March Meet the Maker Day 3

Day 3 of #marchmeetthemaker is Time... 

I’ve always struggled with production time and I thought I’d show a little insight into how much time it takes to complete one of my dolls. 

To begin, I will message my customers and send them a booking form. This often isn’t straight forward and I will talk them through hair colour options, fabric options, any personalisation they wish to add, etc. Often I have to go away and research a particular fabric theme that they may have asked for and then go back to them with screen shots for them to choose. 

Then it’s back to the iMac to source the other fabrics and materials needed. Unfortunately there isn’t one big factory where I can buy every single material required to make a doll. Each element comes from different companies which can be a pain and isn’t cost effective when factoring in postage fees for each company. I do use independent shops in my town where possible, to reduce my carbon footprint but again, that takes time going from shop to shop. I try to wait until all my customers have sent their orders and payments so I can order everything together, but in reality this rarely happens. I hate keeping my customers waiting if there’s a delay with another customer getting back to me.

 It can take up to a week for the fabrics to arrive when ordering online . Then I have to cut out all my pattern pieces. There are 25-30 pattern pieces for each doll, so this takes the longest! Often longer than sewing up. Sewing and stuffing the doll can take up to four hours depending on the pattern. Then another 45 minutes to an hour to embroider her face. Then there’s the photography. Editing. Filling out the dolls declaration of conformity form which every doll I make must have for CE marking purposes. 

Then there’s the packaging, printing and visiting the post office. Often I have 6-10 customers to do this for in any one month and that’s aside from market nights and showcases I’m taking part in. So production time sometimes goes over my estimation. For the most part I have very patient and understanding customers and they know how long it takes for me to produce something with as much love, care and attention to detail as I do. 🥰 Xx

Day 2 of #MarchMeetTheMaker is HANDS AT WORK. This the last step of making a doll and the most nerve-wracking... I embroider my dolls faces by hand AFTER I’ve sewn them up and only get one chance to get it right! My dolls really come alive when their faces are finished and it’s almost as if they have their own personalities. 🥰 

#handsatwork #handmadedoll#dollsofinstagram #textiledoll #embroidery #dressupdoll #designerdoll#littlesugarplums

March Meet the Maker - Day 1

Hello! I have wanted to do a March Meet the Maker for a few years now but I usually remember about half way through the month! So I’m going to give it a go and hopefully I’ll get past day 5 (we’ll skim over the fact that I’m already a day late 😉)! I’ll try not to repeat the same back story for those who have been following my journey for a while, but I will try to fill in those of you who recently joined my page and would like to know a little bit about me. 

My name is Aimie. I’m about to celebrate the last year of my 30’s (eeek!) and I’m the face behind Little Sugar Plums. I design and create CE certified dress-up dolls in my basement sewing room in Northampton. 

I was never very good at textiles  when I was younger and kind of winged it throughout school. I failed my textiles GSCE when it came to doing my exams! 😩

However after the birth of my daughter, Amelia in 2010, I was determined to make clothes for her and bought myself a sewing machine, some patterns and books and haven't stopped sewing since! 

The dolls came completely by accident. I was given a sewing book as a birthday present and decided to make one of the doll patterns in it from one of Amelia’s old cot sheets. I really enjoyed making it, and after I made a few more and started to get better, I soon started receiving orders from friends and family. I wasn't happy with any of the patterns on the market that I tried, so I designed my own.  I then took the daunting route of CE testing and in 2012, Little Sugar Plums was born! I almost feel embarrassed to put this photo online as it's just awful!  But it makes me realise just how much my skills  have improved (look at me now Mrs Cook!!).

Don't laugh! 

So proud of how my skills have improved since then!

 My Facebook page was thriving and in 2014, I became so busy that I gave up my job as a self employed childminder, started making dolls and children’s clothing full time and never looked back! Due to the social media algorithms in recent years, I have had to slow down a bit. I still have a lot of repeat customers who keep coming back to me year after year which I am eternally grateful for. But getting seen by new customers is proving difficult. I have decided this year that I will take a new approach with my business and will do more local fairs in my area to expand my customer base. 

I am currently working on some new products which I hope will be more affordable.  Watch this space for further updates!