100% Organic Cotton Fabrics
For home sewers, businesses, retailers, and anyone who gives a scrap!
I am happy to share with you our latest limited release organic cotton jersey prints that were printed right here in the USA in New Jersey! Please NOTE: The USA printer is not GOTS certified. We are hoping that we can send them enough business to prove to them that GOTS certification is worth their time and money but until then please keep this in mind. All of the fabrics we source from India are GOTS certified. Both Monk and Ohio Purple coordinate with our solid white jersey and also work with our Lime Green Interlock or Sateen. Do you remember the original Ohio Interlock? What do you think of the new purple colorway? These fabrics were available to our wholesale customers at a discounted rate by pre-ordering in advance. In fact, Ohio Purple is completely sold out of full rolls. Fret not, you can still get individual yardage from Stitch Simple (USA) and Pure Fabricz (EU). We do have one roll of Monk available. . . contact me if you are interested. Also, you may be happy to hear when we printed these designs on white jersey we also teamed up with NearSea Naturals to print a limited amount of the designs on their substrates (flannel, white interlock and natural jersey). If you love the designs but were hoping for flannel or interlock visit NearSea Naturals. Pure Fabricz and NearSea Naturals just received the yardage this week so if you don't yet see the fabrics be patient or contact them directly to inquire. Also, we recently did another small run of Sweet Jane Sateen on our 60" natural sateen with the printer in New Jersey. This was done at the request of one of our wholesale customers who missed this fabric desperately. . . so we did a special print run for them. We have one 50 yard roll left. If you are interested, contact me. We are here to help YOU get the organic fabric you need so feel free to keep the feedback and requests coming. Sew Happy!
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Last night President Obama won re-election. In his acceptance speech he said again, "We are not as divided as our politics suggest." I woke up this morning with that quote running through my head.
I believe that we are not as divided as our bodies suggest. If we could just realize this, we would stop trying to "win" and start trying to make the best decisions for everyone. We are greater than the sum of our parts and I am not just talking Americans. The illusion of separateness has created self-interest which in my humble opinion is the root of all of our current challenges. The second you see your neighbor, the tree, the air, yes, even your enemy, as a part of our collective whole, is the second the decisions stop being about ME and start being about WE. It's really not as far away as it seems. Reality is, and I know everyone reading this has personally experienced this and can attest, that working together is way more FUN than working against anyone or anything. Recommended viewing: I AM the movie. Nancy, Janice and me Yesterday my aunt Janice left this life behind. She had been on hospice for some time. In late June I had the great fortune of spending a week with her and my cousin Nancy in Medford, Oregon. Despite her immobility and and obvious challenges her spirit and spunk was as strong as ever. The sign on the wall behind us in the picture was written by my Aunt Janice. It says: GOD - Gratitude Overcomes Depression. What a gift to spend time together. That connection can never be taken away from me. Her advice, which she repeated several times a day was, "You just have to be grateful for every moment of every day." I couldn't agree more. my father and my aunt During our last week together we stayed up late watching The Sound of Music and we watched her (2nd) wedding video which is 90% dancing. We looked through photo albums and reminisced. Our big outing each day was to the "veranda" (aka her back yard) where we would eat a meal and admire the flowers, clouds, or sunset. I played "chef" for the week and Janice wasn't afraid to tell me she didn't like some of my cooking. She owned a Baskin Robbins ice cream store for decades and loved sweets. We ate lots of ice cream. Although she remained friends with her first husband, her true love she found later in life: Miro. I got to hear about their trips to Slovenia together and their love of dancing. At night we would put her blanket in the dryer and get it all nice and toasty warm for her. Every time we put it on her she would start singing, "Heaven, I'm in heaven . . . dancing cheek to cheek". . . I can't say what happens when we transition from this life but I like imagining my aunt Janice's vision came true and she is now reunited and dancing with Miro. . . Thank you aunt Janice for your positive attitude, spunky honesty, zest for life, sense of humor, laughter and love. Messaging. What is it and what is important? Well, before we can really talk about messaging I think you have to take a few moments to answer these basic questions:
1. Who is your audience? 2. How are they finding you? 3. What do they already know? 4. What do they want to know? 5. How are is your business different than other companies like yours? I think it is a worthy project to spend some time answering these 5 questions. Visualize your answer to #1. Give them an imaginary (or real) name and background. [I'm going to use the name Madge.] Create a realistic scenario for #2. Make them real. Now that you know who you are talking to, all of your "messaging" should then focus on confirming #3, expanding #4 and telling them about #5. From my personal experience the first people interested in organic fabrics are new mothers. They want to surround their precious little one with the best. Sure we could talk about increased asthma & allergies linked to standard formaldehyde finishes and flame-retardants that have been linked to cancer. I think these things ARE important, but this can't be your only message. Guilt and fear grab attention but they don't make us feel good. They don't bring joy into our lives. Education is important but in my ideal world it's the back story not the headline. Take a look at your web site, etsy page, facebook page, blog, etc. Are you talking to "Madge"? Telling her/him something new? Boring them? Lecturing them? My guess is that you created your business because you saw a need in the market. A hole that you were willing and able to fill. This means you could/may be talking to a person just like you! If that's the case, you don't have far to go to find out if the "message" resonates. Feel free to ask honest (kind) friends or better yet, current customers, to give you their feedback. People love to have their opinions heard. Ask. Listen. Speak - softly, kindly, intelligently. Don't try to be perfect. Don't be afraid to admit you don't know something or that you were wrong about something. You are not perfect, so just do your best at this moment in time. Be human. Be kind. Most importantly ENJOY the process. It's YOUR business so be about making it worth YOUR time and energy. Yes, fear is an attention grabber. Did the photo get your attention? Personally, I am sick of fear. Give me beauty, joy, love and hope over fear any day of the week. Meet Monique - the force behind our European distributor Pure Fabricz! Pure Fabricz is based in The Netherlands and has been handling our EU distribution since 2009. As luck (synchronicity) would have it, Monique was looking for colorful, appealing organic cotton bedding. She was frustrated when all she could find was beautiful shades of oatmeal and granola. Undaunted she decided she could make her own bedding. Her search for wide-width organic cotton fabric lead her to Harmony Art. It was at this exact same time our European distributor was relocating to the Ukraine and was closing her shop. Instead of simply making a set of bed sheets Monique jumped into the fabric business! (She is someone who is not afraid of a good challenge from time to time.) Monique studied at fashion school, so she knew her way around a sewing machine. Prior to this career move she had several jobs, from shop manager to executive secretary. In addition, she is a volunteer at a local animal shelter where she is the editor of their quarterly magazine and the cat photographer! Since their start in 2009 they have grown into a webshop (Pure Coverz) and wholesaler. They recently moved their business to a new premises with enough space to grow further. Pure Coverz sells all different organic cotton items for the home; bedding, home, bath and kitchen textiles. The fabrics are now to be found throughout Europe in shops and webshops. Pure Fabricz has helped numerous small designers create the most beautiful garments with it. It is a pleasure and joy to work with Monique. She is thoughtful, compassionate, detail oriented and a total sweetheart. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world. We wish Pure Fabricz a wonderful new chapter in their expanded (and organized!) location. If you have any friends in Europe looking for organic fabric, please refer them to Monique.
[NOTE: Pure Fabricz has THE largest selection of Harmony Art organic fabrics!] "All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure." - Mark Twain I have often said I had no business going into business. My background (education) is in Human Services (aka social work) and although I had a successful career designing textiles before launching Harmony Art organic design, I had zero business training. When I say zero, I mean zero. I did not take one business class in college.
What I did have was the two things noted above: ignorance and confidence. I had NO idea what I was getting into. I actually think in some strange way not knowing is helpful. You can't get freaked out by things you haven't thought about. You simply face them as they arrive at your doorstep. With this series of blog posts I plan to examine some of the right moves and some of the wrong ones I have made. For the record, I refer to my costly mistakes as my personal investment in my MBA (the hard way). Please feel free to comment or email me with your own reactions, questions or struggles. What I do know is that we are not alone no matter how it may feel that way at times. I think many of us struggle with this puzzle. My next post or two or 10 or more will share with you some of my experience of juggling life and home and entrepreneurship. I also plan to use this space to answer as many business questions as I feel able to, so feel free to send me your questions. Let the journey venture forth. . . thanks for coming along.
Tomorrow my husband leaves for Russia. He will be gone for 2 weeks. In the 20+ years we have been together this will be the longest and furthest we have been apart. He is going to Russia as part of the Fort Ross/Kashaya Expedition marking the 200th anniversary of the 1st Russian settlement in the continental USA - which just happens to be in our neck of the woods. Sus (hubby) will be traveling with 24 other people to St. Petersburg, Moscow and Tot'ma (the home town of the founder of Fort Ross). As the executive director of the Gualala Art Center, Sus is representing our local art community and traveling with some descents of the "first artists" of the area. Part of the reason for this trip is for the Kashaya (native American Pomo tribe) to see and identify artifacts and artwork that was taken back to Russia when the fort was disbanded - over 150 years ago. They will be touring museums, meeting with dignitaries, participating in a parade, and doing home stays while in Tot'ma. He was trying to figure out what gifts he should bring with him. The idea of tote bags came up and immediate we thought of the Green Bag Lady. We called Teresa and she sent us some Silent Stumps Sateen bags as well as some other solid bags that we could screen print the Gualala Arts logo on. Teresa ROCKS! In less than a week we had the screen printed bags. Tomorrow they make they voyage overseas. I can't tell you how happy these bags make me! The trilogy of Green Bag Lady + Gualala Arts + Harmony Art = BIG LOVE. I hope the Russians like (and use) them and I hope Sus gets home safely with lots of good stories to share.
When I was a little girl I had a blue blankie. It went everywhere with me. Eventually it disintegrated and had to be thrown out. It was a sad day in my life. A few months ago my dear friend Teresa (aka The Green Bag Lady) sent me a VERY special gift that she and her "Bagettes" made for me. When Teresa was visiting a while back we came across some dresses and skirts from my childhood that I still had! I gave them to Teresa for her youngest daughter to wear. When she out grew them Teresa couldn't bring herself to donate my 30+ year old clothes to Goodwill so she and the Bagettes transformed them into a quilt for me. I had NO idea they were doing this. Imagine my surprise and delight when I opened the package and found this thoughtful, one-of-a-kind, re-recycled gift! I was speechless, touched, thrilled! Teresa even incorporated a hood for me so I could wear it while I worked. When we renewed our vows on Bowling Ball Beach, I wore it. When we took a road trip to LA in June, I took it and wore it. I basically am 5 years old with a blankie again. . . and lovin' it! THANK YOU TERESA and THE BAGETTES! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. A couple of months ago we did a printing experiment with a USA printer. We used existing screens (Sweet Jane & Let it Grow) and printed them in new colorways. We printed on organic white jersey, natural sateen, natural flannel and natural denim. I posted the colorways on our facebook page and got feedback from from our fans to determine which colors we printed. We offered special wholesale pricing to our existing customers if they pre-ordered a roll before production. By knowing the demand before printing we were able to do some exciting and custom production runs. (Example: One new company wanted denim so we put a special roll of denim in for them.) So, was the experiment a success? Yes. There are still kinks to get worked out and we learned several things along the way (like don't trust the printers estimate of the pallet's weight - they under estimated it by half!) but all in all I think it was a positive experience. HUGE thanks goes out to all the pre-orderers! YOU made it possible. I welcome any and all feedback you may have from your perspective. Would you pre-order again? Did you like the quality of the printing? I'd like to hear from YOU! If we do another, I am leaning towards: Sweet Jane (original pink), Ohio (maybe in new colors) or Uncomplicated (maybe in new colors). Uncomplicated is a large scale floral. To give you and idea of scale of Uncomplicated, you can see it in use as our studio curtain. It was originally printed on twill but I am thinking maybe sateen this time around. NOTE: This USA printer is NOT GOTS certified. Which is not ideal but if we decide the relationship is working, and we bring them enough business, then we can then start putting some real pressure on them to make the GOTS commitment. |
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Harmony Susalla
Founder of Harmony Art organic design. Archives
June 2022
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