Kaleidoscope Of Progress

As predicted in my last post, I've been way too busy to post anything for the past few weeks. My mother-in-law passed away and we went out of town for the funeral. Although we weren't gone all that long for the funeral, the repeated absences over the past month had a cumulative effect any mom will recognize. I've been buried under a mountain of laundry, housekeeping, and gardening trying to catch up with all the mundane chores I put aside.

It just happens that I also acquired a flood of new inventory for my shops. Some is consignment I picked up from my mother and sister but most is a huge liquidation lot. Our youngest had outgrown all his dressy clothes so I had to take him shopping for the funeral. While we were out I came across an enormous sale of clothing at wholesale prices so I picked up everything I could find. Then I was offered a few terrific deals from some of my wholesale suppliers and I picked up even more. Brands include Chaps, The Limited, and New Directions. I have most of this listed now, so I hope you'll check. While most of my new stuff is for colder weather I do have some summer dresses and tops and I just added men's Trunks Surf and Swim Co. swim trunks to Poshmark and eBay. I also have a lot of unused vintage NASCAR fashion listed. You can link to all my shops from the Home page.

If all goes as planned (but who a I kidding? It probably won't), you'll be seeing  fairly large shift in my business model pretty soon. When I started my lone store on eBay I sold dolls and my kids' outgrown clothes. That was nearly 20 years ago, however, and the market has changed. Doll making supplies and kits sell way better for me now than finished dolls. I do still restore and sell dolls but not as many and I mostly list them around the holiday season as well as Mother's Day. On Poshmark my men's fashion sells better than anything else, so I've been concentrating on sourcing men's clothing. I will still have children's clothing but I've decided to cut way down on that. People used to buy pre-owned kids' clothes even when they weren't perfect. Nowadays, with the super-cheap "fast fashion" available everywhere, including grocery stores like Aldi, I find parents prefer these cheaply made new clothes to nicer ones they can pass down. I have decided to donate most of my children's clothing. What remains will be new or like-new and only the best brands. Most will be sold in lots of one size or "Mystery Boxes" to dress your child or resell.  So if you've had your eye on kid's clothes in my shops you will want to make me an offer pretty soon!

My ultimate goal is to go back to my original ambition to make my own line of clothing for kids, maybe with a bit thrown in for women. These will not be cheap or fast. I envision an exclusive line of extremely-limited or even one -of-kind pieces, and they will be appropriately priced for clothing handmade in America and made of high-quality fabrics. These will be pieces to wear for special occasions and hand down to the next generation. If I can get my chaotic life together I hope to get this underway in time for summer. We shall see. Right now I'm so buried in delayed housework and the kids' end-of-the-year concerts and moving up ceremonies and sporting events the thought of actually sewing anything seems like a pipe dream!