Slowed down but not stopped ...

November has been a slow month ... but I did accomplish a fair amount with the awning business. Testing and introducing a new hemline, completing and shipping a few sets of awnings and shifting the bulk of my awning fabric requirements to a new fabric supplier.

The first accomplishment is the new hemline called The Arch.  It's meant to echo the curvature at the top of the trailer.  As someone who isn't in love with scallops (though about 75% of my business is with scallops) I am always trying to come up with interesting alternatives and The Arch is one of my favorites and it's now available in my shop.

I do think that this hemline is going to look best with geometric patterned fabrics, but looking forward to trying it on other fabrics as orders come in.

But there's always room for some traditional awnings as well and this cute fabric.

And for the more geometrically inclined.

Finally, after 3 years of making awnings, I have had the opportunity to work with product from multiple outdoor fabric manufacturers.  The biggest challenge is quality, where the image is not printed straight on the fabric, which makes it quite difficult to use in a symmetrical application.  There have also been fading issues.  And finally, while not a fabric manufacturer issue, I have dealt with multiple shipments from Fabric.com where the fabric is simply stuffed into a poly bag and I have had to work really hard to get the wrinkles out— with one set of awnings, as seen in the image below, eventually having to be scrapped because I could not remove the wrinkles caused by how it was packaged.

After repeated ironing and steaming

Due to a shipping error this summer, I had to reach out directly to the Premier Prints (one of my favorite outdoor fabric manufacturers) to help resolve the issue.  It was through that engagement that I happily discovered that I can order directly from Premier!!!  They have both a retail and a wholesale site!  And most importantly, they actually take care with how they fold and ship their fabric.

So the slow-down this month was actually due to me finally capitulating and having the cataracts removed from both my eyes.  I have been continually told that I am extremely young (58) to have cataracts, and since I didn't really grow up in high sun areas, the jury is out whether the chemo or accompanying hi-dose steroids, may have driven the issue.

That said, it all went really well.  I opted to correct for close up vision (e.g. I won't need glasses for reading, computer work or sewing any longer!!!).  I will still wear glasses for distance, as I have done for the past 30+ years.   While correction is still required for distance, my "new eyes" have really added a LOT of clarity, definition, even at a distance, that I did not have before.

Very excited to get back at it this week with my final vision check on Wednesday and then no more restrictions!

Wishing everyone in the 🇺🇸 safe travels this week and enjoyable time with friends, family and chosen families.

Best,
Lisa