Teddy Bear Project - Finished and Feedback

I sent Christie her 150 teddy bear patches 2 days ahead of schedule.  I thought they looked great but I was a little concerned that she would be unhappy that some of them had pale pink instead of dark pink.  It was an executive decision on my part - wait for dark pink thread, or move forward with the project.

I was concerned when I didn't hear back from her, but yesterday I received this email from her:

Hi Janet!

Sorry it's taken me a bit to get back to you, the patches worked out GREAT!! my council wants a receipt for my payment to reimburse me, can you please send me some kind of paid invoice to turn in, including the shipping so I can get paid back by them?

I will be leaving lengthy and amazing feedback for you on etsy, the whole group of guests loooved the patches. I will be back for our next event if that's ok with you!

Thanks again!!

Christie

I guess she liked them.

Big Goof

Oh man.  I'm so annoyed with myself.  Having sent my wine bag photos to a store in NC, I had a nice email back from them asking for a sample, which I sent right away.  Following up, the contact was noticeably cooler; she was not at all happy with the bag:  handle too short, stitching not secure enough.  I didn't argue although I did tell her that we hadn't had any problems with security.  Later that day, I got the bag back.  Well, I had sent her a sample whose handle, for some reason, had not been triple-stitched.  No wonder she thought it wasn't secure.  As for the length of the handle, I had already learned that it was too short for some bottles and had changed it for my Vino 100 order.  Unfortunately, I had sent her sample before realizing that.

All I could do was call her today and apologize, which I did.  Profusely; and asked for a second chance to make a first impression.  She warmed up considerably and was happy to have me stay in touch.  However, they'd decided not to bring in anything now, it being the slow season, but to get back in touch in August.  Of course, I will.

While it's not something I'd do on purpose, sometimes making a mistake isn't so bad if you can recover by overwhelming the customer with better-than-great service, eating humble pie, or whatever it takes to get back on track.  I believe she accepted my explanation, and I'm sure she'll remember the encounter better than if everything had gone smoothly.  It was a bad 24 hours for me, though.

Sandwich Wrap Redesign

Back to the drawing board on the sandwich Wraps.

Have only heard back from one Whole Foods so far but it was a rejection.  When asked for the reason, they said it was a great idea but the design wasn't eye-catching enough. 

Well, I can't disagree.  They're very functional and super-ecological, but not that great-looking.  I just haven't put the time into them that I have some of my other items.  (I think I can say the same for my accessory cases; they need more love and attention.)

Did some work on them today and think I'm headed in the right direction although I'm not 100% satisfied with what I've produced so far.  Of course, I was tweaking works-in-progress and was somewhat limited by some construction flaws.  But basically the idea is to mirror, to an extent, the laptop Wrap design, i.e., rounded foldover flap in a matching or contrasting or complimentary color.  Keeps things more consistent within the shop, too.

And although I love the foldover "Baggie" style design that Jessie suggested, I think I have to let it go in favor of velcro.  It's just easier and more practical.

Always helpful to have feedback, even or maybe especially when it's not positive.  Good news is, they're willing to take another look when my design is improved.  They'll be hearing from me!