Rachel Lace-Up Tank Video and Kit Release

I didn’t anticipate releasing these videos and kits for the Rachel Lace-Up Tank today. I was planning to release the $50 gift certificate contest. I changed my mind. I will be shooting a video in the next few days and the gift certificate contest will be made live shortly after.

The Rachel Tank is available in 30 sizes total, from XS to a 3X. Each size has 5 different bust size patterns. I wanted to do something sweet and sexy in the way of a tank. But I also wanted the tank to be versatile to be used as an athletic top. I made a very small set of kits for this design.

If there is interest, I have a few other fabrics I could make additional kits with. This includes everything you need to make one tank. Here are the links below. Stay tuned for the matching brief to be released in a few weeks.

YouTube and Life Restored

I discovered a few things this last week. Number 1 – don’t trust that the Google representatives know what they are talking about. Number 2 – I nearly lost 3 years of work and I had no way to notify my customer base what was going on.

I nearly had a total breakdown. I tried to keep it together, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt completely helpless. I kept thinking, “Was it my fault? Should I have questioned the rep more intensely before hitting the ‘remove’ button?”

Here is what happened. I’m trying to get a handle on how I look out there on the great wide web of information. If you googled “Porcelynne,” what comes up is my store in Redlands that is marked as “Permanently Closed.” Thats what started it all. I didn’t want my customers googling my company and seeing that I’m closed.

So I attempted to fix it. For some reason, I was initially unable to change the address on the google listing to the location of my new headquarters, aka Florida. I added a new location and it showed up perfectly here in a search, but my customers in California and the west coast still saw that I was permanently closed. This prompted the merge of my locations.

What I had failed to realize was that when I set up my listing 5 years ago, I registered it as a “brand” account. Anyway, that feature is no longer offered with Google, which is probably why the Google rep was clueless, but I digress. The Brand account linked to my YouTube.

With the help of Google, I was instructed to delete the California location with a guarantee that the YouTube would be relinked to the new location. Well it wasn’t. The next day, I get an email from said helper “You are not eligible for a Google My Business listing.” WHAT???

Over the course of 5 days, I emailed them 40 times, commented on their twitter and facebook pages and sent additional messages to everyone I could get a hold of. The answer from everyone else, “He told you to do what? He shouldn’t have told you that.” I’m like, “Yeah, I know that know. Can you fix it?”

To make a long story short, YouTube is fixed. I will never ever trust a Google rep like I did. And, by the way, my business is still showing up as “permanently closed.” So much for trying to get anything done this last week. I have a new set of videos to release, but those will wait until next week. I am currently working on an “Update” video.

This whole ordeal made me realize I need a better social media presence. I had been fighting it for several years, but now that my time isn’t being sucked dry by a retail storefront, I think I can manage it. I finally set up my Facebook page, and linked Instagram to both Facebook and Twitter. So I can post to all three at once.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. I will be unleashing a contest to win a $50 gift certificate on my website.

Technical difficulties – YouTube Channel Down

I am completely aware that my YouTube channel is gone. I am trying to resolve it. It is a sore subject right now, but I am aware of it. My daughter represents my present mood:

Rachel Tank Top Pattern Release

I have been working hard on patterns to fit a variety of body shapes & sizes and this pattern is no exception. I created a basic range of XS to 3X, but I added five bust size variations for each size. That means there is a total of 30 sizes all together.

This tank can be made as an active wear garment or lingerie garment. I completed my first set of videos for the athletic active wear top. The sample was made with an accent print made by my friend Erin Mason. Her amazing prints are available on Spoonflower.

I did not have a lot of fabric to make kits, but I was able to make two small kits and one medium kit from the fabric I have. I hope you enjoy the pattern and the videos.

Stay tuned for a variation of this tank’s construction with a lace up style. The videos and kits will be available in about two weeks. Make sure to subscribe to my blog of YouTube channel to find out when new patterns are released.

Bra Making Starter Kits are here!

I have been busy putting together kits to make your life easier. I have created three bra making starter kits in fabrics and three starter kits in hardware. I tried to make them interesting, but to be honest, they are for the beginner, working on their first bras. These are relatively low priced for a kit, but they aren’t for the pretty bras. These are for practicality and learning.

Each starter kit has enough fabric for up to three bras (if you have a very large size, you might not be able to get three bras out of it, but conserve your fabric either way). I would suggest using black thread for both the red & black kit and the white & black kit. It will show interest on the cups with black top stitching. Make note that there are no underwires included with either kit.

The fabric kits contain a fusible tricot to stabilize our Shine Tricot for the frame and the cups. When finishing the seams, try cutting a strip of the fusible tricot and iron onto the back side of the seam prior to top stitching. It will make your life easier.

The hardware kit contains hooks & eyes, strap elastic and hardware, underwire casing, picot elastic for neckline and waistband elastic.

But first thing is first – a little update on us. We exhibited at our first event in years. I wasn’t sure how it would go, but we did surprisingly well. I have boxes and boxes of vintage fabrics, which was about 50% of the items I parted with. I might one day list them on the website, but I have too many other things going on right now.

I have been busy to say the least, I have added three new patterns to my website and removed a few old ones. Over the next month, I will post about each design, including an introduction to the kits that go with them as well as the accompanying video tutorials. From this point on, every pattern I release will have a video tutorial for construction.