One Year Anniversary!

We are one!



Stall at Sewing For Pleasure 2010



The big day has finally arrived!  This day last year I was at Sewing For Pleasure launching The Sewing Directory completely unsure of what was to come.  It took 6 months hard work pre-launch to get the website designed and the launch planned, during which time it sometimes felt like it would never happen.  If only you could see those original plans you would probably laugh as the site has evolved so much since then!  The Sewing Directory in it's first conception was going to be a list of dressmakers throughout the country, no articles, projects or competitions, purely a database of streamstresses.

As the plans evolved and I conducted research I realised that what was needed was almost an online magazine of sorts, with more than just a database of businesses but news, projects, how to guides, competitions and much more.  Plus the sewing supplies and courses parts of the site somehow came into being and took on a life of their own!   I hadn't even thought about the social networking side if things, and now find myself with over 3,000 fans on Facebook and Twitter who have been so amazingly kind and supportive overt the last year.

It's been a rollercoaster year with some great highs and some unfortunate lows, but looking back I wouldn't change a thing.  I am very grateful to all of you who have supported me in this venture.  The hardest thing when you start a new business is wonder how people will react.  Will everyone else think it is a good idea, or just you?  Those first few people who come on board before you have even gotten off the ground are the ones that stick in your mind.  They show you, and everyone else, that they have faith in your idea and encourage you to succeed.

I am incredibly grateful to my first customer , Louise Parkes of Louise Parkes Interiors, who I met at the trade show last year, a month before I launched.  She signed up on the spot for a whole year, before the site was even live, and said she absolutely loved the idea.  I also owe a big thanks to Traplet Publications (owners of Sewing World and Patchwork & Quilting magazine), in particular Steph, who have been a massive support from when The Sewing Directory was just a vague idea and became sponsors before there was even a site to speak of.   Plus Cloth Kits, Janome and Abakhan Fabrics who all asked to advertise on the site, again before I had even launched, they all had faith that the site would succeed and I am proud to prove them right.

I have many plans for the second year of The Sewing Directory, hopefully most of them will come to fruition by the end of the year.  I always have a head full of ideas and no where near enough time to implement them all!   Anyway I don't want to waffle on so I would just like to say a huge big thank you to you all there are way to many of you to thank you all individually.  By way of thanks I am giving away a new Janome TXL607 on the site here, worth £499 so make sure you get your entry in!