Slipcover Design Contest 2008

If you make slipcovers for furniture now is your opportunity to enter your favorite Slipcover Creations....

Deadline is June 1st... Send in your entery NOW

click here to print off entry form

Welcome to Geroge of Custom Drapery Workoom

A big welcome to George Rigney Custom Drapery Workroom

Atlantic Highlands N.J. 07716

George has been in business for 40 years. He also has done Slipcovers.

Welcome George to the forum.

always
Karen

It's Time To Re-Introduce Yourself

Hi...

There are new people who are wanting to participate in the Slipcover Network blog.

So let's re-introduce ourselves..................

Name
Business Name
Where are you located?
How long in business?

Why you have joined this forum?

I'll go first...
---------------------------------------------------------------
Karen

Business: Slipcover Network

Home office: Snohomish, Washington

Been in Business: 22 years

I joined because I enjoy networking with others who love slipcovers, for new ideas in fabrication and earth friendly fabrics "green". I also want to help others grow in their businesses.

Slipcovers from Orchard Park NY

Slipcovers from

JoAnn Duggan

Orchard Park, New York

Professional Sewing Workroom MeetUP

I have started one in Washington also. Why don't you start one where you live and meet others who are sewing in the area. Cost is not a lot, and you can become the expert where you live plus meet others in the industry.

Claudia started one in Arizona too.

Here is the Washington Professional Sewing Workroom MeetUp

Best Organizing Tips

Do you have any great organizing tips? Then please share them with me! In preparation for my class--Sew Organized--at the Summit in June I am collecting organizing tips and ideas from other professionals in the industry. If you have any tips for getting and staying organized, I would love to hear them.

I will also be compiling these tips into a booklet to be sold at the Summit. All net proceeds from the booklet will be donated to the Scholarship fund. If you would like your tip to be published (you will receive credit) please let me know.

And if you have any specific organizing challenges you would like to see covered in the booklet and the class, email them to me.

Lastly, I am looking for several slipcover professionals to profile in the booklet. If you are interested, let me know.

My email is threadneedle@tampabay.rr.com.

Looking forward to receiving some great tips.

Angie

Undergarment Advise

Question - I just received a slipcover job - 4 leather bar stools (the seats are a full parson) What would I make the undergarment out of so that the decorative fabric doesn't shift around?

Thanks again,

Sherree

in Canada

can we make stuff sticky ?

so the important posts stay at the top of the page ? Otherwise I feel like talking about other stuff would be nonsense, if the stuff that folks should read doesn't get pushed down the page.

Slipcover Pros in Atlanta this March

March 26-29th

International Window Coverings Expo

Georgia World Congress Center

Atlanta, Georgia

Come, join us in the Slipcover Network exhibit booth.

Plan to join us as we share slipcovering with the trade.
I just hear through the grapevine that Shirley, Angie, Claudia, Julie and I will be there.

Sure would be fun to have a lot more of us!

I will be doing a presentation on Wednesday before the exhibit floor opens, then Claudia and I have been asked to present in the Construction Zone.

If you have never been before this is a great show regarding Interior Home Decor.

Slipcover Design Contest 2008

NOW IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY

This is your opportunity to show off how creative you can be, to peers in the industry and potential customers alike.

Votes will be cast by ballot for the: Best Designed Slipcover

All voting will be done during the 2008 Slipcover Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana June 25-27.
Entries must be post marked no later than June 1, 2008 to be eligible for the contest.

1st Prize in will receive:
Full admittance plus all supplies for classes to the Slipcover Summit in 2009 ($400 value)
1 yrs Directory listing and Slipcover Press (full Membership with the Slipcover Network $45 value)
Photo of award winning slipcover to be used in all advertising regarding the Slipcover Summit and Slipcover Network, plus choice placement on the 2009 Slipcover Calendar.

2nd Prize will receive:
1 yrs Directory listing and Slipcover Press (full Membership with the Slipcover Network $45 value)

Gift Certificate Value from Home Fashions U ($45 value) Choose from Books, DVDs or Supplies in relations to the Sewing Fabrication Industry.

Photo of award winning slipcover to be used in all advertising regarding the Slipcover Summit and Slipcover Network, plus choice placement on the 2009 Slipcover Calendar.

3rd Prize will receive:
Gift Certificate from Home Fashions U ($45 value) Choose from Books, DVDs or Supplies.
Photo of award winning slipcover to be used in all advertising regarding the Slipcover Summit and Slipcover Network, plus placement on the 2009 Slipcover Calendar.

Slipcover Design Entry must submit:
1) Quality 8x10 photos shot from 4 sides of Slipcover
Make sure to high light special design features of the slipcover in a close up photo.
2) Brief description of how any special design features were accomplished should be included in the entry.
Photo will only be returned if a self addressed envelop is included with submission.

Name_________________

Address_______________

City___________________

Zip code_______________

Email_________________

Website_______________

Phone_________________

Mail to: Slipcover Network
1101 Ave D C102 PMB 128
Snohomish, Wa. 98290

Questions about the contest
slipcovernetwork@email.com
800-267-4958

Laurie's Ideas Slipcover After the Summit

Laurie received a Scholarship to the Slipcover Summit in June of 2007

Here is an idea she picked up during the Summit and has used it in one of her jobs for a customer.






What a great idea Lauire! You can reach Laurie at rbrule@comcast.net

Olson Slipcovers Happy New Year

Stagging and wanted to use the old furniture.

Sofa before the Slipcovers

The Slipcovers on the sofa

delivered poly suede slipcover

my first, and I have good news and regular news about that. No, I didn't take photos, it wouldn't have photographed well the good points, and it had good points.

the priority was cat claws, and I think we chose well for that. Another issue was wipeability, and I think we chose well for that.

As you know, there won't be any chance to press the final cover, and that is a hard thing for me to shake off.

My major concern is with maintenance, when air does not pass through it's a problem.

Air is expelled when we sit, and then the furniture is gasping for air when we get up. The poly sticks where our rear ends slid it to. That's the description, not a judgement.

In this case, I'd be happy to repeat the effort for the same priorities, as cat claws and need to wipe for cats is certainly a hard goal to plan for. The poly suede was very good for that.

Just a report that my old brain still has some flexibility.

Little old ladies and their ridiculous rates

Just got off the phone with a potential customer. She moved a Queen Anne chair into another room, and the "eggplant slipcover she had made "just a few months ago" doesn't match anymore. It's "very clever, with Velcro on it so it doesn't move - can you imagine doing all that at her age?"

A "nice old lady" made it, you see. For (get this) $70.

I think I'm gonna be sick... No, really - this is making me physically ill.

Everybody bug Rusty

tell him we need a man's perspective. Tell him we need him in June.....

Rusty is a high volume double on half old urban slipcover workhorse like we sometimes talk about.

so as to avoid the trawlers I am writing it so it won't highlight

slipcover it

at

yahoo

dot


com

who's in Trenton or near by ?

who can give me a sizing up of the slipcover market there ?

I do mean specifically Trenton or north as opposed to Philly, who works that area,, anyone we know ?

Fabric sources

Claudia will be teaching a class at this years Summit on Fabric Sources, but in the meantime, let me suggest some words to Google.

Min Fab , Carr Textile, cut yardage textiles. Others here may give you specific links.

There are no shortage of fabric jobbers, though you'll want to be very specific in your quizzing of these companies before paying for books.

Personally, I only ever use cotton 8 ounces per yard or more, and I only ever order from folks who actually have stock.

You'll want to know what you are willing to sell, as 99% of what books they may ask you to buy will be appropriate for windows but perhaps not slipcovers.

Making copies

the only ways I have discovered that work for me are :

making a double on half cutting with the real fabric, trimming the seams down to the intended seam allowance, complete with all the signals you give yourself. Take out the pins, and make another ( or make 12, or 200 ).

or: making a single on half fitting, out of the real cloth or muslin, trim, use signals, and then make not only your duplicates but the second half of the first cutting, if you used decor fabric to fit with.

these are reasonable strategies if you have certain insurance.

leave plenty of skirt hem, to individualize copies if need be.

Triple check your assumptions that matching furniture is alike enough to do this, then use the largest one. Only differences within certain tolerances merit using absolute copies ** read below.

Use cotton fabric, soak and dry ( if that can be done safely ) to increase elasticity. Think how elastic works in your clothes, same here.

Never assume a pattern or an original cutting can be used to copy to a less elastic fabric than the one fitted, never. It will likely be too small, unless you leave big seams, and even then, it's likely not good. Only copy to the same fabric, or to a more elastic one.

If your copies turn out too large, this is easier to fix than if they come out too small, obviously. *** you may copy your duplicates with a larger seam allowance and then try one each to individualize, this is possible with enough patience and perhaps more trips.

Copies can be better than if fitted one by one from a couple perspectives. Yes, the fit won't be as good. But, the seams will all be in the same places, as will be the motif. If the cord stands out and the pattern placement stands out loudy as well, then copies can be very good.

Double on half will be offered at the next Summit, and this is where all copy strategies begin, double on half.

Once you do it you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Elements of effective pricing

effective being the most money you can probably get and preserving having that person willingly pass your name around and come back themselves for more.

that gives you a spectrum to choose from, the immediate money being ( or seeming ) far more important than continuing purchases from this person ( like, when ? if ? how likely ? ) or having them gladly pass your name around.

that balance is for each person to weigh, and then it changes for folks month to month and year to year. Your best guess here is all you get. We all guess how to balance the two needs.

Survey what slipcover buying folks are going to hear on the phone when calling your competitors by calling yourself first, all the numbers listed in your local phone book. Fib and fake it, get those facts. Ask in person if you prefer, go shop. Business slow ? Best time is now.

Ask not only price but policy. How long ? Is COM allowed ? Ask if sales are common, and when. Ask what is included what is add on, whether they work in the home. Hone your skills calling the folks that matter least, the ones farther away.

Partricipate in the http://www.Slipcovernetwork.com survey, soon to come, here. Karen will tell us about it.

Develop questions. Develop your own questions about why the final last right pricing seems ellusive to you. Those are good facts in themselves. You may never sort all the answers but do have the questions. The questions tell you how flexible you need to be in your area.

A good example of a relevant question that makes me wonder about what goes on in my own area: stores pump up labor then run " fabulous " sales on labor. How does that impact me ? I may never know, but I better keep asking myself to wonder.

Let's talk about the questions, the answers are hard to identify, but let's identify the questions. Who picks up furniture, who drives far from home to do this ? Who are the local players ?

The best price you can choose to give is a price that you can live with, and that the customer is feeling good enough about to call you back again and plan more, especially if enough folks aren't finding you.

A lost job due to what is judged to be a too high price is neither right or wrong, but it may be more convenient or less convenient, depending on when it happens. A lost job is somethimes not only a lost paycheck but a lost chance for good referals or a good new unique experience.

Giving up something on price is not without compensation when you at least get the job. This isn't as negative as it may sound, your paid for advertising to a cold market may be as costly as what you choose to underprice, and that cold advertising buck shot can be ineffective even once paid for.

Underpricing is a choice, especially when you are new feeling out your market, if the phone isn't ringing as much as you'd like. It's an aggressive strategy.

Hi all, Amy here, from Austin. I met some of you in Arizona at the 06 summit.
It was very inspiring and now I am making slips for a living! I have a couple of questions for you all.
I almost always use Karen's method, that class was a real eye opener!
I have a customer who wants 2 sets of covers for each piece I am doing.
How wouyld you guys charge for that? Using Karen's method I would need to basically do each piece
completely seperately, so would I charge double?
My other question is about selling fabric. Austin has a pretty small selection of fabric to choose
from and I think sometimes clients would really like to just order from me. I don't know the
first thing about selling fabric. Comments? Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Amy