Friday, August 20, 2010

1st Wholesale Order: Tool Aprons

A couple of weeks ago I got my very first wholesale order. I was so excited! The buyer wanted 14--possibly 18--tool aprons for her son's birthday party. This was such a fun order because during the "I'm thinking about it" stage she asked me what could be put into them for girls. So I made a few suggestions: play hair dryer, brushes, etc so they could play "beautician"; art supplies, and play kitchen utensils. I'm actually glad she asked me that question because I had never thought of marketing my tool aprons for girls too--but now maybe I will!

After she made the decision to order them, she decided she wanted solid colors: pink w/purple trim for the girls and navy w/red trim for the boys. She also wanted them personalized. This presented a challenge since I don't own an embroidery machine (which will be the FIRST thing I buy when I hit the lottery) so I had to figure out a way to do this.  What I decided was to embroider the names onto shapes (oval for boys, hearts for girls) in felt that matched the trim colors and then applique them onto the aprons.  Now mind you, I am not very good at embroidering--especially freehand--but I did the best I could. I also decided to stitch the pocket dividers using a decorative trim and in thread colors matching the trim to break up the solids a bit.

I decided I would make one apron of each so I could send her a picture of what they looked like and get her approval before I made the rest of them (smart, no?). She really liked them, so away I went! It took me a total of four days to make them. Two days to cut them out and two days to make them (I did boys first and then the girls).  Not as long as I thought it would take! And walla! 14 tool aprons!