I thought I would share a week in the life of a habderdasher with you. Currently I am babysitting the builders replacing the conservatory, so I thought I’d share a typical day. What do I do all day long? How do small business owners stay busy? I’ve had the shop nearly 6 years now and no two days are the same. I love what I do and hope to see you soon!
Monday
Usually Mondays start with tickling round the shop tidying up and checking stock levels. Monday is often ideas day which then sketches out the rest of the week. Today I have lots of fabric remnants that need to go to make space for winter yarns so i thought i’d bag them up and make suprise goody bags of fabric and pop them outside.
Tuesday
Today is delivery day! Shop orders from the weekend usually arrive today. Boxes get opened and items need unpacking, pricing and squeezing onto shelves! It usually keeps me busy inbetween serving customers. Not much in this week’s order, so once done, I spent down time knitting. I am learning how to make stripes and knit with cotton!
Wednesday
Today was very exciting as I had a visit from my stylecraft rep, Maureen. Once a month I get to find out what’s new for the season and put in my yarn order. Lots of companies have a minimum order for free carriage but it racks up to hundreds of pounds. There is a juggle between making sure there’s enough in the bank to justify a huge order and not ordering for the sake of it and being overstocked. I have to guess if the new lines will sell – each area has it’s own quirks. What sells for Stylecraft doesn’t necesarily sell for me in Somerton. Covid and Brexit have meant stock shortages for the last year so repeat orders aren’t always a given, some stuff I have waited since January for!!
Thursday
Didn’t even get to have a cuppa this morning 🙁 Not to be outdone, I went to Market Bakery and reminded myself of how utterly delicious their coffee is.
It was a very busy customer day in the shop today, the weather was weird though. Four seasons in one day – for August that’s rubbish!! I set off in a T shirt and by the end of the day I was in an emergency shop jumper AND i had to borrow the emergency shop umbrella as it totally poured down at hometime.
Friday
Wednesday’s yarn delivery arrived today, so that needed oozing onto all the shelves. A fab friend delivered a much needed Hot Chocolate from Craft House Chocolate and we managed a catch up sat outside. I had another rep visit and a chat. As a result I have now joined the UK Hand knitting association (UKHKA) as they are doing their best to promote independent yarn shops in the wake of the Pandemic alongside some business support. Apparently I can have a mention in their directory and a little webpage. Something more to do another day!
Saturday
Steph is coming today for a workshop. We have been running them outside, but it’s totally tipping down. Upstairs needs tidying and clearing so there’s enough room for everyone inside today.
And relax! that’s my week. Not really relaxing as i need to make up this week’s order for delivery on Tuesday and we go round again.
See you soon!
Sue
I actually made this DIY Easter wreath last year but then Easter kind of didn’t happen, certainly not from a retail perspective. Can you believe it’s been a whole year since lockdown began?? All the lovely Easter stock is still sitting in the shop waiting for new owners. Easter this year isn’t going to happen either, but at least you can call me and collect your holiday crafting stash this year.
I used glitter cotton fabric and sewed the seams up each side.
Chose my trim and cord drawstrings. I like a pull cord from each side. You can save money and cord by only having one pull cord, like a school PE bag. Don’t forget to add another half metre as when the knots are tied it can get quite short. 
I turned a wide seam over to the inside and stitched round the whole bag top to make a neat top. If you have plenty of fabric, turn it even wider so you can use this top seam for your casing and sew 2 rows of stitiching half an inch apart.
I used ribbon for my casing as it doubles as decoration. Stitch it around the top of your bag about 3 inches from the top edge.
I usually run Christmas classes to make these and we had a blast last year with little versions of these. If you need any help just shout or come and see me! I have lots of Christmas fabric in stock. 
Cut out your felt triangles and arrange. Rainbow as shown, or go scandi Christmas with red, white and green, or celebrate a new baby with pastel colours. Cut as many as you need.
Fold over the end of your tape to make a loop. This keeps the ends neat. If you need to tie it around something, use a seperate bit of string, ribbon or elastic band to secure.
Fold the tape over to catch the felt triangle within the tape. Pin to secure. You could iron the tape in half if you wish for a sharper guideline.
If you have a sewing machine, my top tip is to use a ZIG ZAG stitch to make sure you capture the binding tape on the reverse. I find it a total nightmare trying to catch the tape on the backside if i sew straight stitch. Of course if you are hand sewing, you should be able to turn your work and see where you are going.
This pom pom garland is a lot of fun to make. You can put as many or as few pom poms as you like on your garland. This one, made by Freya has space and pegs for interspersing with photographs. What a great idea!
These are wooden pom pom makers not the usual circular ones. Simply wrap your yarn around the forky bits and tie tight to secure. 
When deliveries arrive, packing is given to the charity shop to wrap their china in. Larger cardboard delivery boxes are given to a lady who posts a lot of furniture around the country. This helps me move waste but more importantly, saves having to buy new packaging, which I think is a win win all round. Lots of shop stock comes plastic free; elastic, bindings, trim, lace, threads and things like webbing all come on reels so you don’t have to buy a pre packed amount, just have exactly what you need.
For a long time now, we have stocked a range of reusable and eco friendly versions of make up/face wipes, sandwich wraps (great for back to school) and metal straws in a handy carry pouch, all made by Melissa. These are great for birthday gifts to post or a treat for yourself! They have been tried and tested by friends and family. At the moment these are all displayed in the window, so do pop in and take a look. 
