the same size as the one I'm sending them, and I'll throw in a free corsets. I know there's a handful of you who have been beneficiaries of totally free corsets, and I want you to know that it's because you made my job easier and were just beautiful to work with.....oh, and I happened to have another corset in your size (that's the biggest factor).

Oh, one last note, completely unrelated! Lots of you have noticed that we haven't been listing on ebay. We're really trying to run our business without having to do business through them. They are not a seller-oriented website, and when we give them 16% to 18% of each of our sales, and they still aren't willing to work with us ...it makes us feel that maybe we don't want to give them our money. I might change my mind on this, because ebay has been a good way of promoting our business, but they have also been, for the most part, a great big corporation that doesn't give a dang about little companies like me. Bleh. So, PLEASE check out our artfire and etsy stores. We purposely put better stuff on there anyhow. ;)