Recently in Meet the Staff Category
Let me share a few cute stories with you from our "early days". Starting with my next entry, I am going to do something a little bit different. We see vendors very regularly. I am going to photograph some of our buying session so you can both see our crew "in action" and also see some of the fabulous new products we are buying currently and which you will see in the coming months. Now back to my cute stories.
Story #1 - Laurie Comes to Work - As I shared with you in my last entry, we reached a point fairly early on when we knew we were not simply trying to liquidate an old business and go out of business, but we were going to get into the on-line fabric retail business. That's a great decision to make in the abstract, but how do you impliment it when you have virtually no staff. The first major cog in our new machine turned out to be.... Laurie.
A friend of mine owned a company that had a staffing agency as a component. He was looking for some part time help for me. At the time, we occuppied what we thought was a large space with about 15 offices, although all of them except mine were empty. One morning a hear the front door chime go off and a women's voice calls out, "Hello. Is anyone here?" So I yell back, "just follow that telephone cord down the hallway and it will lead you to my office." In walks an attractive young lady who introduces herself as Laurie. She tells me she has just left her full-time job and isn't really looking to work full-time right now, but would be happy to pick up a few hours as a temp. I tell her that is great because we are just trying to start this new business and I am not sure I have the money to pay her for more than a few hours a week anyway. I tell her to pick out one of the empty offices and we'll get started. From that day forward, I don't think she has ever worked less than a 40+ hour week. She came in and immediately started creating systems for running our business (She is very good at creating systems). Over the years, she went from helping in credit card charging and fulfillment (we all cut fabric back then), to creating and managing our Customer Service Department to her position today as our Marketing Director. In truth, she is much more than our Marketing DIrector. She is a visionary who has helped shape the direction and face of our company. I will never forget the day she followed the telephone cord down the hall to my office.
Story #2 - Sausage in the Box and Frozen Fabric- In the early days (Years 1 & 2) we bought "clearance boxes" from a box distributor. These were brand new boxes that some company never used and which we could buy very inexpensively. They always had something printed on the outside like "Bathroom Tissue" or "Jimmy Dean Sausage". One day we get a call from an irrate customer. She just received her fabric and it "reaks of the smell of sausage." Not only that, her "entire kitchen smells of sausage" & "How dare we send fabric out in a used sausage box." So I explained to her that we did NOT ship the fabric in a used sausage box, but that we bought brand new boxes that had various company's names printed on them. At first she did not believe me. Then I asked her, "you say your entire kitchen smells like sausage? Is it possible you cooked sausage for breakfast this morning?" Well, you know how that story ends. I think she is a good customer today.
The next "box" story starts with an irrate call from a customer telling me that we had charged her credit card, but never sent her fabric. She thought we were scam artists. So I tracked her package with UPS and it showed that her husband had signed for the package several days earlier. I asked her to check with her husband when he came home that night. The next day she called to say, with some embarrasment, that she had found the box of fabric. Printed on the outside of the box were the words "Perishable - Keep Frozen". Turns out that after her husband signed for the fabric, he put the box in the freezer as he thought he was supposed to do.
Needless to say, now that we have our own FABRIC.COM printed boxes, we do not have those humorous episodes any more.
ENTRY #3 - Goodbye to Kristl and Hello to Karen - One of the people you have heard me speak about repeatedly over the years is Kristl Pelz. For 6 years she has been our Senior Merchant and Buyer. She started with us when we had a limited vision of the types of inventory we should carry, and she single-handedly expanded my view of what you, our customers, wanted us to offer. Without Kristl, we would not have grown to be the company we are today. About a month ago, she came to tell me she was leaving. She wanted to start her own business selling the craft items that she has such a passion for making. While that was both sad and scary, she helped us find her replacement and is helping us through the transition. We have hired a terrific individual by the name of Karen Howard. She joins us with an incredible background both in internet technology and fabric. She is dynamic, enthusiastic, and will do a terrific job! Please join me in welcoming Karen to the Fabric.com family.
I could go on forever with stories, but I think this is a good dose for today. Look for my upcoming blog posts as we meet with our vendors and review new products.
Thanks, Stephen
My love is quilting. Cotton is the fabric of my life. I credit my grandmother with sowing the quilting seeds. As a child, I remember her creating templates from Kleenex boxes, and carefully cutting her fabrics from cast off clothing. She would create her quilt tops during the summer. I knew it was Fall, not only by the weather, but by Grandmother setting up her huge wood quilting frame. She would handquilt several tops in a season. I cannot see a Kansas City Star quilt pattern without thinking of my Grandmother. Even now I have one of her quilts lying at the foot of my bed. The colors are still bright even though the fabrics are slightly worn. It comforts me in times of crisis, to pick out the scraps of my sisters's dresses. It is time for me to start sowing some seeds of my own. In honor of my grandmother and the Halloween season, I have created a very simple "Trick or Treat" bag. I used the Scaredy Cat charm pack from Moda. Any fall themed fabric would work such as Acorn Hollow. These also could be used for potpourri . We have some great fall selections available at his time. This is a great use for charm packs. Many customers ask what to do with charm packs. That will be a future topic. I hope that this very simple project will get someone started quilting. The treat bags are very simple. No cutting involved. Select 2 charms. Place wrong sides together and sew 3 sides creating a bag to fill with candy or your choice of items for those special trick or treaters.
Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Nancy Hartness and I work in our wholesale division. My customers include the interior design community and many different types of "cottage" manufacturers. I am constantly inspired by their terrific ideas and their wonderful creations. Working for Fabric.com has been a fabulous experience for me. You see my previous work experience was selling fabric and wallcoverings to the commercial interior design industry and after 15 years I was ready to move on. I am lucky to be a long time personal friend of Stephen and I began working here on a contract basis while I was caring for my aging mother. I now have the pleasure of being here full time every day!
My specialty is quick and easy . Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is just down right funny (show you in the future). Because I am a huge fan of clip-on drapery rings and surrounded by Fabric.com's beautiful fabric, it is safe to say that I have more than one set of drapery panels for my favorite rooms. I am also a fan of Fabric-Tac glue...I have never sewn a stitch of trim. I appreciate all types of fabric design and, yes, my sewing room is piled high with fabric just waiting to be turned into something fabulous!
In the attached photos you will see what adorns my family room right now. Next to that is my dining room...Trim on the slipcovers not quite done yet (will be glued on of course) but maybe by next posting. I am thinking bullion fringe...
Ciao for now!
Nancy
P.S. That's Dupioni Silk in the Dining Room and Dupioni Silk Check in the Dining Room.
Color is truly my inspiration, my passion and my tranquility. My strengths in merchandising and design have allowed me to have my own business out of my home at first and in 1984 opening a shop in Northern Illinois. My wonderful husband and I have four amazing children, a son and three daughters. We are also very blessed with seven grand children, who I miss desperately as I am here in Atlanta and they are in Illinois. You ask why am I not with them? For now I will tell you although it is very difficult, I have the most wonderful job working at Fabric.com! This allows me the luxury of working with extremely talented people, not to mention the fabrics, the creativity and yes, COLOR! I, like Tara, do the imaging and merchandise the fabric collections in the "store". One of my favorite fabrics to image is the dupioni silk, the colors are gorgeous and I even get to name them! So if you see some "far out" names that would be Lauren at work!
In later posts I would love to share with you new fabrics, colors, decorations for the holidays and much much more, including our Home Decor Coordinates category. This category is where I gather fabrics in different designs and textures, lay them all out, personally coordinate them and present them in collections. This will enable you to feel confident that what you see in the coordinate collections has been personally selected to represent beautiful ensembles. I look forward to any questions or comments you might have or any inspirations you would like to share. Until next time I leave you with this picture of "Sir Jaxon Jacob", Jax for short! Not only is he hilarious, he is great comfort! Maybe you can guess one of my favorite colors.......
Moniqa is our Graphic Artist. She is one of the most creative young ladies I have ever known, and I have known a lot of creative ladies! Moniqa creates purses, tops and dresses for herself and these wonderful flowers. We all marvel at them when she wears them to work. She'll pin them to her top or coat, but usually we see them on her handbags. She designed the handbags herself, too.
Here's a link to the pattern, but I wanted to give you a little instruction to go with it here.
- You decide a set number of petals to cut from any fabric you like. Felt, suede and faux suede will not unravel. Boucle, silks and other interesting woven fabrics will, but if you can stand it, the raveling can become part of the design.
- There is a template for the stigma, or center of the flower.
- You will clip little fringes half-way through your strip of fabric and roll it to create the center.
- Hand stitch the bottom of the roll to hold it in place.
- The bottom layer of petals are the larger size petal template. Lay them in a circle overlapping them slightly and hand tack them together. Do the same for the smaller top layer of petals.
- Push the sigma through the middle and hand stitch the whole flower together picking up each petal layer and securing it into the stigma.
- Add a little fabric or felt circle at the back either with glue or hand stitching.
- Now you can add a pin back or create a necklace with two pieces of ribbon. Make several flowers and create a fantastic bracelet!
Remember, these are only guidelines. You can make the flower larger. You can make the stamens shorter, longer, thicker, thinner. Add leaves. I think you get the drift. Try my No Rules rule: just start cutting and see what happens. I think that's how Moniqa came up with this project in the first place.
Have fun!
Kristl
P.S. The green flower is created from Dupioni Silk and the indigo flower is Wool Felt. Try our great silk bundles; they are the perfect size to make up a few flower pins for you and some friends.
I grew up in a family of crafters. From the moment I was old enough to comprehend the details of what I was doing, my grandmother had me on her knee helping my pudgy, unskilled hands guide the fabric through her old Bernina while she controlled the speed of the stitches. My first project was a simple blue pillowcase with rainbow lace trim and a Rainbow Bright panel appliquéd on with crooked zigzag stitches. Roughly 20 years later, I still cherish that pillowcase.
All through school, I was teased for knowing such an "outdated" and "old-lady" skill. I would spend summers with my grandmother and my aunts, learning everything from doll making to quilting. The first day back to school I would show up proudly modeling that summer's apparel project. By the end of the day, though, I was ready to tuck the outfit far into the back of my closet where it could never haunt me again. Sewing your own clothing was un-cool and a social indicator that you were poor, and we all know how mean kids can be. In high school I managed to find a few other fellow crafters, but we were often considered kitschy and on the weirder side of creative. I even remember at least one person equating my sewing skills to a step back for the feminist movement.
Today, I see a change in the trends. Women my age now regret not having the skills needed to make slipcovers or outfits or even simple alterations. I have been to parties where I spent more time explaining how to make simple curtains than I did socializing and partying. A whole slew of sewing magazines have popped up, aimed for the young, hip and trendy. It seems that the "outdated, old-lady hobby" so many people shunned in the past is making a well-deserved comeback, and I'm glad. I am grateful for all the knowledge passed down to me. Those lessons in sewing and crafting not only taught me how to make my own dresses or pillows. They also taught me patience, precision, organization and that wonderful feeling of accomplishment found at the end of road paved with twisted elastic, broken strings and jammed machines.
I hope to use my future posts to pass down some of the priceless knowledge and experience that have been given to be by the wonderful women in my life, both family and friends. If I can inspire even one person to pass on their treasure trove of expertise to some lucky little boy or girl, well then, I can rest assured that my rambling wasn't all for naught.
Happy stitching!
Melanie
This is going to be a little personal. You see, I have a problem. It's not an unusual situation, and I think most of you can sympathize. My name is Kristl, and I'm a fabri-holic. I'm not sure I'm working in the right environment to change my ways, either. I am better than I was. Just imagine landing a job here at fabric.com as a fabri-holic, and getting a great discount. Not only that, I got to help pick out what we sell on the website. After six years, you can imagine my stash.
My passions are natural fibers - silks, woolens, linen especially. I think living in the Beautiful South give me an affinity for linen. And, we can wear it eight months a year if you get the colors right. If you've been with us long enough, you know how many thousands of yards of dupioni silk have run through our warehouse. I think I have some of every exotic color that ever came through. I love the lustrous colors so much. I have a few skirts and the rest is waiting for ideas. My favorite skirt is made of washed dupioni, but that's a story for another time.
So, tell me, what's your fabric passion? What makes you stop in your tracks and buy it - whether it's on sale or not? I have a new topic on the discussion board on that very subject today. Here's a link:
Kristl
I am new to the blog concept, so please bear with me as I learn the ropes.
As you might have guessed, I am not a sewer, although I do think I have a very good eye for color and design. So I can't share my sewing tips and tricks with you.
I thought you might find it interesting to hear how we got to where we are today. It is a pretty classic American entrepreneurial story. In early 1993, I started a company called Phoenix Textiles. We were what is referred to as a "fabric jobber". We bought season-end closeouts from some of the largest clothing manufacturers in the US, brought them into our warehouse, and then tried to resell them to small apparel manufacturers around the US. For a while it was a pretty good business. We had 6-8 employess and did a couple of million in sales. By the mid-late 90s, I could see we were going to be in trouble. Most of our customers, the small apparel manufacturers were either going out of business or moving their production off-shore. Virtually all of our suppliers were moving their production off-shore. It was not a pretty picture and things started to go from bad to worse.
By 1998, I could tell that Phoenix Textiles was no longer a viable business, so I decided to go out of business. I let go all of our emplyees except for our warehouse manager, one warehouse worker and myself, all of whom would be needed to liquidate the business. The problem was, we had a big warehouse full of fabric and no customers to buy it. It became impossible to go out of business because we could not get rid of the fabric. It was a very dark and depressing time. Out of pure desparation, I came up with the idea of trying to liquidate the fabric on the internet to the public (even though we had never sold to the public before). I built a VERY rudimentary web site one Friday afternoon. I priced all of the fabric at $1.00 a yard, even though in almost all cases we had paid much more than that for it. I went home for the weekend, thinking this was a really bad idea.
When we came in on Monday, we discovered that about 50 people from all around the country had placed orders. While that was exciting at first, we quickly realized, we had no cutting tables, no shipping labels, no boxes to ship in, and we had no clue what we were doing. Nonetheless, we set out to try to fill the orders. Greg, our warehouse manager, and I cut and folded fabric all day and at the end of that day, we had successfully shipped 8 orders. I knew then that we were in trouble. I called a temp agency and the next day we had a couple of helpers, some scissors I bought at JoAnn, and some overstock boxes we found at a dealer in downtown Atlanta. The challenge was that, during the prior day and evening, another 50 or so orders were placed. I won't bore you with every painful detail, but this comedy of errors kept up for several days while we ran around trying to increase our capacity to fill orders. Don't forget, even though we were getting orders, everything was $1.00 yard, which didn't really cover the cost of the temporary labor, much less the fabric, the rent, etc. But we were committed to going out of business and this seemed like the only way we could get rid of the inventory.
We kept things going like I described for about 3-4 weeks. Then my parents came into town to visit and they were fascinated by what we were doing. I explained to them that, while it was fascinating, at $1.00 yard, there was no way to make money. My dad said, "why not try to sell some items for $1.99 and see what happens." So we did that and orders continued to roll in (now we were up to 70-80 orders a day). A few weeks later, we added some items at $2.99 yard, and still the orders kept coming. (Remember, we were still just selling our apparel fabric closeouts; no cotton prints, no home dec). This kept up for about 6 more weeks, when finally I told our staff (still mostly temps) that we were not going out of business at all, we were going into the retail fabric business on the Internet.
There is a lot more to the story, but I think I will save that for future editions. In coming chats (or maybe I should call them blogs) I will talk about:
1) hiring Laurie Hill (now Laurie Eady)
2) trying unsuccessfully to raise venture capital
3) unintentionally inventing the email broadcast approach to marketing
4) Kristl coming on board and changing the face of our entire merchandising strategy
5) Some of the funny (and not so funny) stories that have happened to us along the way
6) Some of values I have learned along the way.
That's all for now. Best regards, Stephen
Hello- my name is Tara Miller and I am a merchandiser here at Fabric.com. Let me tell you a little about my job and then fill you in on me!
As a merchandiser, my job is basically to make the fabric look pretty so you when you see it on the site, you want it. Its much like the window dressers in Macy's on 5th Avenue. I commonly refer to this as "fancying about with fabric". When we receive our shipments of fabric in our warehouse, our receivers slice off a fair chunk and send it up to our offices for the merchandising team to process. This process consists of scanning the fabric to the best of its ability, photoshopping (slight wrinkles and adjusting colors) and entering all the info you see on the product page as well as arranging all the fabrics on the webpage. This means when you click on a collection you see order, color and prints, not a jumble. Processing one collection takes the better part of the day from when it hits my desk to when it gets into the store for you to purchase. The merchandising team consists of: Kristl Pelz (AKA Boss), Lauren Neuffer, Kathy Wallace and me.
Now about me: I am 28, a Yankee and love to make everything. I learned to cook and sew from my Mom. She made a fair amount of my clothes growing up and I have so great memories of picking out buttons with her at our local fabric store (I love buttons). I have been sewing off and on for 18 years. I never really took it seriously until 5 years ago. My first project was a rather complicated flapper costume for a friend. It turned out really well. I am also a self-taught knitter for 2 years and a somewhat crotchetier. I started with crochet and when my squares turned into trapezoids, I decided that maybe 2 sticks were in order. I quickly become addicted to knitting. I, like the greater number of computer savvy crafters, have a blog, www.gruenetree.com, where I post projects, pictures, tips and everything that won't fit here. I spend most of my free time (when my nose is not stuck in a book) making something, sewing or knitting. I also have 3 dogs and 1 cat (who thinks she is a dog) all rescued. I have a degree in History, worked in accounting and started at Fabric.com in February.
I have a passion for fabric and Quilting Cotton is my favorite. I have not yet attempted a quilt, though some are on the horizon. I love to wear cotton; take a look at what I have already created from our quilting cotton. The patterns you find in quilting cotton cannot be matched in typical apparel fabric, just check out our Retro & Mod section for some great prints. However, at the moment I am most excited about the Faux Leather that just went in the store yesterday;my favorites are the Celestial Blue (pictured) and Kiwi. I think this would be perfect for recovering garage sale chairs I plan to hunt this fall, headboards, pillows, or footstools. I will be sure to posts all pictures of my future Faux Leather projects in my album in our Gallery and announce them here.
I look forward to getting to know you all as Fabric.com and this blog grows. I have many great ideas and events planned for this blog and am very excited to share them with our customers.
Tara Miller
