Very Important Shop News

I started fabric dyeing in 2001 because of a challenge from my best friend. I wasn't interested in dyeing at all. I thought it was just a messy waste of time. She challenged me to spent a week with her trying out some dyeing. I reluctantly agreed, and after 1 day, I was absolutely hooked.

It's over 20 years later and I'm grateful to Anne for getting me into this and many other adventures.
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In 2008, I started getting serious about dyeing. I didn't want to have to buy a ton of different colors so I bought the pure (unblended colors) and started mixing every one of them in 5 steps just to see what I'd get. Once that was done, I knew that I had something. I had a recipe book and I could recreate any color I wanted at anytime!

By early 2009 I knew I was retiring from the business world in 2010 so I decided to start an online Etsy shop to have something to do after retirement.

I opened that Etsy shop 15 year ago this month selling some fat quarter packs. I eventually came up with the idea of the Gradients and the added Shades Packs and the Stash Packs. Reflections and Shibori came later. It has been a lot of fun and very rewarding. Every time I look through the Gallery I am shocked at the amazing things you have made with my fabric.
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But it's now time for me to retire and the fabric shop will close July 31.

​I’ve been thinking about retiring for several years but I do enjoy this little business a lot and I kept going. Several things have conspired to make the decision for me right now.

First, I’ve needed to raise my prices for a few years. They have been the same since I opened in 2009. I’ve been able to manage the materials increases by changing some of my processes to be more efficient and eliminating some of the more expensive products. But I can’t avoid it any longer and, frankly, I wouldn’t pay $22 a yard for fabric unless I really, really needed it. I don't expect many of you will want to pay $22 a yard for it either. There are fewer people who can afford that luxury. My sales already feel the effects of the economy over the past few years because sales are down 25% since 2020. That part doesn’t really bother me either. I never paid bills with this money. But raising the price does bother me. I expect it would cut business in half from the peak.

The second thing that happened is that one of the critical ingredients that I use in my black dye, vinyl sulfone dye, is no longer available. That means no more really dark black and no more nice gray shades. Black and grays are really key components of my product offering and I haven't found a good substitute that I can tolerate.

The third thing that happened is that my web host is raising prices over 200%. I need to actually move the shop off Weebly and on to a more modern platform but, honestly, I just don’t have the interest or energy in doing that. It took me almost 6 weeks of working full time to move from Etsy to Weebly and the business was much smaller back then.
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I have worked hard the past several months to restock many items but what's in the shop is all that there is. Here are some specific things to note:
- I will not be dyeing any more stock for the shop.
- There will not be any sales right away and there will be no more submissions to the Customer Gallery. - - If you have a current coupon, it's active.
- I'm sorry to international customers but I will not be able to process international orders.
​- All sales are final

Any further sales will start in July.

I'm grateful to all of you for your support, inspiration and encouragement these past 15 years! I will still be dyeing (for myself) and I will still be blogging. That part isn't going to change at all! I am not sick or anything. It's just time for new adventures.

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